Suspect in British toddler Cheryl Grimmer's disappearance in Australia named

A person of interest in the 1970 disappearance of British toddler Cheryl Grimmer in Australia has been named by a politician.

Cheryl was three when she was kidnapped from a beach changing area, near the city of Wollongong in New South Wales (NSW) state.

Her body has never been found, despite extensive searches over the years.

Jeremy Buckingham, of the Legalise Cannabis Party, used parliamentary privilege on Thursday to identify a man known by the pseudonym Mercury.

Mercury was put on trial over Cheryl’s disappearance, but it collapsed after evidence was ruled as inadmissible, and the charges were dropped.

Buckingham read out Mercury’s real name, which is still legally protected because he was a minor, and the confession he gave police at the time. The politician called for a new investigation into Cheryl’s murder.

Cheryl pictured with her father. The toddler, originally from Bristol, was kidnapped from a changing area. / Credit: PA

Mercury, who was 16 at the time of the incident, was charged in 2017 with Cheryl’s abduction and murder after police discovered a confession from 1971.

However, a judge ruled the man’s interview with police from April 1971 could not be used in court because there had been no parent, adult or lawyer accompanying him, Australian media reported at the time.

“The family of Cheryl Grimmer have been through so much anguish over such a long period of time,” Buckingham said.

“(Mercury) 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.”

On the 50th anniversary of her disappearance, NSW authorities upped the reward on the cold case to one million Australian dollars (£528,000) for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

A coroner in 2011 found Cheryl had died – but her cause and manner of death remained undetermined, Police said.