I’m about to get off the hyperfocus dragon before it flies off with the reins very much not in my hands.
But after much dredging through legalese, various police forces websites in several nations and Interpol
viewed only from what was known from The Letter of Varying Date that was well before Brother Markle’s Sun exclusive could be factored in
A non British national/resident made allegations
Against a non British national/resident
Regarding crimes either in their shared nation (but not shared country of residence)
And/or in a third nation where neither the accuser nor the accused were resident.
What was the minimum a British police force could do ?
They could not create a crime report due to nobody & nothing being British based.
But !
They might have had the right or responsibility to inform (by international registered post ?) the accuser that her allegations were outside of their jurisdiction.
They might have had the right or responsibility to inform her that she should proceed to her local cop shop because they would be able to create a crime report from her knowledge of a crime. And her local cop shop could then have the jurisdiction to proceed from there to involve other jurisdictions.
They might have had the right or responsibility to locate the accuser’s local cop shop with a synopsis (or a copy of the original letter?) and invite them to speak to the accuser to see if she was willing to formalise her allegations with a crime report.
MM had the right, but not the responsibility (cos Brit Cop was in the know and had all knowledge & tools available) to do either of the above as well.
But she may not have had the right (let alone the responsibility) to forward a copy of the letter cos she had no legal standing as the author or authorised recipient of the letter. She would have had to summarise letter received via Bri Cop, from X accusing Y of Z, and ask “please proceed with all and any investigations possible if accuser willing to make a formal crime report”. Calligraphy & Crest may have helped her communication rise more quickly in a USA cop shop in-box
As a British resident she may have had the right to make a crime report at her local Brit Cop shop, but it is not clear to me that the letter would have formed a strong enough basis for a crime report off her bat.
All of the above would have risked leaking from various sources to the Media. Which would be deeply regrettable (from the position of 2019, less so with the hindsight of 2026), but relatively small potatoes if Brit Cop and/or MM thought the allegations had legs and child victims had been, or were, at risk.
The leaking risk would be much bigger potatoes than hypothetical past/present child victims if the content of the letter was believed by all to be a load of bollocks from a bitter ex.
Another concern at that time (pre 2026 bombshell) would be the squandering of limited police resources in various nations by sending them on a multi-nation wild goose chase, to the detriment of real present/past child victims requiring protection/justice in other cases.
Anybody living anywhere, who knows somebody living anywhere, doing anything criminal in any place now needs to be really careful what they say to me. Cos I know exactly what to do if they brandish letters in my face. Probably. Well I feel fairly confident cos Dunning Kruger Effect is real and I’ve read enough to feel terribly well informed, while blissfully unaware of how much more there is to know.
If only I dedicated this much effort into learning my own fecking phone number.
< dismounts hyperfocus dragon in the nick of time >