‘We need to know the truth’: Family demand answers after Royal Navy serial killer was also jailed for rape
"It has been 40 years and we need to know the truth.”
A serial killer and rapist who committed his heinous crimes from a flat in Portsmouth still has questions to answer, a grieving family has said.
Naval rating Simon Parkes was 18 years old when he vanished from a worldwide deployment on board HMS Illustrious in 1986. His family has been seeking closure ever since - and are convinced his killer was Allan Grimson.
The 66-year-old was jailed for 22 years in 2001 for the murder of naval rating Nicholas Wright, 18 from Leicester, and barman Sion Jenkins, 20, from Newbury. Grimson, who served on Illustrious alongside Mr Parkes, was sentenced to another 22 years in prison last week, having been found guilty at Winchester Crown Court of 13 non-recent sex offences, which took place between 1994 and 1999 against three men and a child.
Mr Parkes’ body was never found and his mother Margaret, 80, has demanded Grimson finally unlocks the mystery of her son's disappearance so they can get closure before it's too late.
Margaret said: "It has been 40 years and we need to know the truth. Now is the time for him to finally reveal what happened to my son. He should now stay behind bars and rot in jail which is where he belongs.
"He is a danger to society and was someone people looked up to.
"It has never sat well that he could be released. He is a psychopath and I don't think you ever change.
"Our life sentence goes on. All I can say is Grimson will be a danger to society if he comes out - a leopard never changes his spots as they say - that is it really.
"I know Allan Grimson is responsible - I have no doubts at all."
Grimson - dubbed 'Frankenstein' who described killing as "better than sex' has always denied involvement in the disappearance of Mr Parkes - although his family maintain they are "100 per cent certain" he was responsible.
The Parkes family have fought a long-running battle for answers and a recent dig in Gibraltar failed to give them the answers they've craved.
Margaret added: "The inquest had been delayed due to the trial but can now go ahead and may finally give us some small closure.
"I imagine there will be some new information that will come out. We just want a verdict that he has been unlawfully killed and to finally have a death certificate for him.
"You have got to remember that as far as the Navy is concerned he has gone awol.
"That still stands and if he was to be found he would be arrested. That status is what needs to be changed.
"But we will never give up the fight for true justice. There is nothing we can do at the moment. It has all been done now. We just have to wait for the inquest."
Police first arrested Grimson in December 1999 during the investigation into the disappearance of Royal Navy rating Nicholas Wright. Searches of his flat in London Road, Hilsea, and family addresses uncovered photographs and evidence linking him to a number of young males.
Among the material recovered were indecent photographs of a child and images involving another of the complainants. During police interviews, Grimson identified individuals shown in the photographs and admitted sexual activity with some of the victims.
Jurors heard evidence from victims who described being abused while asleep, intoxicated or too frightened to challenge Grimson's behaviour.
One victim told police he only felt able to come forward after Grimson had been imprisoned because he finally felt safe.