Aaron Grimshaw – Gloucestershire

A sex offender who posed as a police officer to sexually assault two terrified 16-year-old girls has been jailed after using a fake “search” to get his hands on the teenagers.

Aaron Grimshaw, 23, produced a wallet bearing a metal emblem and falsely claimed he was a police officer before threatening the girls with being taken to a police station or having their parents called if they refused to be searched.

But the supposed “police search” was a lie.

Grimshaw used the deception to sexually assault both teenagers underneath their clothing.

And when one of his victims protested and her friends intervened, Grimshaw was captured on video claiming:

“She consented.”

He then claimed he would call for uniformed officers before walking away.

The sickening encounter happened on Friday, May 22, after the two 16-year-olds attended a gathering at Tutshill Recreation Ground in Gloucestershire.

The court heard Grimshaw approached them in a wooded area and announced that he was a police officer who needed to search them.

He produced a wallet containing a metal emblem to reinforce the lie.

Grimshaw then warned the teenagers that refusing his demands would mean being taken to a police station or having their parents contacted.

Both girls were frightened about what would happen if they refused.

Under the pretence of carrying out the “search”, Grimshaw sexually assaulted them by touching their breasts, legs and bottoms beneath their clothing.

One victim finally shouted words to the effect of:

“No, stop. I am not OK with this.”

Her friends were alerted and gathered around Grimshaw, recording what was happening.

That footage would help expose him.

Police were contacted later that day and Grimshaw was identified from the recording and the clothing he was wearing.

He was arrested, questioned and charged with two counts of sexual assault on a female.

Grimshaw appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court on May 25 and pleaded guilty to both offences.

He was initially released on bail under conditions banning him from having unsupervised contact with anyone under 18.

But the Gloucestershire attacks were not the only sexual offences before the court.

At sentencing, Grimshaw received one year in prison for the attacks on the two 16-year-old girls.

He was also handed an additional four-and-a-half years behind bars, to run consecutively, for separate sexual offences investigated by West Yorkshire Police.

Those offences included sexual assault on a female, sexual activity with a child, sexual communication with a child and making indecent photographs of a child, all of which Grimshaw had admitted.

The consecutive sentences mean Grimshaw was handed a combined prison term of five-and-a-half years.

He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely and made subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Grimshaw had attempted to exploit the authority and trust associated with a police uniform he did not possess.

But when one teenage victim spoke out and her friends started recording, his bogus police act began to unravel — and the evidence helped lead officers straight to him.