Ex-butler to Queen jailed for sex assaults on boys

Paul Kidd, 55, was described by police as "a brilliant groomer" after admitting a string of sex offences against young boys stretching back years.

Kidd, of Stalybridge, near Manchester, began his paedophile offending as a trainee nurse when he met his first victim, who was aged 12, on the hospital ward where he worked.

Sentencing Kidd at Manchester Minshull Street crown court, Judge Mushtaq Khokhar told him: "You were someone who had influenced your victims to such an extent they were under your spell."

The judge imposed an indeterminate sentence and recommended that Kidd remain in prison for at least six years.

The defendant was senior footman to the Queen Mother from 1979 to 1984 and previously worked as a royal butler to The Queen from 1977.