Carson Grimes was convicted of 36 offences involving 12 young people (Image: Channel 4)
Carson Grimes presented himself as a kind-hearted man who reached out to vulnerable youngsters needing guidance and support.
Boys were shown how to work on car engines, with people living nearby thinking he was equipping them with practical abilities for adulthood – but behind the mask lurked a monster who exploited his likeable image to abuse children as young as five.
The young victims were dazzled by his gold medallion and gold Daimler with its luxurious cream leather interior which he used to ferry them back to his Luton property.
Victims plied with spiked drinks at ‘party’ house
A teenager who visited the address remembered it as dilapidated but they were offered drinks and cannabis in what felt like a social gathering… until horror struck.
He would drug their beverages until they lost consciousness and they would come round to discover they were being sexually abused and raped by someone they trusted as a friend. Most of those he targeted were between 10 and 14, though his youngest victim was just five when the abuse started.
“It was a classic Jimmy Savile. Everyone loved him but he was abusing kids, under everyone’s nose,” says DS Claire Gilbert of Bedfordshire Police, a leading figure in the police investigation into Grimes – one of Britain’s worse serial paedophiles. “No one would have suspected him. I imagine that there are hundreds of victims.”
DCI Louise Gent, who was Senior Investigation Officer in the case, says: “We will probably never know how many victims Jimmy Savile had and we will never know the true extent of Grimes’ offending either, because there will be people that will never report it to the police and others have probably died due to living chaotic and horrific lifestyles as a result of what happened to them as children.”
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Community thought predator was doing good
“At the time, we thought Grimes and Savile were doing good for the community when, in reality, that wasn’t the case,” she adds.
“Carson Grimes had this knack of making these young people feel important. Now we would identify it as grooming. But back then in the 80s, I don’t think it was seen that way. People just thought he was doing good for the boys in teaching them skills that they could use in later life.”
“He did good turns for his neighbours, too. He fixed cars, did their shopping for them. I don’t think anyone suspect what was going on.”
“He preyed on children that he probably knew wouldn’t say anything to their parents or didn’t have families that cared about them.”
“A lot of his victims said they felt safe with him when, in reality, he was taking them back to his home – what can only be described as a House of Horror – which was anything but safe,” she told The Sun.
Victims compare abuser to Dickens villain Fagin
One of those he abused likened him to the notorious Dickens character. Young people involved in petty theft would bring him stolen items which he’d purchase from them.
“It was like he was Fagin and we were Dodger and Oliver and all the rest,” says Michael, one of his victims. “He had loads of kids taking him stolen stuff.”
“He’d look after us with money and drugs and I just thought he had a need for me. I didn’t know the need that was going on in his head. I didn’t know about grooming and things like that.”
A 2021 episode of Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody documentary strand, which tracks Bedfordshire Police’s work, covered detectives’ probe into Grimes which ended with him being convicted of 36 offences against nine children and jailed for 22 years.
The court was told he started targeting children – mainly boys though some girls were victims too – during the 1980s and carried on until approximately 2002.
Following the programme’s broadcast, Bedfordshire Police was inundated with fresh complaints about his offending which showed the scale was much worse than officers had realised.
Michael was amongst those who bravely faced him in court and read out their victim impact statement (Image: Channel 4)
Police launch fresh probe after documentary airs
Armed with these new revelations they established an incident room to begin another investigation. Detectives’ work on the case, alongside interviews with fresh victims now in middle age, features in tonight’s 9pm episode of 24 Hours in Police Custody: Burying Horror.
Michael describes his response to seeing the first documentary broadcast on television in 2021.
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw him and heard his name,” he says. “It was all coming back to me after 34, 35 years. The thing I noticed about him and will always remember was his overgrown, dirty finger nails.”
“I was saying to my wife, ‘I know him.’ She said, ‘How?’ and I said, ‘I’m one of his victims. He’s done similar things to me as what these poor men are saying.'”
“I haven’t really been able to move on. It’s been eating away at me and I wanted to give my side of the story and have some justice.”
Predator bought stolen goods from vulnerable teens
The monster worked as a bus driver in Hackney, London, targeting boys he encountered there and in Luton where he had his base.
“I was between the age of 14 and 16 when I met him in London in the 1980s. I started getting into stealing car stereos and he would buy them,” says Michael.
“When I brought him stolen things he would pat me on the back and say, ‘Nice one, Mike,’ and I felt I had made someone happy.”
“I wanted to be seen. I wanted to be loved and hugged. My mum and dad never told me that they loved me.”
The paedophile launched his campaign of abuse during the 1980s and despite some youngsters reporting him to officers and him being arrested on eight occasions, charges were never brought and he was free to continue attacking more children across 20 years.
BBC presenter Jimmy Savile was in fact a prolific child abuser (Image: Getty)
Victim told by social workers not to speak out
Among these early teenagers who came forward about Grimes is a man police refer to as Victim P to protect his identity.
He was residing in a care home when Grimes abused him in 1998 aged 13. After telling social workers what happened, they instructed him not to discuss it. He later found the strength to approach police but again nothing was done.
“These young people were coming forward and they were just labelled as tearaways, nuisance kids, often from broken families or in children’s homes, dabbling on the edges of petty crime and drugs and they were not taken seriously,” says Claire Gilbert.
“If he had been believed when he first came forward, it could have put a stop to it back then.”
Unable to locate his original statement, Claire convinces him to file another report. The devastating account contains the line: “My first intimacy was Carson drugging and raping me. I think I tried screaming a few times but he told me to shut up. I tried for years to be a success but my success is different to others. Surviving one more day is my success now.”
Predator handed five life sentences
Confronted with 42 sexual offences against 11 fresh victims and two from earlier cases, Grimes plead guilty on 24 June 2025 to 24 of the charges which included indecent assault and rape. He was given five additional life sentences and remains at Rye Hill Prison, Warwickshire.
Patrick and Michael were amongst those who bravely faced him in court and read out their victim impact statements.
“I’ve hid in the shadows for a long time but today, I look you in the eye so you know who I am,” said Patrick. “You stole my life. Today I am taking in back.”
Michael said, “It’s been 37 years. You can’t hurt me anymore.”
