Allan Michael Grimson (born 1958) is a convicted British murderer and suspected
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
who is responsible for
murdering at least two
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
sailors and who is suspected of killing many 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 exactly a year apart (12 December), detectives believe there may be more victims as yet unidentified. He is the
prime suspect
''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television drama series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, who ...
in the
disappearance of Simon Parkes
Simon Parkes (born 1968) was a radio operator (RO1 (G)) in the Royal Navy who went missing in Gibraltar in 1986. Parkes was serving aboard when he disappeared whilst on shore leave in the overseas territory. In 2001, Parkes' disappearance gain ...
, another young Royal Navy sailor who also vanished on 12 December from
Gibraltar
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, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
while Grimson was docked in the area.
Despite fears of him having up to 22 victims, Grimson's release from prison is imminent and he is already being held in
open prison
An open prison (open jail) is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and are often not locked up in their prison cells. Prisoners may be permitted to take up employment w ...
conditions with day release provisions.
Royal Navy
Grimson joined the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
in 1978 and by the time of his conviction for murder, he was the rank of
Petty Officer
A petty officer (PO) is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotation OR-5 or OR-6. In many nations, they are typically equal to a sergeant in comparison to other military branches. Often they may be superior ...
(PO). He had served aboard
HMS ''Illustrious'' and was a trainer in fire fighting techniques whilst based at
HMNB Portsmouth
His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is lo ...
. 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.
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
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
on the weekends, but Wright and his family were suspicious of his motives. Whilst Wright was on shore leave from
HMS ''Edinburgh'' in December 1997, he was seen out drinking with Grimson. They were witnessed leaving a
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
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. Grimson was questioned by military police in 1997, but lied to keep himself out of the investigation.
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".
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.
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
A3, A03 or A.III may refer to:
* A3 paper, a paper size defined by ISO 216
Biology
* A3 regulatory sequence, a sequence for the insulin gene
* Adenosine A3 receptor, Adenosine A3 receptor, a human gene
* Annexin A3, a human gene
* ATC code A03 ...
at
West Tisted
West Tisted is a small village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is northwest of Petersfield, just off the A32 road.
The nearest railway station is the restored Ropley station on the Watercress Line, trains from which co ...
.
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. This sentence was increased to 25 years by the then
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
. In 2008, Grimson won a reduction in his life sentence by three years. This was to reflect the time he had spent on remand. The review noted his guilty plea, the time spent on remand and also his personality disorder. After 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.
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."
Other victims
Police investigated the disappearance of
naval rating Simon Parkes from HMS ''Illustrious'' whilst she was docked in
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
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
sniffer dogs
A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to use its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, wildlife scat, currency, blood, and contraband electronics such as illicit mobile phones. The sense most used by ...
and have searched the sewers in attempts to discover Parkes' body. In 2005, the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. 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. Ofcom did not uphold either complaint.
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 and 20 unidentified victims at Grimson's hands.
In 1998, Grimson was working at the
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
. 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.
As well as Grimson's links to unsolved murders being the subject of the two BBC programmes in 2005 (''The Search for Simon Parkes'' and the October 2005 edition of ''
's'' series ''Murdertown''. The programme was the opening episode of series 2 and was titled "Portsmouth".