Australian Prosecutors Move to Reopen British Girl’s Cold Case After More Than Five Decades

New Push to Review Long-Standing Mystery

Australian legal authorities are preparing to revisit one of the nation’s most enduring and heartbreaking cold cases — the disappearance of British-born toddler Cheryl Grimmer, who vanished from a beach in Wollongong, New South Wales, in January 1970. After more than 56 years without closure, the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has agreed to consider a formal review of the prosecution decision that saw the case dropped, following persistent pressure from Cheryl’s family and the emergence of potential new evidence.

Cheryl, aged three, disappeared from Fairy Meadow Beach on 12 January 1970 while on a family outing. She was last seen walking from a beach shower block; despite extensive searching and investigations, her body has never been found and the case remained unsolved for decades.

History of a Case That Captured Australia’s Attention

Cheryl Grimmer’s disappearance became one of Australia’s most infamous missing-person cases. Shortly after she vanished, a 17-year-old boy confessed to abducting and killing her, even offering specific details, but authorities at the time dismissed the confession as unreliable due to inconsistencies and a lack of supporting evidence. The confession was also ultimately ruled inadmissible in court because it was obtained when the suspect was a minor and without legal representation, leading to charges being dropped in February 2019.

Over subsequent decades, ongoing public interest and sporadic investigations — including task forces and witness appeals — failed to resolve the case. A 2011 coronial inquest declared Cheryl probably died soon after she went missing and recommended reopening the investigation, but progress was limited until Parliament was drawn into the fight by advocacy efforts that helped spotlight unresolved evidence.

Prosecutorial Review Under New Policy

In a significant development this week, the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, Sally Dowling SC, has written to Cheryl’s family indicating her office will consider reviewing the original decision to discontinue the prosecution under the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution’s Victim’s Right of Review (VRR) policy, introduced in 2021. This policy allows victims or their families to seek reconsideration of decisions not to prosecute or to discontinue proceedings where they believe errors were made or fresh evidence has emerged.

Dowling’s letter acknowledges the family’s concerns about investigative errors and mentions references to fresh information from potential witnesses that could be relevant to a renewed review. However, she also noted that the DPP’s office does not conduct investigations, meaning any additional evidence must first be assessed and potentially acted on by NSW Police before it can be incorporated into a formal review.

Cheryl’s brother, Ricki Nash, said the family is weighing its options, including whether to proceed immediately under the VRR policy or first refer the new material to police to strengthen the evidentiary basis of a renewed prosecution bid. “Cheryl deserves a full and proper examination of all available evidence,” he said.

Potential Path Forward and Police Reinvestigation

The DPP has offered the family two pathways: a swift review based solely on the material that was available to prosecutors at the time the case was originally dropped, or a **referral of new evidence to the NSW Police Force Homicide Squad for possible reinvestigation. The latter option could result in additional forensic or witness work, which could then be resubmitted to the DPP for a more robust review.

Separately, the family has already written to NSW Police requesting a reinvestigation based on “significant new evidence” that has come to light since 2019. The homicide squad’s response to that request and any subsequent investigative steps will be closely watched by supporters and advocates for justice in the Grimmer case.

Legacy of a Cold Case and Public Interest

The disappearance of Cheryl Grimmer — a British toddler whose family moved to Australia shortly before the tragedy — has long laden Australian public consciousness with enduring questions about policing, justice and the limits of evidence after decades have passed. The fact that a suspect was once charged, then freed on technical grounds, has intensified scrutiny over how the case was handled and underlined the challenges of securing convictions in historic cases.

The renewed prosecutorial interest comes amid a wider cultural shift toward revisiting cold cases with fresh tools, forensic methods and legal policies that did not exist at the time of the original investigations. For Cheryl’s family and supporters, it represents a renewed opportunity for accountability — even as the passage of time, lost memories and lost physical evidence continue to complicate the pursuit of closure.

Broader Implications for Cold Case Justice

If a review proceeds, it could set a precedent for how long-stalled investigations — especially involving vulnerable victims like children — are managed under modern prosecutorial policies in Australia. Victim advocates have praised the DPP’s willingness to consider requests under the VRR policy, highlighting that cold case families often face profound emotional and legal hurdles in seeking to reopen closed files.

Whether a renewed review will ultimately lead to charges, a fresh trial or another dead end remains uncertain. What is clear, however, is that the Grimmer family’s decades-long campaign for answers has garnered the attention of prosecutors at the highest state level — a development long sought by those who have never stopped looking for justice for a little British girl lost on an Australian beach more than half a century ago.