Family 'devastated' as missing girl case stays closed

The family of a British girl who disappeared in Australia more than 55 years ago say they are "devastated and angry" at the decision not to reopen the case.

Bristol toddler Cheryl Grimmer went missing in 1970 on a beach near Sydney just after her family had emigrated there.

A man in his sixties was charged with her abduction and murder in 2017, but his trial collapsed after his teenage confession was ruled inadmissible.

Sally Dowling, the director of public prosecutions (DPP) in New South Wales, has now decided this decision still stands, despite years of campaigning by Cheryl's family to get the case re-examined.

After the three-year-old disappeared from Fairy Meadow beach in Wollongong in January 1970, extensive searches found no leads.

Cheryl vanished from the beach changing rooms when her brother, who had been taking care of her, turned away for a few seconds.

The BBC's 2022 Fairy Meadow podcast examined Cheryl's disappearance and since its broadcast at least one new witness has come forward.

The suspect, who could not be named for legal reasons and was known only as 'Mercury', did not stand trial after a judge ruled in 2019 that his confession could not be used as evidence. He denies any wrongdoing and prosecutors dropped the case.

Earlier this year, Dowling agreed to review this decision at the request of Cheryl's family.

But the DDP sent the family a letter earlier saying the judge's ruling was correct.

"I have reviewed this case afresh to determine if the decision not to proceed further was correct," she wrote.

"As you appreciate, this question turns on whether the exclusion of the recorded interview with Mercury by the trial judge is reasonably open to challenge.

"After careful consideration I have concluded that it is not, and that therefore the original decision to take no further proceedings following that ruling was correct," she said.

Dowling said the decision was likely to be "very disappointing" and offered to meet the family.

The Grimmer family say they submitted hundreds of pages of legal arguments and are furious to get such a brief reply.

They have now written back to the DPP demanding a more detailed response to the arguments they made.

Cheryl's eldest brother Ricki Nash said Dowling's decision and the brief explanation behind it was "incredibly difficult to accept".

"Cheryl was three years old. She never got the opportunity to grow up, have a career, fall in love, have children or live the life that was taken from her," he said.

"Our family has spent more than half a century living with that loss."

Nash added: "We have continued fighting because we believe Cheryl deserves to have the circumstances surrounding her disappearance and death properly examined.

"Our family is devastated and angry, but we are not going to stop asking questions - we owe that to Cheryl."

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