Double murderer on trial for sex offences told police only way to get away with raping someone is to kill them afterwards, court hears

By CLAIRE DUFFIN, SENIOR REPORTER Published: 13:12, 1 July 2026 | Updated: 13:17, 1 July 2026 A former Royal Navy petty officer who killed two young sailors told police the only way to get away with raping someone is to kill them, a court heard.   Allan Grimson was jailed for life in 2001 for the murders of Sion Jenkins, 20, and Nicholas Wright, 18. He had invited the two young Navy seamen back to his flat and murdered them both with a baseball bat before dumping their bodies on two dates exactly a year apart in the 1990s. Grimson, 66, is now on trial for historic sex offences, said to have taken place around the same time. He is accused of sexually assaulting three other sailors and one 14-year-old boy also in the 1990s.  Winchester Crown Court heard he told police one of his alleged sex attack victims was 'lucky' to be alive because he would have killed him if his friend was not sleeping on the sofa.  Grimson is accused of bringing the teenager back to his flat and sexually assaulting him - just weeks before he murdered a Royal Navy sailor in similar circumstances in the same flat. The court heard Allan Grimson, now 66, was jailed for life in 2001 for the murders of two sailors Nicholas Wright, 18, and from Leicester, was killed by Grimson on December 12, 1997 Sion Jenkins, pictured, was 20 when he was killed by Grimson He is said to have told police in 1999: 'If you're going to rape somebody, to get away with it, kill it. And that's the only way you can do that.' He told police he looked for 'young males' in his class of Navy recruits who he could 'befriend' and 'dominate' because he enjoyed 'getting power over' them, the court heard on Wednesday.  The sex offences he is said to have committed around the same time are said to have taken place at the same flat as the murders in Portsmouth, Hants. Grimson denies 11 counts of indecent assault, one count of rape and one count of taking indecent photographs of a child. He was charged with the historic sex offences in February 2025. The alleged incidents, which are said to involve four teenage male victims, took place between February 1994 and November 1999. One was 14 while the others were 17 and 18. Grimson served in the Royal Navy and in 1999 he was a serving Petty Officer Marine Engineering Mechanic and an instructor at the Royal Navy Firefighting School in Horsea Island, Portsmouth. It was previously heard that Grimson's first victim, to whom five counts of indecent assault and one of rape refer, attended one of Grimson's firefighting courses and they would often go out drinking together, to then return to his flat. His second victim, to whom there are four counts of indecent assault and one of taking indecent photographs of a child, was 14 in the spring of 1999 when he twice visited Grimson and the alleged incidents took place. Today it was heard that his third victim, to whom there is one count of indecent assault, joined the Royal Navy in September 1997, aged 18, and attended a firefighting course instructed by Grimson. John Price KC, prosecuting, said that Grimson had told the police about his third victim after confessing to the murder of Mr Wright, when he was asked about other males he met in the 'same way' to get 'ahead' of the police. Mr Price KC said that Grimson had orally assaulted the teenager after he had brought him and his friend back to his flat from a night out, just weeks before murdering Mr Jenkins in the same flat. He said that the young man had 'submitted, through fear' to the sex act and he was 'sobbing and whimpering', while being as 'stiff as a plank'. Mr Price KC said that Grimson had told the police in 1999 - when he was caught for the murders - that the young man he allegedly sexually assaulted had been 'lucky' to escape without being murdered because his friend was on the sofa of Grimson's flat. Mr Price KC also said Grimson outlined to police the way in which he selected victims. Mr Price KC said: 'Three days after he had been arrested, Mr Grimson spoke of other people he had thought of killing. 'He said he looked first for an attraction to a young male - he would look at a class of recruits and think about who he would like to dominate and then would ensure they were in the group he was to teach at the firefighting school and then he would try and befriend them. 'He selected those he wanted to get power over, a sense of achievement. 'And he said this to the police, 'If you're going to rape somebody, to get away with it, kill it. And that's the only way you can do that'. 'Again, considering what he admitted he had done in this series of interviews following his arrest in December 1999, is it in your [the jury's] judgement that he meant it? 'While talking about the murder of Sion Jenkins, which by the morning of the 18th he had admitted, Allan Grimson said there were others who are lucky to be alive because of circumstances. 'He says the circumstances were that on the occasion they came back to his house he would get into bed with them and start touching them. 'He thought if it continues, he will kill them but there was someone downstairs. One of those he identified as lucky to be alive was [the third victim].' The fourth victim, to whom there is one count of indecent assault, joined the Royal Navy in January 1992 and also attended the firefighting course with Grimson. Mr Price KC said that the assault occurred at his relative's home in the North East of England after they had been on a night out together and the victim had got 'very drunk'. This incident occurred before either of his murders and was the first of the sexual assaults. He said that the man had slept in the same bed as Grimson and when he woke up he had blood all over his legs. He initially told the police that nothing had happened but in an interview in 2024 he revealed that he had been assaulted while he was 'asleep or unconscious'. When asked why he didn't reveal the incident to the police initially, he said that he was 'embarrassed' and worried about his status in the Royal Navy, given homosexuality was not legal. The trial, due to last four weeks, continues. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.