‘Heartbroken’ 24 Hours in Police Custody viewers were left ‘physically sickened’ as a sexual abuse victim described how her mother’s paedophile fiancé would ‘put her on his lap’ and sexually abuse her when she was three-years-old.
Last night’s episode of the Channel 4 show was the second in a two-part episode about the case of Carson Grimes, 65, who plied vulnerable young children, particularly boys, with alcohol and drugs, before raping and sexually assaulting them.
According to the Crown Prosecution Service, his reign of terror on Luton’s children lasted 20 years – and is known as the largest of its kind in Bedfordshire Police’s history.
During the show, Natania Loftman, 44, who was first assaulted by Grimes when she was aged three in 1980, recalled spending six years being abused by the monster.
It was only in 1986, after she saw an appeal on TV for the charity Childline, that she told her mother and they reported him to the police.
Many of those watching said they were left horrified by the programme last night, with one writing: ‘There’s a special place in hell being kept for that f******* beast on 24 Hours in Police Custody.’
Earlier this month – four decades after his first offence – Grimes was sentenced to 22 years in prison at Luton Crown Court for 11 counts of rape; 8 counts of buggery, an offence which was re-classified as rape in 1994; 11 counts of indecent assault, and; 6 counts of indecency with a child.
‘Heartbroken’ 24 Hours in Police Custody viewers were left ‘physically sickened’ as Natania Loftman, 44, described how her mother’s paedophile fiancé Carson Grimes, 65, would ‘put her on his lap’ and sexually abuse her when she was three-years-old
Last night’s episode of the Channel 4 show was the second in a two-part episode about the case of Grimes, 65, who plied vulnerable young children, particularly boys, with alcohol and drugs, before raping and sexually assaulting them
Grimes, who also went by the name Carson Phillips and was previously arrested eight times for sexual offences but had never been convicted, sexually abused children aged between 5 and 15 years old from 1982 to 2002.
Almost all of them were living in care or were in and out of juvenile detention and as such, if any reported Grimes they were not believed. He also threatened the victims and their families with violence if they ever spoke out against him.
Grimes lured the children to his house in Luton, dubbed by one as ‘the horror house’, fuelling addictions that would stay with many of the victims for the rest of their lives.
During last night’s programme, police said many of the victims had ‘very difficult lives’ and a line ‘could be drawn back to the sexual abuse.’
Many of those watching the programme said they were left heartbroken for the victims of the criminal
Police struggled to get some of the victims to re-engage, while their backgrounds and criminal records might also mean they would struggle to be believed.
A specialist CPS team were drafted in to increase the chances of a successful prosecution.
Martin Mulgrew, Lead CPS Barrister, said: ‘You can’t imagine at the age of 11 being given crack cocaine. “Have a bit of vodka, have a bit of this, have a bit of cannabis.” You can only imagine the offence that that would have.’
Mulgrew said: ‘One of the hardest aspects of trying a case of this nature is getting the victims to tell their accounts to a group of 12 strangers they’ve never met before when they are ashamed, angry.
‘They feel a loyalty to Mr Grimes in many ways because of the many in which he groomed them.
‘Many will feel the nature of the offences against them, particularly male rape, is a taboo they just don’t want to talk about.’
Mulgrew revealed: ‘He had a very well established modus operandi and it was groom, threaten, sedate. It was that three-ponged tactic that allowed him to commit these horrendous offences.
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‘When he could completely ensure silence, he would sedate the victims in which case they would hjave no memory or very little memory of what he had been doing to them.
‘That would ensure there was very little evidence the victim could present because their memories would be very cloudy. How he didn’t kill any of these children – sedating a child – how easy would it be to give a child too much sedative? Then you’ve got a dead child on your hands.’
Later in the show, police arrested Grimes for the rape of a female aged five years old, speaking to him in an interview.
Speaking in a separate interview, Natania recalled being abused by Grimes, saying: ‘Carson sexually abused me on numerous occasions from about the age of three till nine. It only stopped when I told my mum.
She explained: ‘The Childline appeal was on the television and I told my mum on that day. He was my mum’s partner from just after I was born so he lived with us on and off.
‘So how it started first of all was that, you know, he was my dad and I would sit on his lap and watch television and stuff like that.
‘And then he would like nuzzle my ear and whisper like, “You’re so beautiful” and things like that and say I was special.
‘Then he would start touching my thighs and move his hand up and then put it in my knickers.
During the programme, Grimes was shown photographs of Natania from her childhood during a police interview
‘He put me on his lap saying: “I’m a naughty girl and naughty girls need to be punished.”’
‘I was scared, I thought I was going to die. It’s disgusting. I just kept praying for people to save me.’
She continued: ‘I should have been at church that day. If I was at church then it wouldn’t have happened. That’s why I liked to go to church because that kind of meant God was saving me.
‘And then not long after that I came to the realisation there was no God because then it wouldn’t be happening.
Natania described the court case against Grimes as ‘part of her closure’ and said she had ‘had two heart attacks’
‘In the bible and people tell you, “God is there and Jesus is there to save you”, but nobody came to save me.’
Then, when she was just eight-years-old, Grimes raped her while she was lying on the floor in a blue nightie and watching the TV puppet show Fraggle Rock.
During a police interview about the rape, Grimes repeatedly said ‘no comment’ to every question.
After three years of building evidence, the crown prosecution service confirmed that the police had built a case strong enough to take to court.
She described the court case as ‘part of her closure’, saying: ‘I’ve had two heart attacks, I could have been dead. but I’m here for this. If it doesn’t go any further, this right here is making me happy.
DS Foy from the Child Sexual Exploitation unit began working on Bedfordshire’s biggest historical sexual abuse case Operation Ceroc in 2017
‘I didn’t forget you. You may have forgotten me, but I didn’t forget you.’
Grimes pleaded not guilty and refused to take the stand during the trial, meaning the victims had to face cross examination.
He was found guilty of raping Natania five times and indecently assaulting her twice.
After the conviction, she said: ‘I thought they were going to phone and say: “No. There’s no case or whatever,” That’s the best feeling, I can’t even wait to tell my family.
Speaking outside court in Luton after Grimes was sentenced, Natania welcomed the fact that he will spend the next 22 behind bars
‘I just know there’s other victims – survivors, we need to stop calling them victims. I just feel for them because we all know what each other have been through.
‘I hope that they do have people that they can confide in, not just like the police officers, like people that actually love them, from the bottom of their heart.’
Many of those watching said they were left ‘physically sickened’ by the programme last night, with one writing: ‘The last two episodes of 24 Hours in Police Custody have been the most traumatic.’
A second commented: ‘Don’t mind me sobbing at 24 Hours in Police Custody.’
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