Boys were shown how to work on car engines, with people living nearby thinking he was equipping them with practical abilities for adulthood - but behind the mask lurked a monster who exploited his likeable image to abuse children as young as five.

The young victims were dazzled by his gold medallion and gold Daimler with its luxurious cream leather interior which he used to ferry them back to his Luton property.

DCI Louise Gent, who was Senior Investigation Officer in the case, says: "We will probably never know how many victims Jimmy Savile had and we will never know the true extent of Grimes' offending either, because there will be people that will never report it to the police and others have probably died due to living chaotic and horrific lifestyles as a result of what happened to them as children."

"Carson Grimes had this knack of making these young people feel important. Now we would identify it as grooming. But back then in the 80s, I don't think it was seen that way. People just thought he was doing good for the boys in teaching them skills that they could use in later life."

"He did good turns for his neighbours, too. He fixed cars, did their shopping for them. I don't think anyone suspect what was going on."

"He preyed on children that he probably knew wouldn't say anything to their parents or didn't have families that cared about them."

"A lot of his victims said they felt safe with him when, in reality, he was taking them back to his home - what can only be described as a House of Horror - which was anything but safe," she told The Sun.

"It was like he was Fagin and we were Dodger and Oliver and all the rest," says Michael, one of his victims. "He had loads of kids taking him stolen stuff."

"He'd look after us with money and drugs and I just thought he had a need for me. I didn't know the need that was going on in his head. I didn't know about grooming and things like that."

A 2021 episode of Channel 4's 24 Hours in Police Custody documentary strand, which tracks Bedfordshire Police's work, covered detectives' probe into Grimes which ended with him being convicted of 36 offences against nine children and jailed for 22 years.

The court was told he started targeting children - mainly boys though some girls were victims too - during the 1980s and carried on until approximately 2002.

Following the programme's broadcast, Bedfordshire Police was inundated with fresh complaints about his offending which showed the scale was much worse than officers had realised.

Michael describes his response to seeing the first documentary broadcast on television in 2021.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw him and heard his name," he says. "It was all coming back to me after 34, 35 years. The thing I noticed about him and will always remember was his overgrown, dirty finger nails."

"I was saying to my wife, 'I know him.' She said, 'How?' and I said, 'I'm one of his victims. He's done similar things to me as what these poor men are saying.'"

"I haven't really been able to move on. It's been eating away at me and I wanted to give my side of the story and have some justice."

"I was between the age of 14 and 16 when I met him in London in the 1980s. I started getting into stealing car stereos and he would buy them," says Michael.

"When I brought him stolen things he would pat me on the back and say, 'Nice one, Mike,' and I felt I had made someone happy."

"I wanted to be seen. I wanted to be loved and hugged. My mum and dad never told me that they loved me."

The paedophile launched his campaign of abuse during the 1980s and despite some youngsters reporting him to officers and him being arrested on eight occasions, charges were never brought and he was free to continue attacking more children across 20 years.

He was residing in a care home when Grimes abused him in 1998 aged 13. After telling social workers what happened, they instructed him not to discuss it. He later found the strength to approach police but again nothing was done.

"These young people were coming forward and they were just labelled as tearaways, nuisance kids, often from broken families or in children's homes, dabbling on the edges of petty crime and drugs and they were not taken seriously," says Claire Gilbert.

"If he had been believed when he first came forward, it could have put a stop to it back then."

Unable to locate his original statement, Claire convinces him to file another report. The devastating account contains the line: "My first intimacy was Carson drugging and raping me. I think I tried screaming a few times but he told me to shut up. I tried for years to be a success but my success is different to others. Surviving one more day is my success now."

Patrick and Michael were amongst those who bravely faced him in court and read out their victim impact statements.

"I've hid in the shadows for a long time but today, I look you in the eye so you know who I am," said Patrick. "You stole my life. Today I am taking in back."

Michael said, "It's been 37 years. You can't hurt me anymore."

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