A man serving a life sentence for two murders has argued that new charges against him for historic sexual offences are being used to prevent his release on parole.

Michael Grimson, 66, was convicted in 2001 of killing Nicholas Wright, 18, and Sion Jenkins, 20, at his flat in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in the late 1990s. He has been in custody for 25 years and six years ago, the Parole Board recommended his transfer to an open prison as a precursor to possible release on licence.

At a trial underway at Winchester Crown Court, Grimson’s barrister, John Femi-Ola KC, alleged that police investigations and subsequent prosecution were intentionally timed to obstruct Grimson’s parole prospects. According to Femi-Ola, the renewed police enquiry began after the Parole Board’s 2020 recommendation to move Grimson to a lower-security setting.

Femi-Ola told the jury that authorities had contacted four men linked to the allegations, who were initially reluctant to support fresh complaints. He cited one instance in which a man questioned what pursuing a new allegation would achieve, to which an officer reportedly replied that a successful prosecution would result in Grimson’s parole being denied.

The defence also claimed that a journalist researching a book about the case had brought another man to a police station to encourage cooperation with the investigation. Femi-Ola highlighted discrepancies between the statements made now by the four men and accounts provided more than two decades ago, suggesting inconsistencies undermining the validity of the current case.

Grimson denies all sexual offence charges, which include rape, indecent assault, and taking indecent photographs of a child. The trial is ongoing and no verdict has been reached.