‘Frankenstein’ Royal Navy serial killer convicted of murdering two young men in 1990s and linked to deaths of 20 other victims could be freed next year after being granted parole hearing
A convicted double murder linked by cops to 20 other killings could soon be prowling the streets of Britain.
Allan Grimson – dubbed the Frankenstein Killer – has been given a parole date after serving 22 years behind bars for the murders of two young men in the 1990s.
Psychopath Grimson was branded a ‘serial killer in nature if not in number’ by a judge at his trial, with a psychiatrist describing him as the most dangerous of the 250 killers he had examined during his career.
The evil fiend, who once told police ‘murder is better than sex’, is feared to be behind a slew of unsolved killings stretching from the UK to New Zealand – but has never faced further prosecution.
Now after more than two decades caged behind bars, MailOnline can reveal the disgraced former Royal Navy sailor is due to go before the Parole Board in February. A release could then follow within weeks if green-lit by justice chiefs.
Labelled the ‘Royal Navy’s Dennis Nilsen’ after the serial killer who slaughtered at least 12 young men and boys, the former Petty Officer murdered Nicholas Wright, 18, on December 12, 1997, and Sion Jenkins, 20, exactly 12 months later.
Allan Grimson – dubbed the Frankenstein Killer – has been given a parole date after serving 22 years
Grimson was sentenced to life for killing Nicholas Wright (left), 18, on December 12, 1997. He also admitted murdering Sion Jenkins (right), 20, exactly a year later, on December 12, 1998
David and Margaret Parkes, whose son Simon Parkes, 18, served with Grimson and is thought to have been killed by him in December 1986 during a stop on HMS Illustrious in Gibraltar
The sadistic killer, who was a homosexual firefighting instructor, lured each victim back to his Portsmouth flat, where he battered them both to death with a baseball bat after they rejected his sexual advances. He then buried them in roadside graves.
But detectives suspect 6ft 2in tall hulk Grimson – whose large forehead earned him the nickname ‘Frank’ in reference to Frankenstein’s monster – began his spree with 18-year-old radio operator Simon Parkes’ murder before then carrying on killing.
READ MORE: Was sailor murdered by a serial killer? For 30 years, mystery has surrounded the disappearance of teenage Navy recruit Simon Parkes. But now police are digging for clues in Gibraltar… as double-killer suspected of his murder eyes prison release
The naval rating from Bristol was serving on aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious with Grimson in 1986. He was one of hundreds of crewmen who left the ship when it docked in Gibraltar on December 12. But unlike his shipmates, he never returned.
Despite numerous searches over the years, the 18-year-old’s body has never been found and he is presumed to have been murdered. Grimson, who preyed on young men, was serving on Illustrious at the time and is the prime suspect.
Chillingly, Simon’s disappearance came exactly 11 years before the murder of fellow sailor, Mr Wright and 12 years before the killing of Mr Jenkins – who was raped, tied up in the bath and beaten to death.
Detectives believe the date of December 12 in all three cases is an unlikely coincidence.
‘The link between Grimson and December 12 is unclear, but it could be the death of a relative, pet or some matter inconsequential to the rest of us but important in the evil mind of Allan Grimson,’ retired Met detective chief inspector Mick Neville told The Sun.
Born in Suffolk, in 1959, but raised on Tyneside, where he still has family, it emerged during his trial that Grimson had always loathed his ‘ugliness’ and suffered low self-esteem.
When he became a firefighting instructor in the Navy, he told police after his arrest, he would run his gaze over young recruits lined up before him, single out the handsome ones, and set about trying to seduce them.
Grimson’s murder spree allegedly began after his advances were humiliatingly rejected by a young sailor. It’s believed Grimson might have been referring to Simon (pictured)
Grimson and Simon were both serving on aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious (pictured) when Simon vanished
Beneath blue tarpaulin tents, a team of forensics and scene-of-crime experts from Hampshire Constabulary have been hammering at the historic tombs, and rummaging in the mud and rubble beneath their lids
In a BBC documentary screened in 2005, detectives were said to have had information that he committed a string of murders annually over a 10-year period.
Allegedly, the murder spree had begun after his advances were humiliatingly rejected by a young sailor. It’s believed Grimson might have been referring to Simon, whose mother Margaret Parkes insisted – with ‘100 per cent’ certainty – her son was not gay.
Grimson claimed to have ‘felt good’ after killing his victims
In the TV documentary, it was said that, after a pause of some seconds, Grimson withdrew this bombshell ‘confession’ to being a prolific serial killer.
Grimon’s first confirmed victim was 18-year-old seaman Mr Wright, who he lured back to his flat and bludgeoned with a baseball bat before slitting his throat, hacking off part of his ear and performing a sex act over the body.
Grimson claimed the young man had spurned his attempted seduction, telling police how he punched the air in triumph and gave out a roar as he launched his brutal attack.
‘It was such a feeling. I have never had that feeling. It was a feeling of power, a good feeling. I felt good about it,’ the remorseless killer told cops.
The following day he wrapped Nicholas’s body in bin liners and buried it near Cheriton, Hampshire, in a shallow grave off the A272.
Precisely 12 months later, he murdered Sion Jenkins, 20 – who had left the Navy to become a barman – in a similarly horrific manner.
He hoped the killing would provide a similar thrill, but on that occasion, he said, he ‘felt nothing’.
The bodies of these two men were not found for two years. But then, in 1999, Hampshire police re-examined their disappearances and questioned Grimson. They had learned that Nicholas had complained to his parents, shortly before he went missing, that the fire instructor had been pestering him sexually.
Almost immediately Grimson admitted murdering Nicholas, and led detectives to his remains, which had lain undiscovered in the undergrowth near a busy road in Hampshire. ‘There is one more body,’ he then told the stunned officers. They were led to another lonely spot, a few miles away, where Sion’s body had been dumped.
Detectives then began exploring the possibility he might have killed many more young men, looking into the disappearances of some 20 sailors, visiting ports around the world where he had been ashore while teaching on former naval flagship Illustrious and the Type 42 destroyer HMS Edinburgh.
Simon was described as ‘funny and sociable’ with a talent for art by his mother. He had ambitions for a naval career as a boy, first joining the Sea Cadets and enlisting when he left school, aged 17
In the years since Simon vanished, numerous digs have taken place to try and find his remains on Gibraltar. Picture is an investigative expert searching the British territory’s Trafalgar Historic cemetery
Grimson is also said to have had had a Manchester United season ticket which he is suspected to have used as a cover to travel the country seeking victims.
Grimson’s murder spree allegedly began after his advances were humiliatingly rejected by a young sailor. It’s believed Grimson might have been referring to Simon (pictured), whose mother says — with ‘100 per cent’ certainty — that he was not gay
One former colleague told The Sun: ‘He never actually went to games. It was a cover for something else.
‘He would make sandwiches and take a flask and then go and seek out young homeless boys in different cities.’
And although Grimson repeatedly denied murdering Simon, police said they found circumstantial evidence to suggest he may be lying.
When Simon was last sighted, at around 10.30pm, he is said to have been drinking in the same pub as Grimson, The Horseshoe.
A fellow crew member also claimed to have walked back to the ship with Grimson and a man resembling Simon.
The witness reportedly said that, on reaching the aircraft carrier, the two men decided to return to town, leaving the other crew member to board alone. But when he was interviewed, 13 years later, he said he could not be certain it was Simon.
During Grimson’s 2001 trial for the murders of Sion and Nicholas, Mr Justice Cresswell told him: ‘You are a serial killer in nature, if not in number.’
When sentencing the twisted killer, the judge added: ‘You are a highly dangerous serial killer who killed two young men in horrifying circumstances.’
When Simon was last sighted, at around 10.30pm, he is said to have been drinking in the same pub as Grimson, The Horseshoe pub (pictured)
In 2002, The Sunday Mirror reported that Grimson had confessed to killing Simon but refused to say where the teenage sailor’s body was. He later denied killing him.
In 2019, Simon’s heartbroken mother Margaret revealed she had written to the caged killer begging to know what happened to her son, but Grimson again denied any involvement.
‘I wouldn’t want him to be out. I think he’s a dangerous person. How can someone with that mentality change?’ Mrs Parkes said.
Grimson was initially given a minimum 22-year prison term, which was extended to 25 years by then Home Secretary David Blunkett.
But the Court of Appeal later reduced it back to 22 years because of the time Grimson spent on remand and his guilty pleas.
His next parole hearing is set to take place on February 15, 2024.
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