Thomas Markle ordered back to jail after cutting off his ankle bracelet

Thomas Markle, the estranged father of Britain's Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, has been ordered back to jail after removing his electronic monitoring device while under home confinement, according to federal prosecutors. The 82-year-old, who faces a federal charge of possessing child sexual abuse material, was ordered to return to federal detention without bond at a hearing in Tampa, Florida.

Markle was arrested and charged on Friday for possessing explicit photographs of himself with a naked underage girl and other images of children in various stages of undress. The FBI seized the materials from storage units rented by Markle in Los Angeles since 2008. FBI Director Kash Patel described Markle as targeting innocent children and seeking to steal their innocence through his criminal actions.

At Markle's initial court hearing last Friday, no plea was entered, and the judge allowed his release on the condition of home detention and wearing an ankle bracelet. However, federal prosecutors requested on Monday that the judge revoke Markle's home-release and keep him in custody pending trial after he cut off the ankle bracelet overnight.

The judge granted the request. Griffin also ordered Markle to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine if he was mentally competent to face prosecution, citing her reasonable belief that he was suffering from some mental deficiency due to his age and lack of recall during his court appearance.