A man previously accused of abducting and murdering a three-year-old British girl who vanished from a beach 55 years ago has been identified by an Australian politician.
Cheryl Grimmer was kidnapped from a changing area at Fairy Meadow Beach on 12 January 1970 after spending the morning at the seaside with her mother and three brothers near the city of Wollongong in New South Wales.
The body of the toddler has never been discovered.
As Cheryl’s family pushes for a fresh inquiry into the toddler’s disappearance, NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham on Thursday used parliamentary privilege to name a person of interest who allegedly confessed to killing Cheryl. Sky News is not naming the suspect.
The reported confession came a year after she vanished, when he was 17.
The man was charged in 2017 with Cheryl’s abduction and murder after a fresh investigation was launched in 2016 during which officers discovered his confession from 1971 in police archives, according to ABC.
The trial collapsed when the confession was ruled inadmissible after child interview protection laws were applied retrospectively in 2019.
Mr Buckingham publicly revealed the man’s name and read out his alleged confession in parliament.
It read: “I come around from the back of shower block and grabbed the little girl, I took her by the hand and put one hand around her mouth and carried her around to the sand hills.
“I then continued up to Bulli Pass where I took the little girl, she started to scream when I took her up there – she would not be quiet so I put my arms around her throat and strangled her.
“I left her lying on the ground at the side of tree, I covered her up with leaves and bushes and threw some dirt on top.”
Mr Buckingham also called for a new police investigation.
“The family of Cheryl Grimmer have been through so much anguish over such a long period of time,” he said.
The suspect “is a free man living with his identity suppressed from his neighbours and no one has been punished for Cheryl Grimmer’s abduction and murder”, the MP added.
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On the 50th anniversary of Cheryl’s disappearance, NSW authorities increased the reward on the cold case to $1m (£528,000) for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
A woman came forward in 2008 who believed she may have been Cheryl, but a DNA swab proved otherwise.
Cheryl, who was born in Bristol, moved to Australia with her family in 1969.
