Grimmer family gives premier deadline to review 56-year-old cold case murder

Cheryl Grimmer's family has given the NSW premier a deadline to review the 56-year-old cold case murder of the three-year-old girl, accusing the state's top prosecutor of a "catastrophic failure of public accountability".

The family has demanded an independent audit of the case and will seek government records relating to the case in the NSW Legislative Council if the government does not respond by September 29.

Background

Cheryl Grimmer went missing from outside a shower block at Fairy Meadow Beach in Wollongong in January 1970. Her body has never been found.

In 1971, a 17-year-old boy told police he had abducted and killed her. Investigators sought evidence to confirm his account but were not satisfied they had enough to charge him.

In 2017, the man, known by the court pseudonym "Mercury", was charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution was discontinued in 2019 after Justice Robert Hulme ruled the police interview could not be used as evidence.

Review of the case

Earlier this year, the family secured a review by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and provided 54 submissions.

In a determination dated September 16, the director of public prosecutions upheld the decision to discontinue the case, finding it was not reasonably open to challenge the court's exclusion of the interview.

The family says the response failed to address its legal arguments and information about potential witnesses.

"We refuse to roll over or accept bureaucratic brush-offs," the family's letter read.

Call to action

The family has called for a full, independent audit of the case, saying "We demand that you immediately exercise your executive authority to order a full, independent ministerial audit of this file."

NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley said he understood the family was disappointed with the review's outcome.

"The key question considered by the review was the exclusion of the recorded interview. That is a legal question and one which has already been determined by the Supreme Court," he said.

NSW upper house MP Jeremy Buckingham has been advocating for the family and has urged the attorney-general and all other MPs to "find a fix".

"There must be a legislative fix that can deal with this issue, we can not have a situation where this stands, where justice is not served," he said.