PORTSMOUTH — Allan Grimson, sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 for the murders of Nicholas Wright and Sion Jenkins, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court. Grimson denies one charge of rape, 11 counts of indecent assault, and one allegation of taking indecent photographs of a child involving four male victims between the mid-1990s and early 2000s.

Prosecutor John Price KC stated that Grimson, 66, is accused of sexually assaulting four boys and men between the mid and late 1990s. The killings of Wright, 18, and Jenkins, 20, occurred in 1997 and 1998 at Grimson's flat above a parade of shops in Portsmouth. Price said both murder victims were attacked with a baseball bat and that Grimson confessed the killings occurred during sexual assaults.

Wright was killed on December 12, 1997, and Jenkins on December 12, 1998, Price stated. The court heard that Grimson invited both victims to his flat after meeting them at Joanna's nightclub and disposed of their bodies. Price added that Grimson told police he wanted to kill on two occasions after murdering Jenkins, saying he was "looking" every time he went out.

Price stated that one complainant joined the Navy at age 16 and met Grimson in 1999 while attending a firefighting course. Grimson served as a petty officer in the Royal Navy since 1978 and worked as an instructor at the Royal Navy's firefighting school at Horsea Island in Hampshire. Wright was a member of the Royal Navy at the time of his death, and Jenkins had briefly served prior to his death.

The complainant met Grimson at a seafront club called Joanna's and went to Grimson's flat, Price said. The complainant alleged he was raped once and indecently assaulted five times. He told officers that Grimson showed him a baseball bat and said, "It was his pride and joy."

Price stated that Grimson took a 14-year-old boy to the firefighting school in 1999 and indecently assaulted him, becoming angry when the boy asked him to stop. The boy told officers that Grimson warned, "If you tell anyone about this, I'll blame it on you and you'll get all the blame, you'll get into trouble, not me." The jury heard that the boy contacted police at age 16 after Grimson was imprisoned, telling officers, "When he went to jail I thought, he cannot get me any more." Price also stated that Grimson expressed frustration to police that another complainant had left his flat alive and noted Grimson did not face allegations concerning the four complainants in the late 1990s and early 2000s.