Allan Grimson

Allan Grimson (born 1958)[1] is a convicted British murderer who is responsible for murdering at least two men and is suspected of killing others, possibly up to another 20 undiscovered victims. The judge, who sentenced him to a minimum term of 22 years at his trial, said that Grimson was a serial killer by nature, but not by number. Because his two victims were killed on the same date just a year apart (12 December), detectives believe there may be more victims out there as yet unidentified.

Allan Michael Grimson
Born
North Shields, Tyne & Wear, UK
Criminal penaltyLife sentence
Details
Victims2 (many more suspected)
CountryUnited Kingdom

Royal Navy

Grimson joined the Royal Navy in 1978 and by the time of his conviction for murder, he was the rank of Petty Officer (PO). He had served aboard HMS Illustrious and was a trainer in fire fighting techniques whilst based at HMNB Portsmouth.[2] Whilst being questioned by police, Grimson admitted that he scoured the ranks of trainees and cadets (that passed through HMS Excellent on the courses that he instructed on) so that he could dominate and kill the best looking ones.[3]

Victims

His first known victim was 18-year-old Nicholas Wright who was in the Royal Navy. Grimson had met Wright on a fire-fighting course run by the Royal Navy in November 1997. Grimson offered to give Wright a lift home to Leicester on the weekends, but Wright and his family were suspicious of his motives. Whilst Wright was on shore leave from HMS Edinburgh[4] in December 1997, he was seen out drinking with Grimson. They were witnessed leaving a Portsmouth nightclub together and according to Grimson, they went back to his flat where Grimson tried kissing Wright. Wright spurned his advances and Grimson attacked Wright firstly by punching him, then with a baseball bat (landing several blows) and then cutting his throat with a carving knife and dumping his body in the bath of Grimson's flat. Wright's body was later dumped beside the A272 road near Cheriton in Hampshire.[5] Grimson was questioned by military police in 1997, but lied to keep himself out of the investigation.[2]

Grimson detailed the killing out to officers whilst being interviewed in December 1999. He admitted to getting a thrill from killing Wright. He said the thrill came from the power he had over the younger man and that the killing had no sexual element to it; however, he did admit that the feeling was "better than an orgasm".[6]

His second victim was 20-year-old Sion Jenkins who was killed a year later in December 1998. Jenkins was originally from Newbury and had been in the Royal Navy for a brief spell. At the time of his murder, he was working as a barman in the Hogs Head pub in Portsmouth and had met up with Grimson in a nightclub called Joanna's in the town. Jenkins was drunk, and both he and Grimson went back to Grimson's flat where Jenkins was forced to have sex after Grimson punched and threatened him. In the morning, Jenkins expressed his desire to leave and Grimson wished to recapture the same feeling of elation that he had when he murdered Wright the previous year.[6] Jenkins was bound to the bath and severely beaten with a baseball bat resulting in his death. His body was dumped next to the A32 road at West Tisted.[7]

Conviction and life sentence

Grimson was convicted in 2001 of killing Nicholas Wright and Sion Jenkins and the judge recommended that he serve a minimum of 22 years but also that he should never be released.[8] This sentence was increased to 25 years by the then Home Secretary. In 2008, Grimson won a reduction in his life sentence by three years. This was to reflect the time he had spent on remand.[9] The review noted his guilty plea, the time spent on remand and also his personality disorder.[10] After thorough assessment by psychologists, opinion was divided on Grimson's mental health. Whilst it was generally believed that Grimson was responsible for his actions, one psychologist labelled Grimson as being the worst psychopath that he had come across in 250 murderers.[3]

At the trial, Mr Justice Cresswell told Grimson "You are a serial killer in nature if not in number. You are a highly dangerous serial killer who killed two young men in horrifying circumstances."[3]

Other victims

Police actively investigated the disappearance of naval rating Simon Parkes from HMS Illustrious whilst she was docked in Gibraltar in 1986. Grimson and Parkes both served on HMS Illustrious at that time and witnesses have placed the two together on the night that Parkes disappeared. UK police have flown over to Gibraltar and have used cadaver dogs and have searched the sewers in attempts to discover Parkes' body.[11] In 2005, the BBC broadcast two programmes (The Search for Simon Parkes & October's edition of Crimewatch) which prompted Grimson to complain through his solicitor to Ofcom. Grimson complained that he had been unfairly treated in comparison to other suspects and that he had strenuously denied killing Parkes, but that was not mentioned in the programme. He also said that he had not been given enough notice by the BBC to respond to the claims in the two programmes and that police evidence used had no bearing on the case.[12] Ofcom did not uphold either complaint.[13]

Police are also speculating that there are other unknown victims and believe that as Grimson killed people on the twelfth of December each year, that there could be a range between 11[14] and 20 unidentified victims at Grimson's hands.[15]

In 1998, Grimson was working at the Royal New Zealand Navy base of Devonport on an exchange programme of fire fighting training. Whilst he was there, a 29-year-old female Japanese immigrant, Kayo Matsuzawa, was found dead and hidden in a fire alarm cupboard in a stairwell of a building in Auckland. Grimson was considered as a suspect (although there are others) as he was friendly with the building manager. The building manager admitted that he had seen Grimson in the building on several occasions, and whilst Grimson was a suspect, investigators have noted that his other victims were men.[16]

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References
  1. Bennetto, Jason (23 June 2003). "Police search Gibraltar for sailor missing since 1986". The Independent. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  2. Ofcom 2007, p. 19.
  3. Tweedie, Neil (28 March 2001). "Sailor was "serial killer in name if not number"". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  4. Allaway, Jim, ed. (March 2000). "Funeral of sailor (18)". Navy News (548). Portsmouth: Royal Navy. p. 34. ISSN 0028-1670.
  5. "Navy killer jailed for life". BBC News. 28 March 2001. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  6. "Navy petty officer admits two murders". The Guardian. 27 March 2001. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  7. Halfpenny, Martin (28 March 2001). "Murder was better than sex, says Navy serial killer. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  8. "Jail sentence for killer of sailor". Harborough Mail. 5 April 2001. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  9. "Navy killer wins cut in jail term". BBC News. 23 May 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  10. "[ARCHIVED CONTENT] UK Government Web Archive – The National Archives". webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. HMCS; Her Majesty's Courts Service. Archived from the original on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  11. "Grimson: New moves over missing sailor". Portsmouth News. 19 January 2005. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  12. Ofcom 2007, p. 14.
  13. Ofcom 2007, p. 44.
  14. "Murderer 'may have killed 12'". Portsmouth News. 11 July 2005. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  15. Newton, Michael (2006). The encyclopedia of serial killers (2nd ed.). New York: Facts On File. p. 352. ISBN 0-8160-6195-5.
  16. "Briton gives police new lead to killer of Japanese tourist". New Zealand Herald. 30 June 2000. Retrieved 24 February 2017.

Sources
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