text: Police are investigating claims by a former royal footman that palace aides tried to force him into an orgy, it was revealed yesterday. Christopher Lawler said he was pinned to a chair and groped by a male member of staff on his first day working at Clarence House. The ordeal left him in tears and he left the job the same day. He finally decided to contact palace officials again last year after inquiries began into alleged cover-ups of child sex abuse by a VIP paedophile ring in the 1970s and 80s. Police are investigating claims made by a former royal footman that Clarence House aides tried to force him into an orgy in the 1970s . But his complaints were ignored for months before the police were finally notified, he claims. Mr Lawler, now 64, said the attempted abuse at the Queen Mother’s London residence happened in January 1978 when he was 27. He said he was accosted after he walked into a bedroom to look for a pen on his first shift. Two men offered him a drink before two other men joined them – one a senior member of staff, he said. He was asked if he was gay before a younger man took his trousers off and began performing a sex act on himself. ‘That prompted another guy to put his hand on my leg and then he grabbed me,’ he told the Sunday People. ‘I was staggered. The younger man then came up behind me and gripped me, holding me in the chair. Mr Lawler worked at Clarence House when the Queen Mother used it as her London residence . ‘They were trying to undo my trousers but I managed to jump up and burst out of the room.’ Afterwards, Mr Lawler said he was followed by two men and threatened to keep quiet. A complaint he made that day allegedly drew an angry response from Clarence House – so he packed his bags immediately. Mr Lawler, a former Port of Liverpool police officer, said he was ‘haunted’ by the incident for years. After hearing about the probe into historical cases of child abuse last year he wrote to the Palace, but was twice rebuffed. Months later the complaint was finally passed to Scotland Yard. A retired royal aide, who is now in his 80s, was reportedly interviewed but denied he was involved because he was working for the Queen in Balmoral at the time. Mr Lawler has now been told by the Palace that the Royal Household would work ‘exhaustively and co-operatively’ with any police probe. A police spokesman said it would be inappropriate to comment ‘as investigations continue’.
target: Christopher Lawler claims he was pinned to a chair and groped by staff .
  He left job at Clarence House the same day as alleged incident in 1978 .
  Mr Lawler, now 68, claims he reported his account but was twice ignored .
  The palace is now 'cooperating' with police to investigate historic claims .