bondage-obsessed Metropolitan Police officer who tied up his housemate with duct tape during “ten minutes of terror” in a bid to satisfy his sexual urges has been jailed for four years.
Sam Grigg ambushed Natasha Rabinowitz in the shared kitchen of their Twickenham home, binding her ankles and wrists and placing tape over her mouth.
The court heard she feared he was going to rape her.
When she threatened to report him, Grigg chillingly told her: “Who are you going to tell? I am the police”.
When his bedroom was later searched, police discovered sets of handcuffs, cable ties, more rolls of duct tape, a ball and gag, bundles of rope, and two police batons.
Grigg also had a DVD of the horror film Better Watch Out, in which a babysitter is bound and gagged using duct tape by intruders.
Ms Rabinowitz said she feared being raped by Grigg, and is now afraid of coming into contact with the police in the future.
Grigg – a former PC who was sacked by the Met after his guilty pleas – initially tried to claim the incident was a “joke”, but accepted on Friday that his actions were sexually-motivated.
At Kingston crown court, Grigg was sentenced to four years in prison with an extra two years on licence by Judge Peter Lodder KC, the Recorder of Richmond-upon-Thames, as he called the incident “ten minutes of terror”.
“She was terrified – you rendered her almost completely helpless”, he said, noting Grigg’s “obsession with BDSM”.
“I take account of the pleasure you appeared to derive from what you had done to her, and your role as a professional police officer which you utilised in an attempt to prevent her from reporting what had happened.”
The judge added that he believed Grigg had only stopped the attack because someone had rung the front doorbell.
After news broke of Grigg’s arrest, an ex-girlfriend came forward to reveal how he enjoyed tying her up and gagging her mouth during sex, saying she was “not enthusiatic” but agreed to the activity.
“He enjoyed the power of tying her up and putting tape over her mouth when she was unable to move”, said the judge, summarising her statement.
The ex-girlfriend said Grigg watched “alarming” pornography and had an obsession with BDSM and bondage.
She said Grigg had used his work handcuffs during sex, and also suggested the PC “got a kick out of arresting women as it was a form of restraint” – a claim Grigg contests.
Prosecutor Alexander Agbamu told the court the attack happened on December 2 last year at about 2pm, when Ms Rabinowitz went into the kitchen of their shared townhouse to make herself some food.
“The defendant came into the kitchen a little later, he was holding a roll of duct tape. Without warning or explanation, he began to tape Ms Rabinowitz’s wrists together”, he said.
“She grabbed the tape to try and stop him, but the defendant in response to Ms Rabinowitz’s resistance pulled her towards the table.
“She pulled back, telling the defendant she was stronger than she looked – but he began to apply more force.
“He grabbed her by the wrists, put them behind her back, and bound them tightly together with the duct tape.
“Ms Rabinowitz asked the defendant ‘why are you doing this?’, telling him she all she wanted to do was have some food and return to her room. The defendant told her he thought it was funny.”
Grigg picked Ms Rabinowitz up and carried her to the sofa and bound her ankles before she fell to the floor.
“He stood over her and applied duct tape to her mouth”, said Mr Agbamu.
“The doorbell then rang and the defendant went to answer it. Ms Rabinowitz succeeded in working the tape away from her mouth. She was by now sweating and breathing heavily.
“She began to crawl towards one side of the ground-level kitchen drawer. Her intention was to find a knife to cut herself free.”
The court heard Grigg returned to the kitchen and stood watching as Ms Rabinowitz attempted to free herself, and “seemed to enjoy what he was seeing”, said the prosecutor.
“After a while the defendant told Ms Rabinowitz he would take her bindings off if she asked nicely. She pleaded with him to set her free.”
Grigg used a knife to cut the bindings but also cut Ms Rabinowitz’s wrist.
“He expressed surprise as to how much tape he had used, in a jokey tone, and he asked if she forgave him”, said Mr Agbamu. “Ms Rabinowitz said she did not.”
She went to her room and messaged a friend, saying: “I genuinely 100 per cent thought he was going to rape me.”
She called Grigg “a bit weird” but added: “He’s always been such a nice guy.”
In a victim impact statement, Ms Rabinowitz said she now struggles to sleep, suffering nightmares and flashbacks, and has seen a deterioration in her mental health.
“She feels anxious when she sees a police vehicle, or walks past a police station, or when a police officer passes close by”, said Mr Agbamu.
“It has caused her to mistrust the police and made her concerned about the recruitment process in the police.”
John Howey, representing Grigg, said he accepts making a “terrible mistake” and confirmed it was sexually-motivated.
“He can’t begin to explain why he chose to act as he did on that day”, he said.
“His sexual interest lay in tying up and restraining – it goes no further than that.
“He is very clear he had no intention whatsoever of going further into rape and sexual assault, or anything of that nature.”
The court heard Grigg joined the Met in 2016, and had previously received a commendation for his actions in tying to save a man from drowning.
Grigg, from Twickenham, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
