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Location: Gibraltar / Hampshire, England, United Kingdom
Status: Sentenced to life in prison, 2001
Navy killer wins cut in jail term
BBC News
Friday, 23 May 2008
A Royal Navy Petty Officer who
murdered two young men has won a three-year reduction in his minimum
jail term.
Allan Grimson, then aged 42, was jailed for life in
2001 for killing Nicholas Wright, 18, from Leicester, and Sion Jenkins,
20, from Newbury, Berks.
Grimson, of London Road, Portsmouth, was told he must
serve 22 years but that was increased later that year to 25 years by the
then Home Secretary.
The High Court ruled that 22 years was "eminently
justified".
At his trial at Winchester Crown Court, Grimson
admitted the killings.
Judge Peter Cresswell described him as a "serial
killer in nature if not by number".
Sexual abuse
The bodies of Grimson's two victims were discovered
four miles apart at the side of country lanes north of Winchester,
Hampshire, in December 1999.
Both murders had involved sexual abuse.
It had been argued on Grimson's behalf that an
appropriate minimum term, taking into account time spent in jail
awaiting sentence, was 16 years, 262 days.
At the High Court Mr Justice Plender said the murders
"were exceptionally serious, even when compared to other murders
involving sexual or sadistic conduct".
Grimson, who has a personality disorder, was entitled
to a reduction in the minimum term to reflect the time that he spent on
remand.
I killed Simon
Sunday
Mirror
May 12,
2002
A GAY serial killer has admitted
murdering a teenage sailor - but is refusing to help police find the
body.
Former Royal Navy petty officer Allan Grimson
confessed to killing radio operator Simon Parkes, 18, who disappeared in
Gibraltar in 1986.
Grimson, who was jailed for life last year for two
other murders, has drawn rough maps for police showing the areas where
they should search, but refuses to identify the exact location.
Simon, from Gloucestershire, was on shore leave in
Gibraltar after a Far East tour on HMS Illustrious when he vanished.
Grimson, 42, has hinted that two other men might be
buried nearby. A police source said: "He has given us details of how he
killed Simon Parkes because he's been persuaded that this young man's
grieving parents have a right to know the truth and give him a proper
burial."
Grimson, who was in the Navy for 22 years, was given
two life sentences for murdering naval rating Nicholas Wright and barman
Sion Jenkins after they rejected his homosexual advances.
He told police he would kill again and boasted that
murder was better than sex.
However, he is now refusing to give more information
about Simon's death and detectives fear he may be playing "mind games".
Police uncovered human remains in the botanical
gardens in Gibraltar last week but tests showed they were not Simon's
body. His mother Margaret last night issued a desperate plea to Grimson.
She said: "Please tell us the truth and end our nightmare.
"In December 1986 our world stopped. Not knowing what
happened to Simon has haunted us for 16 years.
"We know he isn't alive but we cannot begin to grieve.
I need to know where Simon is. We want him to be found so we can bring
him home and give him a proper burial."
Simon's former girlfriend Maria Storey, of Exeter,
Devon, told Grimson: "Don't play mind games with us." She added: "Ever
since Simon vanished we've been in limbo. He was my first love. I look
for him in every man I meet. He was so special to me. It was love at
first sight. He was so caring, considerate and sensitive."
Tearful Maria appealed to the killer: "Please tell us
the whole truth. Stop playing games with us and the police."
The police source said: "There may be as many as 15
other sailors who were victims around the world.
"Grimson frequented gay bars wherever he went and it
is likely that he killed other young men."
At his trial last year, the jury heard that Grimson
lured Mr Wright and Mr Jenkins to his flat in Portsmouth where he
sexually assaulted them before battering them to death with a baseball
bat.
Their bodies were discovered in shallow graves at the
side of lanes in Hampshire.
Navy
killer jailed for life
March
28, 2001
A Royal Navy petty officer has been jailed for life after
pleading guilty to the murders of two young men.
Allan Grimson admitted murdering naval rating Nicholas
Wright, 18, and barman Sion Jenkins, 20, from Newbury, Berkshire.
Judge Peter Cresswell, sentencing Grimson at
Winchester Crown Court on Tuesday, told him: "You are a serial
killer in nature if not by number.
"You are a highly dangerous serial killer who
killed two young men in horrifying and appalling circumstances."
The bodies of the two victims were discovered four
miles apart at the side of country lanes north of Winchester, Hampshire,
in December 1999.
Nicholas Wright was found in a field next to the A272
at Cheriton.
The body of Sion Jenkins was discovered near to the
A32 at West Tisted.
'Feeling of power'
The court heard that Grimson, 42, had described to
police how attacking Mr Wright had given him a feeling which was "better
than sex".
Anthony Donne QC, prosecuting, said that in an
interview, Grimson had said he had punched the air in triumph and let
out a roar after hitting the teenager with a baseball bat, slitting his
throat and slicing off his ear.
He told officers: "It was such a feeling. I have
never had that feeling. It was a feeling of power, a good feeling."
Mr Donne told the court that Grimson, who was from
North Shields, had met the young recruit Mr Wright on a fire training
course in Portsmouth in November 1997.
Grimson, of London Road, Portsmouth, had given Mr
Wright his telephone number to see if he wanted a lift back home to
Leicester.
At the time, Mr Wright had been concerned about it.
He had consulted his family, asking them if Grimson
could be homosexual, and they had told him to take care, the court was
told.
The following month, Mr Wright and Grimson went back
to Grimson's home after leaving a Portsmouth nightclub.
Mr Donne said Grimson told police he had touched and
kissed Mr Wright.
He had then told the teenager he wanted to go upstairs,
but Mr Wright had refused, and Grimson had become angry.
He punched him in the face and hit him
with a baseball bat.
Grimson, who has been in the Navy for more than 20
years, told officers Mr Wright had said: "Why don't you kill
me?"
Mr Donne said: "The defendant in his own words
said he just lost it.
"He struck him severely hard blows to the head,
cut his throat with a carving knife and threw him in the bath."
Grimson had explained that the killing had not been
sexual, but one of control and power, the court heard.
Second killing
Mr Jenkins had been murdered a year later, again,
after accompanying Grimson back to his home.
The court was told that when Mr Jenkins refused to
have sex with him, Grimson got angry and attacked him.
During the night, the pair did have sex, but in the
morning, when Mr Jenkins said he wanted to leave, Grimson killed him
with a baseball bat.
Before he was sentenced, Grimson admitted killing Mr
Wright some time between 11 December 1997 and 17 December 1999, and Mr
Jenkins some time between 1 November 1998 and 18 December 1999.
Missing sailor 'link' to killer
BBC News
Tuesday, 3
April, 2001
Police in Gibraltar are investigating a possible link
between the disappearance of a Royal Navy sailor 15 years ago and killer
Allan Grimson.
Simon Parkes, 18, from Kingswood in south
Gloucestershire, was a radio operator on HMS Illustrious when he
disappeared on 12 December 1986 after a night out with colleagues in
Gibraltar
Serving on the ship at the same time
was petty officer Allan Grimson, who was jailed for life last week after
admitting the murders of naval rating Nicholas Wright, 18, from
Leicestershire and barman Sion Jenkins, 20, from Newbury.
Both men had been tortured and bludgeoned to death in
Portsmouth, Hampshire.
Royal Gibraltar Police have appealed for information
surrounding Mr Parkes' disappearance and said, depending on what comes
to light, they could consider travelling to the UK to question Grimson.
Mr Parkes was last seen leaving the Horseshoe bar in
Gibraltar to get something to eat, according to the police.
Someone fitting his description was then seen drunk
at a nearby naval function inside the Fleet Pavilion at the Hole in the
Wall pub.
He had left his passport, possessions and Christmas
presents for his family on the ship and had written to his parents
saying he would be home for Christmas.
Appeal
Superintendent James Mckay said police in Gibraltar
would join forces with Hampshire police, who carried out the original
investigation into Grimson.
He said: "We appeal to any of Simon Parkes'
colleagues who were with him on the night he disappeared and also any
person who was at the bars or Fleet Pavilion to contact the police.
"We request that any persons serving on board HMS
Illustrious in December 1986 contact us."
Mr Parkes parents, Dave and Margaret, backed the
appeal.
Mrs Parkes said: "It's been 15 long years for us. In
the first few years we hoped Simon might have contacted us by after a
while we lost that feeling.
"We really want to know what happened to him."
Allan Grimson
Grimson, 40, was a petty officer in the British royal
navy that has become known in the media as a man crippled with
"physical ugliness." In fact, his nickname among his college's
was `Frank' - short for Frankenstein. And it was this ugliness that led
him to take vengeance on young, good looking sailors. As good a reason
as any I suppose.
The homosexual Grimson would look at a group of young
sailors and would single one of them out as a potential victim, which is
what he had done this since the start of his 22-year navy career.
His M.O. would contain giving his telephone number to
young sailors telling them if they ever needed a lift up north - where
his family lived near Newcastle - to call him.
In December 1997, 18-year-old Nicholas Wright, who had
only been onboard the HMS Edinburgh for only one week, took him up on
his offer, but then spurned his sexual advances, so Grimson beat him
senseless with a baseball bat.
The teenager cried out in pain, begging Grimson not to
rape him.
Grimson later said he knew he would brutally murder
Nicholas when the pretty young man cried out: `Why don't you kill me
then?' It's fair to say that he probably would have done that anyway.
Grimson sliced off part of Nicholas Wright's right
ear, cut his throat and threw his body to the floor. Later, during an
interview with police, Grimson explained he wanted to dismember the body
as a trophy. He also admitted performing a sex act on the dead body.
He then carried Nicholas's body to the bathroom,
dumped it in the bath, took a shower and went to sleep.
The next day, he wrapped Nicholas in black bin liners
and drove him to a shallow grave along the A272 near the village of
Cheriton and hid the body in a hedgerow.
Grimson went on to call this first murder "The
Nicholas Wright experience", a pretty good name for a band I'd
reckon.
About a year later he found his next victim at the
Hogshead pub in Palmerston Road, Southsea. It was the barman there, Sion
Jenkins, 20, that took his eye. He was good looking and vulnerable,
according to Grimson.
Grimson spotted him outside the pub at Joanna's
nightclub in Southsea and decided it would be fun to lured him to his
flat at 143A London Road in North End.
Once there he stripped Sion, tortured him and raped
him several times, and it must have been fun because he decided to keep
him there overnight. He left him the next day bound by his wrists and
ankles over the bath. Eventually he came home to finish the job. He
smashed his skull in with a baseball bat.
Grimson later told police he didn't get the same
thrill as with Nicholas because Sion didn't put up a fight.
Eventually Police decided to look into the
disappearance of Nicholas and questioned his fellow seaman. One name
kept popping up in there interviews, and once called in for questioning,
Grimson admitted to his murder. The next day he thought he should also
tell the police about Sion's murder as well.
When he was sentenced to two life sentences, Mr
Justice Cresswell told Grimson: "You are a serial killer in nature
if not by number. You are a highly dangerous serial killer who killed
two young men in horrifying and appalling circumstances."
The victims
Naval rating Nicholas
Wright, 18, and barman Sion Jenkins, 20.
