Simon Parkes: Remains found at Gibraltar cemetery during hunt for Royal Navy sailor were 'not human'

Detectives are still probing how 18-year-old radio operator Simon Parkes vanished in Gibraltar more than 30 years ago having arrived onboard HMS Illustrious in December 1986.

Last month new searches were carried out at Trafalgar Cemetery by Royal Gibraltar Police following some carried out at the end of last year.

Now police have said material found this year was not human, and bone fragments found last year were from an animal.

A Hampshire police spokesman said: ‘Following the search operation, no materials that were examined have been identified as human.

‘The materials recovered in December were not human either and were animal.’

He added: ‘This is still an active investigation.’

Publicity from the search last year generated new lines of enquiry, police previously said.

Simon’s Bristol-based parents have been updated with the latest developments.

Detective Inspector Adam Edwards previously said: ‘We know this remains a difficult time for them and we hope our work will finally bring them the answers they so desperately want.’

As reported, questions were raised about Allan Grimson, who also served on Illustrious, after he was convicted and jailed for brutal murder of two ratings he lured back to his Portsmouth flat in 1997 and 1998.

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Grimson served 22 years in the senior service travelling the globe. But he was secretly a murderer who would later tell police killing was ‘better than sex’.

The Royal Gibraltar Police and Royal Navy are involved in the British police investigation.

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