Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle, has been detained in Florida over the alleged removal of his court-ordered ankle monitor.

His detention was confirmed by the Justice Department officials in Los Angeles.

On Tuesday, U.S. attorney for Central California Bill Essayli addressed Mr Markle’s alleged removal of his ankle monitor.

“Four days ago, a federal judge allowed Mr Markle to remain out of custody pending trial. He was ordered to wear a location monitoring device. He allegedly cut the bracelet off at 1:45 a.m. last night.

“Release conditions are court orders, not suggestions. We are asking the court to revoke his release and detain him pending trial, and we will continue to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.”

Mr Markle, 82, was arrested on Friday, following an FBI investigation into allegations that he possessed child sexual abuse material, an offence punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

According to an affidavit filed in court, the FBI received information that Mr Markle possessed the material and had rented two storage units in Los Angeles since 2008. Agents searched the facilities under court-approved warrants and recovered about 78 items, including film negatives, slides and books suspected to contain child sexual abuse material.

Witnesses positively identified Mr Markle in two of the images, with the man pictured estimated to be in his 30s or 40s, suggesting the alleged abuse dated back decades.

Mr Markle appeared in court after his arrest last week, but no plea was taken. He was subsequently released under house detention and ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device. He has denied possessing the images and described the allegations as “sick lies”.