Simon Parkes: Police excavations find no trace of missing sailor

Simon Parkes went missing after leaving HMS Illustrious in December 1986

Excavations in a car park and a cemetery in Gibraltar have failed to find any trace of a missing Royal Navy sailor, police have said.

Simon Parkes, 18, was last seen in 1986 when he left the docked HMS Illustrious in Gibraltar and never came back.

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary said it had finished five days of investigations at Town Range Car Park and Trafalgar Cemetery.

The force said it was disappointed that no significant material was found.

No trace of the radio operator has ever been found despite police searches in Gibraltar

Previously, the sailor's mother, Margaret Parkes, from Kingswood, Bristol, said she hoped police would "find his remains and be able to bring him home".

She said: "Every time there is a search it's hopeful but we just have to keep our feet on the floor and you can't put too much into it."

Police previously carried out searches at Town Range Car Park in August 2023.

Detectives said the latest "challenging" investigation followed information about a "further potential area of interest within the car park".

Police and military searchers looked for traces of Mr Parkes in an underground water tank

Det Ch Insp Adam Edwards said: "The team has processed more than 12 tonnes of material in the underground water tank that has been sealed for some time.

"The conditions were hot, damp and filthy... At least two tonnes of material has been brought up to the surface for sieving and fingertip examination."

Hampshire police said there were no plans for new searches.

The case has previously been part of investigations by the force into serial killer Allan Grimson, a former petty officer, who was serving on HMS Illustrious at the same time as Mr Parkes.

Grimson was jailed for life in 2001 for the murder of two young men, Nicholas Wright, 18, from Leicestershire, and Sion Jenkins, from Newbury in Berkshire.

He has always denied being involved in Mr Parkes' disappearance.

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