Exclusive:Allan Grimson trial: Jury retires to consider verdict after murderer accused of rape
Allan Grimson has denied charges of rape and indecent assault.
The jury in a rape and sex offences trial has retired to consider its verdict.
Former petty officer Allan Grimson was jailed for life in 2001 for the murders of Nicholas Wright and Sion Jenkins in the late 1990s. He is serving a life sentence for these crimes.
The 66-year-old Royal Navy veteran has spent the past few weeks on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of the rape of a teenager and indecent assault charges against three other male complainants, including a 14-year-old boy, dating between February 1994 and November 1999. Grimson denies the charges.
Having heard all the evidence, plus arguments from the prosecution and defence, the jury left the courtroom at 1.20pm to deliberate. They must reach a unanimous conclusion of either guilty, or not guilty, for all 13 charges.
The verdicts do not have to be the same for all alleged offences.
John Price KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Grimson admitted to these crimes when he was arrested for murder in December 1999. He phoned his family after being arrested, telling them he “told the truth” and that there was “a little more to follow”.
Grimson later retracted his statements regarding these charges, telling police he was “confused” having already confessed to two murders. He had been deemed fit to be detained and interviewed.
Representing Grimson, solicitor John Femi-Ola argued that the matters were previously investigated by police, who told the defendant in 2004 that no further action was going to be taken.
He also suggested that consent may have been given in some instances, and accused a journalist - who was writing a book at the time - of “marching” one of the complainants down to a police station to speak about his experiences with Grimson.
Addressing the jury earlier this week, Judge Paul Dugdale said: “There are 13 counts on the indictment, from four complainants. Treat each count, and each complainant, separately. Your verdicts do not have to be the same [for each charge]. You must be sure that the complainants were not consenting, and that Grimson either knew they were not consenting, or didn’t care.
“You are entitled to look at what he [Grimson] says in his interviews, and take into account the explanations he gave as to a change in his account of sexual encounters with our four complainants.”
(Proceeding)