Ex-royal butler on child sex charge - News in brief - Evening Standard
       

Ex-royal butler on child sex charge

A former royal butler has been accused of nine counts of rape involving boys, it is reported.

Paul Kidd, 54, appeared at Tameside Magistrates' Court charged with a total of 18 sexual offences, police said.

Kidd, of Grasscroft Road, Stalybridge, near Manchester, has been charged with nine counts of rape, as well as four of gross indecency, two of indecent assault and three of sexual assault.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said the charges came after a man, now aged 41, alleged that he was sexually assaulted by Kidd in 1981.

A 17-year-old boy also alleges he was sexually abused by Kidd.

According to the People newspaper, Kidd was the Queen's personal butler for four years from 1976 and was then a senior footman to the Queen Mother.

The newspaper said police officers had also seized a computer allegedly containing more than 1,000 images of suspected child porn.

Last year, Kidd stood as a candidate for the UK Independence Party at local elections.

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