The United Nations has launched an investigation after a former senior official with links to a British charity was arrested over serious child sex offences.

Police allege they found 60-year-old Peter Dalglish with two boys aged 12 and 14 in the same room when they launched a dawn raid at his idyllic mountainside home in Nagarkot, near Kathmandu, Nepal, earlier this month.

Dalglish has held various posts, some senior, with UN agencies which receive more than £582 million a year in foreign aid from British taxpayers.

In his most recent posting in 2015, he was the UN's 'country representative' in Kabul.

Peter Dalglish, pictured with a young male acquaintance, is a former Unicef and WHO official and was found with 'two young boys at his home in Nepal'

Detectives claim the lawyer-turned-charity boss has been abusing children in Nepal for 15 years after a young man in his mid-20s made historical allegations against him. Police say that 'medical and scientific evidence' against Dalglish will be presented by prosecutors when he appears in court on Wednesday.

Officers said they were tipped off by workers from another charity three months ago, but also received intelligence from a foreign law enforcement agency more recently, and were following Dalglish prior to the arrest.

'Initial investigations revealed that he had been targeting children from poor financial backgrounds and sexually abusing them,' said Pushkar Karki, director of Nepal's elite Central Investigation Bureau.

He claimed that Dalglish lured children away from their parents with offers to educate them, take them abroad and provide them with jobs.

He told The Mail on Sunday that Canadian-born Dalglish believed his status would make him invulnerable, adding: 'Those things made it easy for him to prey on those kids. And then they would be silenced, because he has got so much influence.'

Staff at various UN agencies were urgently investigating Dalglish's past activities last week.

Dalglish, pictured with Canadian premier Justin Trudeau, held a number of senior posts with the UN

The married father-of-one founded global charity Street Kids International (SKI), which is now part of London-based Save the Children. He says he was inspired to help youngsters by the 1984 Ethiopian famine, which gave rise to Band Aid and Live Aid, and in his autobiography he writes of meeting Bob Geldof the following year at a camp in Sudan.

He recalled watching refugee children cluster around Geldof and observed: 'I have always believed that many kids come with a built-in radar that tells them which adults they can trust and which they should fear.'

Dalglish, whose net worth has been estimated at more than £5 million, has met Canadian premier Justin Trudeau and Princess Anne through his humanitarian work.

About 15 years ago, he founded the Himalayan Community Foundation, providing healthcare and education to remote communities in Nepal.

Dalglish had a 30-year career with the UN and was arrested at his house in Nepal (pictured)

Dalglish's career spans more than 30 years, and at various times, he has held many posts, some of them senior, in UN agencies, including World Food Programme, Unicef, WHO, and UN-Habitat, the organisation's home-building programme.

WFP said it was checking its records for the mid-1980s but had not yet found Dalglish's name – a spokesman added that he could have been a local appointment.

UN-Habitat revealed that Dalglish worked for it between 2010 and 2015, but there have 'not been any reports or allegations on any misconduct during his tenure'. WHO said it was 'shocked' at the allegations but added that no complaints had been made against him.

Save the Children said that Dalglish had never worked for the charity, adding: 'Save the Children acquired one of SKI's programmes and some of its assets in 2015.' Unicef said they were reviewing their records. Sir Bob Geldof declined to comment.

Dalglish's lawyer Rahul Chapagain insisted his client was innocent and added: 'Charges have not be filed but he denies the allegations. He will plead not guilty.'