‘I knew what he had done to those boys’: murderer to stay in jail after journalist’s fight for justice

Grimson has been found guilty of a string of sexual offences. He had been nearing release after being jailed in 2001 for two murders. Photograph: PA View image in fullscreen Grimson has been found guilty of a string of sexual offences. He had been nearing release after being jailed in 2001 for two murders. Photograph: PA ‘I knew what he had done to those boys’: murderer to stay in jail after journalist’s fight for justice Gibraltar-based Ros Astengo inspired four men to report sexual assaults carried out by Allan Grimson in 1990s 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 20 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 1990s 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 13 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 1990s 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. View image in fullscreen Ros Astengo: ‘For me, it was about justice and to prevent a serial offender from being released.’ Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian “The men were incredibly brave to come to court, bring all this back into their lives,” Astengo said. Grimson was jailed for life in 2001 and told he would serve at least 22 years in prison for sexually abusing and murdering Nicholas Wright, 18, and Sion Jenkins, 20, 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 aft