Royal Navy man jailed in 2001 for two murders allegedly sexually assaulted four others, jury told

Winchester court hears accusations of offences by former petty officer Allan Grimson against males as young as 14

A former Royal Navy petty officer, jailed for life 25 years ago for murdering two young men, sexually assaulted four other boys and men in the same era, a jury has been told.

Allan Grimson was jailed in 2001 for battering Nicholas Wright, 18, and Sion Jenkins, 20, to death at his flat above a parade of shops in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in 1997 and 1998.

A jury at Winchester crown court has been told that from the mid to late 1990s, Grimson, now 66, allegedly sexually assaulted four boys and men, the youngest only 14.

John Price KC, prosecuting, said Grimson was an instructor at the navy’s firefighting school at Horsea Island in Hampshire.

“This posting brought Allan 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 all of whom Allan Grimson exercised great authority.”

Price said Grimson had served with the navy since 1978. “He was a big powerful man and within the service admired as a capable instructor.”

The jury was told that one of the murder victims, Wright, was a member of the Royal Navy and the other, Jenkins, had also briefly been in the service. Both were attacked by Grimson with a baseball bat.

Price said one of the complainants of sexual assault joined the navy when he was 16. He came into contact with Grimson in 1999 when he attended a firefighting course and they got talking at a “drink-up”. They met again at a seafront club called Joanna’s frequented by members of the Royal Navy and went back to Grimson’s flat.

Jurors heard the complainant was allegedly raped on one occasion by Grimson and indecently assaulted five times.

The complainant told officers Grimson had once showed him his baseball bat: “He said it was his pride and joy,” the alleged victim said.

Jurors were told Grimson took the 14-year-old boy on a visit to the firefighting school in 1999. He indecently assaulted the boy and became angry when the youngster asked him to stop, Price said.

The boy contacted the police when he was 16 after Grimson was jailed for life, the jury heard.

When asked why he had not reported what had happened to him before, the boy said Grimson had warned him: “If you tell anyone about this, I’ll blame it on you and you’ll get all the blame, you’ll get into trouble, not me.”

He told officers that he felt safe after Grimson was imprisoned. He said: “When he went to jail I thought, he cannot get me anymore.”

Price told the jury that Grimson was jailed for life after admitting killing Wright and Jenkins. He confessed to police the killings at his flat occurred “amidst sexual assaults” by him. Price said Wright was killed on 12 December 1997, Jenkins on the same date a year later.

He had invited both back to his flat after meeting them at Joanna’s nightclub and disposed of both of their bodies, the court heard.

When Grimson was interviewed by officers over the killings, he said there had been two occasions after he murdered Jenkins that he had wanted to kill. He said that every time he went out, he was “looking”.

Grimson also told police of his frustration that the another of the complainants he allegedly indecently assaulted had “left the flat alive”.

Price said Grimson did not face allegations concerning the four complainants in the late 1990s and early 2000s. “Why that should have been so does not matter,” he said.

Grimson denies one rape, 11 counts of indecent assault and one allegation of taking indecent photographs of a child.