Mother of sailor calls for answers 40 years after son went missing
Simon Parkes disappeared while on navy duty in 1986 in Gibraltar
The mother of a sailor who vanished in Gibraltar in 1986, has urged the man whom she believes is involved to reveal what happened.
Simon Parkes, a radio operator from Bristol, was last seen on 12th December 1986 when HMS Illustrious, the Royal Navy ship he was serving on, was docked in Gibraltar.
Allan Grimson, a former petty officer from Suffolk, was imprisoned for life in 2001 for the murders of Nicholas Wright and Sion Jenkins, both associated with the navy.
Recently, Grimson was found guilty of sexually assaulting four males.
Margaret Parkes has pleaded for Grimson to provide answers about her son, despite his consistent denials of any involvement in Simon's disappearance.
She told the Daily Mirror: “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.”
Hampshire police announced in December 2025 that it had closed its investigation into the death.
Mrs Parkes 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. We want answers.”
Announcing the end of the investigation in December, Detective Superintendent Adam Edwards said: “Officers have worked tirelessly to investigate the disappearance of Simon Parkes and to find answers for his devastated family.
“This information has been thoroughly explored and following a complex investigation which has included advice from the CPS, we are now drawing our enquiries to a close.
“The full circumstances surrounding Simon’s disappearance still remain unknown, however police will continue to support the ongoing coronial process.”
On Monday (27 July), jurors at Winchester Crown Court convicted 66-year-old Grimson, of Hollesley, for the rape and indecent assault of a teenage naval rating, and indecent assault charges against three other male complainants, dating between February 1994 and November 1999.