A former Buckingham Palace butler has been unmasked as a sexual predator who ran a paedophile ring while serving the Royal Family.
Bachelor Paul Kidd, 55, groomed at least one of his teenage victims for sex by taking him for tea with the Queen Mother at Clarence House, it has emerged.
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.
He often publicly gushed about his blue blood employers talking of the Queen as ‘courteous and genuinely caring.’
Former Royal butler Paul Kidd has admitted 29 sex charges involving three boys
But behind the facade, Kidd was leading a secret double life as a serial child abuser who molested a string of boys over a 30 year period.
He was finally exposed after one of his victims read a newspaper article in which he boasted about his links to the Royals and talked fondly of Princess Diana and her musical tastes.
Police raided his two bedroom home in St Johns Street, Stalybridge, where they found almost 19,000 pornographic pictures and videos of children.
Included in the haul were some nude pictures of a teenager who officers were able to trace and interview.
Some images were hidden in a safe while others were encrypted on his computer.
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, 56, of St Johns Street, Dukinfield admitted seven charges involving one of the victims of sexual activity with a child and possessing indecent images. Both men face a maximum 14 years in jail.
A police source said: ‘Kidd was a very accomplished groomer of children.
‘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.
‘This man used his Royal connections to impress and seduce young boys. He even had autographed pictures of Manchester United players on his walls at home.
‘He was acting with at least one other man and it’s possible he could have been communicating with many other paedophiles over many years.
‘These offences are probably just the tip of the iceberg.’
Kidd had honed his skills as a silver service waiter when he joined the Royal Navy after leaving school – looking after the captain and officers.
During his naval service he visited 22 countries around the world. 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.
During his years in Royal service, he was said to have met and looked after three American Presidents including Jimmy Carter and Ronald Regan plus many other Heads of State from around the world.
