Man who used police ruse to assault girls jailed

A man who pretended to be a police officer in order to sexually assault two teenagers has been jailed.

Aaron Grimshaw, 23, of Mountview Park, Lisburn, approached two 16-year-old girls at Tutshill Recreation Ground in Gloucestershire on 22 May and said he needed to search them, threatening to call their parents if they refused.

Grimshaw then inappropriately touched the teenagers under their clothing but stopped when their friends gathered around and began recording him. He was arrested later that day.

He appeared at Bradford Crown Court on 17 September, having pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual assault, and he was jailed for a year.

Police said that before the assault Grimshaw had shown the girls a metal emblem which left them "scared of what would happen if they said no".

During the assault, one of the girls shouted words to the effect of, "No, stop, I am not okay with this", which her friends heard, police said.

As the friends gathered around Grimshaw he told them the girl had "consented" and said he would call for uniformed officers before walking off.

The incident was reported to police that day and Grimshaw was identified based on the video and his clothing.

After pleading guilty to both charges at an initial hearing at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court on 25 May, Grimshaw was released on bail with conditions not to have any unsupervised contact with anyone under 18.

At the sentencing segments of the girls' impact statements were read aloud.

The first girl said she had struggled to trust others following the incident and had been "having nightmares, hearing voices and seeing things that aren't there".

She said: "I no longer feel safe around big crowds and sometimes I feel unsafe walking on my own, especially past men.

"I find it very hard to believe people are who they say they are."

The second girl said the incident led to her taking time off school which meant she missed an important exam.

"My last day of school was meant to be filled with fun memories with all my friends but instead got turned into a traumatic, scary and overwhelming day that will haunt me for the rest of my life," she said.

"Although I am trying to move forward the effects are ongoing and have changed me."

During the sentencing, Grimshaw was jailed for another four-and-a-half years for unrelated offences which had been investigated by West Yorkshire Police.

Grimshaw had admitted to several offences which included sexual assault on a female, sexual activity with a child, engaging in sexual communication with a child and making indecent photographs of a child.

He was also added to the sex offenders register and issued with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Det Con Caroline George, from Gloucestershire Constabulary's Child Abuse Investigation Team, said police would not have been able to identify, locate and arrest Grimshaw without the girls' strength and clear accounts.

"I know this sentence won't take away the horrific memories they now carry," she said.

"However, I hope it does allow them to move on from the horrible crimes that Grimshaw subjected them to."

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