Will the agony of mum of ‘murdered’ sailor soon end?
For 30 years, mystery has surrounded the disappearance of teenage Navy recruit Simon Parkes. But as detectives dig for clues in Gibraltar . . .
Illustrious and the Type- 42 destroyer HMS Edinburgh.
The most disturbing case they came upon was that of Simon Parkes. And although Grimson repeatedly denied murdering him, they found circumstantial evidence to suggest he may be lying.
Mrs Parkes describes Simon as ‘funny and sociable’ with a talent for art. He had ambitions for a naval career as a boy, first joining the Sea Cadets and enlisting when he left school, aged 17. Soon afterwards he sailed with the HMS Illustrious, taking part in the Navy’s showcase ‘Global 86’ tour. It meant being away for many months, and of course there were no mobile phones then.
But he wrote home regularly, and his mum says he was ‘ having a whale of a time’. By the time the ship docked in Gibraltar, however, he was eagerly looking forward to being reunited with his family for
Christmas. In four days’ time, he would be back in Portsmouth, and he had asked Mrs Parkes and her husband, David, to be there as walked down the gangplank.
‘Simon rang us from Suez to make sure we had the papers we needed to get onto the naval base. He seemed in great spirits,’ she told me.
‘He was going to be based ashore for a while, at Yeovilton, Somerset, which isn’t too far from our house, and we had bought him driving lessons for Christmas, so that he would be able to come and see us.’
It was the last she heard from him. When he did not return to the Illustrious, the carrier sailed without Simon, and a couple of days passed before anyone deigned to tell the Parkes he was missing.
Though he had left his passport and belongings on the ship, and was wearing only a T- shirt and jeans, it was initially presumed he had gone absent without leave. It was suggested that he might have run off with a girl whom he met when he was out drinking in the regular Navy haunts, the Horseshoe Bar and the Hole-in-the-Wall.
While his parents sat by the phone for weeks and months, hoping to hear from him, and journeyed to Gibraltar the following January to appeal for information, they never believed he would have run away from a job he loved.
At that stage, they had never heard the name Allan Grimson.
It was not until Grimson was jailed for murder, 15 years later, and the investigation into his past began, that the possible link was made. Since then, much has emerged. When Simon was last sighted, at around 10.30pm, he is said to have been drinking in the same pub as Grimson.
A fellow crew member also claimed to have walked back to the ship with Grimson and a man resembling Simon (a route that would have led directly past the Trafalgar Cemetery).
The witness reportedly said that, on reaching the aircraft carrier, the two men decided to return to town, leaving the other crew member to board alone. But when he was interviewed, 13 years later, he said he could not be certain it was Simon.
Had he been convinced, the BBC film claimed, the Attorney General would have allowed a case to be brought against Grimson.
Last week, I met another witness, Charlie Trico. For years he was the colourful proprietor of the nowclosed Hole-in-the-Wall, where sailors sank his notorious John Collins cocktails and played lewd games.
Now 68, he recalled how Grimson had designs on his handsome young barman, Jason, that Friday night, but left with an unknown young sailor who was drunk. This was not Simon, he said.
What, then, of the other theories?
At one point a taxi driver was said to have admitted — to a friend — that he beat Simon to death and disposed of his body after a row over the fare.
WHEN police brought him in, however, he denied this, and soon afterwards died of a heart attack.
Then it was suggested that Simon might have been the victim of a revenge attack by a British soldier. For in March, 1986, nine months before he disappeared, Neil James Griffin, of the 1st Battalion Queen’s Regiment, was found mortally injured in Casemates Square, Gibraltar, having plunged 30ft from a building, and a sailor was charged with murder.
What, then, do Simon’s family believe happened?
Mrs Parkes was circumspect when I asked whether she thinks Grimson killed him. ‘ There are certainly coincidences,’ was all she would say.
However, when he first fell under suspicion, she requested to meet him in prison, hoping he might tell her the truth. She was advised against this because he might manipulate the encounter for his own ends, and instead wrote him a carefully worded letter, saying she bore no ill-feeling towards him and wanted only peace of mind. But Grimson continued to deny involvement.
Mr and Mrs Parkes strongly oppose his parole.
‘We have always thought, based on what he has done, that he should stay inside,’ Mr Parkes told me. ‘But we have no say over it at all.’ As the search ended, police revealed they had found bone fragments in the graveyard, but were treating the finding cautiously.
However, they would need to be matched against a DNA sample taken from Mrs Parkes.
An appeal for information had also generated ‘ promising leads’ in the UK and Gibraltar.
Last night Mrs Parkes said: ‘Until the forensic tests are completed we won’t get too hopeful. It could go either way, couldn’t it?’
Surely after all their years of anguish, this couple at last deserve an answer.