Ros Astengo, a journalist based in Gibraltar who usually focuses on politics and social issues, had qualms when she began investigating the case of the suspected serial killer Allan Grimson as he neared release from prison after serving more than ۲۰ years.
She worried that she might reopen the scars of survivors of Grimson – but also that she could be putting herself in the “crosshairs” of a dangerous man who had sexually assaulted and battered two young men to death in the late ۱۹۹۰s when he was a Royal Navy petty officer.
“But the public interest overrode it,” Astengo said. “It would have been so easy for me to have just done nothing. But I thought to myself, how would I feel if as soon as they let him out he reoffended and harmed another young man. My motive was to keep the public safe.”
Because of Astengo’s work, four men came forward to report sexual assaults by Grimson carried out on them in the same era as the two murders.
On Monday, a jury at Winchester crown court found Grimson guilty of ۱۳ sexual offences relating to the men, which may mean he remains in prison for years to come.
Judge Dugdale told Grimson he was an extremely dangerous man in the ۱۹۹۰s and asked for reports to be prepared to help him understand if he still posed a serious risk.
The judge also asked for victim personal statements to be taken from the men. He thanked the jury for hearing a “very unusual case” and invited them to return to court when he sentenced Grimson in November.
“The men were incredibly brave to come to court, bring all this back into their lives,” Astengo said.
Grimson was jailed for life in ۲۰۰۱ and told he would serve at least ۲۲ years in prison for sexually abusing and murdering Nicholas Wright, ۱۸, and Sion Jenkins, ۲۰, in Portsmouth, both of whom had served in the navy. The sentencing judge described him as a “serial killer in nature if not by number”.
At the time, Grimson also admitted in police interviews sexual offences or contact with another four men – three young sailors and a teenage boy. He said he had thought of killing two of them but the Crown Prosecution Service did not pursue the allegations because he was going to serve a long jail term for the murders anyway.
While in prison Grimson was on best behaviour in the hope that he would be released after serving his ۲۲ years and in November ۲۰۲۰ the Parole Board recommended he be moved to an open prison to prepare him for freedom.
At this time, Astengo was covering the search for the body of another sailor, Simon Parkes, who vanished in Gibraltar in ۱۹۸۶. Grimson was in the British overseas territory at the time. He has long been a suspect but denies involvement.
No remains were found and Astengo said she was deeply moved when Parkes’s elderly parents, Margaret and David, from south-west England, described it as their last chance to get justice. “It was a very lonely journey for them.” She promised them she would write a book about their son’s case to keep his memory alive.
She began her research and was disturbed to find he had made admissions over the four boys and young men but no action had been taken.
“I was astonished that he was never charged over them,” Astengo said. She was alarmed that Grimson seemed close to being released. “I knew what he had done to those boys. That really worried me. How could he be fully rehabilitated? I was worried he would go back into the community thinking he’s gotten away with it. I realised I was putting myself in the crosshairs of a killer but I thought something needed to be done.”
Astengo tracked down one of the four and travelled to the UK to speak to him. “I found a very angry man who was still hurt, angry and upset that he had never seen justice. He started talking about the fact that he was older now and a parent. He understands today what he didn’t back then – that was that he was groomed.”
Astengo told the man he could file a fresh complaint about Grimson. “I said to him, think very carefully about what you’re doing because you are going to open a can of worms for yourself.”
The man went ahead and spoke to police. Initially no action was taken so Astengo contacted the child sexual abuse review panel, which examines allegations of non-recent child sexual offences.
It agreed that the case was worth re-examining. Detectives interviewed the man and tracked down the three others. In February ۲۰۲۵, Grimson was charged over the attacks on the four.
The month-long trial highlighted how far the justice system had come in dealing with sexual crimes.
In the late ۱۹۹۰s and early ۲۰۰۰s it was not uncommon for serious sexual allegations not to be pursued if a defendant faced a long jail sentence for even more serious crimes. Now it is considered the state’s duty to do so.
It is also a reminder that until the turn of the century, gay people were not allowed to serve openly in the armed forces, meaning some of those assaulted by Grimson were keen not to talk about what had happened back then because they feared dismissal.
In court, Grimson’s legal team tried to argue that it was unfair for him to be charged with offences that the authorities had not pursued a quarter of a century ago. They made it clear he felt he was being prosecuted now as a tactic for keeping him in prison, to “stymie” his parole.
His legal team also criticised Astengo, suggesting she had been motivated by making money from her book, which is due to come out next year.
John Price KC, prosecuting, urged the jury to ignore “conspiracy theories” about Astengo’s involvement and said good was achieved by energetic journalists.
Astengo said it was not about money. Every time she travelled to the UK she has had to pay her own way, take leave – and could make very little, if anything, from her book. She said: “The defence tried to paint me as somebody who has exerted undue influence all because I’m writing a book. For me, it was about justice and to prevent a serial offender from being released.”
