Former royal aide Benjamin Herman not guilty of historic sex abuse

Benjamin Herman served as equerry to Prince Philip in the early 1970s

Former aide to the Duke of Edinburgh Benjamin Herman has been cleared of sex abuse allegations at Blackfriars Crown Court (Yui Mok/PA Wire )

A former royal aide to the Duke of Edinburgh has been cleared over allegations that he sexually abused a young girl.

Benjamin Herman, 80, from Hampshire, went on trial over accusations that he abused a girl, thought to be about 12 years old, in the early 1970s.

Yesterday, a jury at Blackfriars Crown Court found him not guilty on three counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 13.

He was also cleared of one count of indecency with a child between 1972 and 1974.

The jury took 40 minutes to find him not guilty.

Herman had been serving in the Royal Marines but was on secondment as an equerry to Prince Philip between 1971 and 1974.

It was alleged that the abuse took place on four occasions at a house in south-west London which was used by military personnel and was where Herman was living at the time.

Herman told the court that he was “outraged and flabbergasted” by the claims.

The woman, now 54, came forward in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. Responding to why she had not come forward before, the woman said: “I made up my mind that I would never speak about it, I felt ashamed, I felt guilty, I felt dirty, I’ll take my dirty little secret to my grave, I thought.”