Former Royal Navy petty officer double murderer guilty of sex assaults in 1990s

By Anahita Hossein-Pour and Ben Mitchell, Press Association

A former Royal Navy petty officer jailed for life for the murder of two young men has been found guilty of sexually assaulting four males, including a 14-year-old boy in the 1990s, two of whom he had considered killing.

Allan Grimson was sentenced in 2001 for the murders of Nicholas Wright, a sailor, and Sion Jenkins, in the late 1990s.

Grimson, 66, has been on trial at Winchester Crown Court for the rape and indecent assault of a teenage naval rating, and indecent assault charges against three other male complainants, dating between February 1994 and November 1999.

The court had heard the double murderer told police a sailor whom he is now convicted of sexually assaulting was “lucky to be alive”, and added: “If you’re going to rape somebody, to get away with it, kill it.”

Jurors on Monday convicted Grimson, of Hollesley, Suffolk, on all 13 counts.

Of the verdicts, 12 were unanimous and one was a majority of 10 to 2.

He was found guilty of indecent assault of the first victim between February 28 and December 31 1994, and of the second victim between September 30 and December 1 1998.

Grimson was also found guilty of the rape and five indecent assault offences against the third complainant between February 1 and November 30 1999.

He also was convicted of four counts of indecent assault and a charge of taking an indecent photograph of the fourth complainant, the 14-year-old child, between March 26 and October 31 1999.

John Price KC, prosecuting, had told the jury that when Grimson was interviewed about the case of Mr Wright in 1999, he provided details about some of the offences and said he had met the second complainant “in the same way” as the murder victim Mr Wright.

Grimson had described the second complainant as “lucky to be alive” because the friend was present in another room at the time, Mr Price said.

The prosecutor said: “He told police there were others who are lucky to be alive because of the circumstances.”

“He says the circumstances were that on the occasion they came back to his house he would get into bed with them and start touching them.”

“He thought that if it continues, he will kill them but there was someone downstairs.”

Mr Price added the incident involving the second complainant happened “just a matter of weeks before Allan Grimson murdered Sion Jenkins in that same flat when only the two of them were there”.

The court heard Grimson also told police “he would probably have killed” the 14-year-old complainant if there had not been another person in the flat at the time.

Jurors were told the third complainant was a 17-year-old naval rating when he met the defendant, aged in his late 30s at the time and working as an instructor at the Royal Navy Firefighting School on Horsea Island, Portsmouth.

Mr Price said: “That posting brought Mr Grimson into contact with many young males aged in their late teens, novices in the naval service subject to a regime of strict discipline and over every one of whom Allan Grimson exercised great authority by reason of his status in that service.”

“He was a big powerful man and, within the service, admired as a capable instructor.”

Grimson had denied the charges during the month-long trial.

Judge Paul Dugale asked for more information about Grimson before he will be sentenced on November 6.

He said: “There’s no doubt in 1999 you were an extremely dangerous man”.

But the judge added he needed more information about what has changed since then and an assessment of Grimson as he is today.

GIBRALTAR

GBC journalist Ros Astengo helped bring the case to court following her investigation into the disappearance of a Royal Navy sailor who went missing in Gibraltar 40 years ago.

Simon Parkes, from Bristol, was last seen in December 1986 when the ship he was serving on, HMS Illustrious, was docked in Gibraltar.

His disappearance was part of investigations by Hampshire police into the past of Grimson, a former petty officer, after he was jailed for life in 2001 for the murders of navy rating Nicholas Wright and barman Sion Jenkins.

But the force announced in December 2025 that it had closed its investigation into the death after “tireless” inquiries had failed to uncover how Mr Parkes had disappeared.

Grimson had been also been serving on the aircraft carrier when it had docked at Gibraltar.

Mr Parkes, a radio operator, had gone ashore on December 12 1986 – the same date in December that Grimson killed Mr Wright and Mr Jenkins in separate years more than a decade later.

The sailor did not return to the ship and no-one knew what had happened to him when it arrived back in Portsmouth days later, despite a manhunt.

Announcing the end of the investigation in December, Detective Superintendent Adam Edwards said: “Officers have worked tirelessly to investigate the disappearance of Simon Parkes and to find answers for his devastated family.”

“This information has been thoroughly explored and following a complex investigation which has included advice from the CPS, we are now drawing our enquiries to a close.”

“The full circumstances surrounding Simon’s disappearance still remain unknown, however police will continue to support the ongoing coronial process.”

Specialist police teams were deployed to Gibraltar in 2019 after the force received new and credible intelligence.

Following further information, in January 2024, officers returned to the Town Range car park, where they had carried out previous investigations in August 2023.

Police have also previously carried out digs at Trafalgar Cemetery.

Grimson has always denied being involved in the disappearance of Mr Parkes.

Chronicle staff added reporting to this article.