A Yorkshire aristocrat has died less than four months after being spared jail over the sexual abuse of a young girl at his stately home.

       Simon Howard, whose family are the custodians of Yorkshire’s Castle Howard – featured in the 1981 ITV series Brideshead Revisited –abused a girl of six or seven in the gatehouse where he lived in 1984.

       Howard, who was found unfit to stand trial after suffering brain damage in a fall, was given an absolute discharge at York Crown Court in November, meaning that no action was taken against him and he only received a criminal record.

       A jury found that he indecently assaulted and incited a child to commit an indecent act during a one-week trial of facts in October.

       The court heard that Howard invited the child into his bed while his then-wife was out seeing to their horses. She told her mother about what had happened, who then confronted Howard. He denied anything sexual took place.

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       Judge Sean Morris condemned the delay in prosecuting Howard as “unacceptable” and said he might have been able to stand trial had he been charged earlier.

       Howard was also accused of attempting to rape a young female visitor to the castle three times in the early 2000s. However, the case was not progressed because prosecutors concluded that it would not be in the public interest to proceed with the allegations.

       Simon Howard and his wife Rebecca, who married in 2001

       (SWNS)

       Howard’s family said he suffered a brain haemorrhage after falling down stairs in his home. A judge said: “It was between his interview with the police and the day of the fact-finding that the defendant had a fall, from which he suffered brain damage.”

       On Monday, his family released a statement confirming his death, which read: “We are able to confirm that very sadly, Simon Howard has died, following an ongoing illness and recent complications with his diabetes.

       “We would ask for the family to be afforded privacy at this difficult time.”

       Howard’s family home appeared on TV in 1981’s Brideshead Revisited, adapted from the novel by Evelyn Waugh. It was later the setting for Netflix series Bridgerton.

       Castle Howard estate in Howardian Hills, North Yorkshire

       (Getty)

       Howard stepped down from running the stately home in 2015 after a reported falling out with his older brother, who then took on the role.

       He moved to another address, Welham Hall, around ten miles away.

       Howard was the grandson of the Earl of Carlisle who in 1983 became a life peer after previously holding the position of chairman on the BBC board of governors.

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       His nearly 9,000 acre ancestral home, set in the civil parish of Henderskelfe, North Yorkshire, has been in the family for 300 years.

       The family lends its name to the surrounding Howardian Hills, a 50,000 acre Area of Outstanding National Beauty.