Thaindian News

London, Oct 2 (IANS) A butler who once waited on the British Queen is in police custody after being exposed as a paedophile running a boy sex racket while serving the royal family.Paul Kidd, 55, a celebrity of sorts who has appeared on many popular TV shows in the UK and the US, was exposed after a couple of men went to the police claiming they had been abused by him in the past.

Kidd admitted 29 sex charges involving three boys namely indecent assault, sexual activity with a child and the possessing and making of indecent images of children between December 1974 and January 2008. An accomplice, David Hobday, has also been arrested.

Police raided his two bedroom home in St Johns Street, Stalybridge, where they found almost 19,000 pornographic pictures and videos of children.

To the public, he had been the urbane gent who waited on the Royals for nine years - first the Queen at the Palace and then her mother.

Kidd joined the naval service after school. In 1976 he was appointed as butler to the Queen at Buckingham Palace and served there for six years until being transferred to Clarence House where he served the Queen Mother.

He was said to have met and looked after three American Presidents including Jimmy Carter and Ronald Regan plus many other heads of state.

He was also said to have worked closely with Princess Diana at Buckingham Palace in the six months prior to her wedding to Prince Charles.

In 1985 he gave up Royal Service due to a cancer scare but then started charging up to 4,000 pounds as an after dinner speaker talking about his work with the Royal Family.

He ran a series of lectures including one he called: An uncomfortable experience for the Queens page boy.

Kidd also starred on numerous TV chat shows in Britain and the US including the Caroline Rhea show in New York.

Police began investigating Kidd after a victim, now 41, read an article about Kidd and went to the police and told officers how he was 14 when he was abused by Kidd after meeting him through a CB radio group.

Kidd introduced the lad to his Royal employers and took him for tea with the Queen Mother in the late 70s. It is believed the victim even spoke to the Queen Mother - at a time when the late Royal had no idea he was being secretly abused by her servant.

Another victim later came forward to say he was abused in the 1980s when he was 15 after meeting him when Kidd was training to be a nurse.

A police source told Daily Mail: “Given that he has been behaving like this for 30 years the likelihood is there could be many other victims out there who have not yet come forward.”