The mother of a sailor missing for almost 40 years has issued a direct plea to the "Frankenstein" killer feared to have murdered him, begging: "Tell me what you did to my son."
Margaret Parkes, 80, is adamant radio operator Simon fell victim to evil Allan Grimson, 66, when HMS Illustrious docked in Gibraltar in December 1986. Detectives closed the probe into Grimson last December after drawing a blank.
But Margaret says she is convinced the double killer – who was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting four men and boys – was behind her son's disappearance. She says she still hopes for justice after nearly 40 years despite Grimson denying involvement.
Direct plea to Grimson
In a direct message to Grimson, Margaret said: "Please tell us what happened to Simon." Calling for police to reopen the investigation, she added: "How do you get in to the head of a man like that? We want him to tell us what he knows, where Simon's body is, we would want that, but he's in denial now. All these years we've done all we can to find out information and keep the investigation open."
Grimson – nicknamed the Frankenstein Killer, due to his 6ft 2in frame and large forehead – was jailed for life in 2001 for murdering two young men who served with Simon on aircraft carrier Illustrious. He was convicted of battering to death Nicholas Wright, 18, and barman Sion Jenkins, 20.
Grimson – who once claimed murder was "better than sex" – had invited the two Navy seamen to his flat and killed both with a baseball bat before dumping their bodies on two dates exactly a year apart in the 1990s. That date was December 12th – the same date that Simon vanished.
Serial killer nature
As he was sentenced in 2001, the judge branded Grimson a “serial killer in nature if not by number”. Yesterday he was found guilty of 13 offences against four other men and boys, including a 14-year-old, in the 1990s. Winchester Crown Court heard he told police one of his sex attack victims was "lucky" to be alive because he would have killed him if his friend was not sleeping on the sofa.
He brought the teenager to his flat in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and sexually assaulted him – weeks before his killing spree. Grimson 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."
Hope for answers
Now Margaret says she prays for a resolution so an inquest can be held and she can get answers about her son's disappearance. She says she has spent more than half her life in limbo and now hopes she can be issued with a death certificate if a coroner in Gibraltar is able to proceed.
She said: "I was very disappointed that the investigation was dropped. Now we want to have an inquest so we can also be given a death certificate after nearly 40 years. We want someone to say that Simon is dead."
"I'm 80 now so we probably don't have much longer if you think of it that way. And I want the investigation to be reopened so Grimson can be prosecuted and we can get justice. We want answers. We've been submerged in this for 40 years, it's always there and it's always been a feeling of helplessness. It's so painful."
