The identity of a key person of interest in the disappearance of a British girl in Australia more than 50 years ago has been named.
An Australian politician named the man under parliamentary privilege after he missed a deadline to “give answers” to the missing girl’s family.
Cheryl Grimmer was abducted from Fairy Meadow beach in New South Wales in 1970 when she was three years old.
Police found no leads in the search for her despite an extensive and high-profile investigation.
However, the man in question, known under the pseudonym Mercury, was arrested in 2017 and charged with murder after cold case detectives uncovered a confession made by a 17-year-old boy in 1971.
However, a judge ruled the confession was inadmissible because no parent, adult or lawyer accompanied the boy and it was excluded from evidence.
The charges, which Mercury denied, were then dropped.
He cannot be named because he was a minor at the time.
Last week, Cheryl’s family gave the man a deadline to come forward with information.
Following the missed deadline, Mr Buckingham named Mercury in parliament and read out his 1971 confession as he called for a new investigation into Cheryl’s abduction and murder.
He said: "The family of Cheryl Grimmer have been through so much anguish over such a long period of time.
"[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."
A number of Cheryl’s family members were in attendance, and they have been calling for a new inquiry.
Following the revelation in parliament, the wife of Cheryl’s brother Paul, Linda Grimmer said: "He has been given the opportunity to declare his innocence or guilt, yet he has chosen to remain silent.”
She said they were not "seeking to harm Mercury or his family" but that "What we want is now the truth. We hope that by speaking out today, members of the public who may hold information will come forward so that Mercury can be questioned in a court of law and justice for Cheryl can finally be served."
Cheryl was last seen going into changing rooms on Fairy Meadow beach on January 12 1970.
The family had recently moved from Bristol to New South Wales.
