MP to reveal suspect’s name in decades-old cold case

The five-decade-long case of the toddler’s disappearance, which attracted international attention and a $1 million reward, is taking another turn.

Three-year-old Cheryl Gene Grimmer was abducted outside a shower block at Fairy Meadow Beach at Wollongong on the NSW south coast on 12 January 1970.

Cheryl was having a fun day at the beach with her mother and three brothers.

In the decades since, her case has been the subject of numerous police investigations and a coroner’s inquest, which determined that Cheryl was likely dead.

The case also attracted millions of listeners to the BBC podcast Fairy Meadow in 2022.

Cheryl’s disappearance is one of many missing persons and unsolved murder cases that are the subject of a recently launched parliamentary inquiry to be chaired by NSW upper house MP Jeremy Buckingham.

A man pleaded not guilty after being charged with Cheryl’s murder in 2017, but prosecutors dropped the case after the NSW Supreme Court ruled the confession was inadmissible.

The man, known by the nickname “Mercury”, was a young boy when Cheryl disappeared.

The fact that he was not accompanied by a parent, adult or lawyer when he was interviewed in 1971 raised concerns about how he was warned by the police.

The Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to appeal the court’s decision in 2019 and subsequently withdrew the murder charge due to lack of other evidence.

But Mr Buckingham said he would name Mercury in parliament on Thursday.

Cheryl’s family had given Mercury a deadline to explain how he knew the information in the confession. The period ended on Wednesday.

Mr Buckingham said identifying “Mercury” was about getting justice for Cheryl.

“The criminal justice system failed him 50 years ago and has failed him more recently because of the inadmissibility of the confession,” he said.

“We are now faced with a situation that depends on the parliament exercising its powers.”

Identifying Mercury was also important from a public safety perspective “because this individual is prevalent in the community”, Mr Buckingham told AAP.

On the 50th anniversary of Cheryl’s disappearance in 2020, NSW Police announced a $1 million reward for information regarding the case.

A search in Wollongong in early October turned up bones later identified as belonging to an animal.