Previous suspect arrested over historic disappearance of toddler in 1970

A man has been charged with the murder and abduction of a three-year-old British-born girl at an Australian beach from almost 50 years ago. The 63-year-old man – originally from the UK – was arrested in Melbourne on Wednesday (March 22). Cheryl Grimmer went missing from a shower block at Fairy Meadow beach, New South Wales, on January 12, 1970. She was there with her mother, Carole and her brothers Ricki, Stephen and Paul. The family had just emigrated from Bristol in south-west England to Melbourne. As the mother packed up the children`s belongings, Cheryl went into a changing area with her siblings and was never seen again. Her body has never been found. Both her parents have since died. Police believe Cheryl was taken from the front of the changing area and died within an hour of her abduction. “She was gone in just a minute or two,” Ricki Grimmer said last year. “It’s something I still live with every day.” Last year, detectives re-opened the case after revealing witnesses had said they saw a teenager “loitering” near the scene on the day of Cheryl’s disappearance. The man now accused of Cheryl’s murder and abduction was interviewed in 1970 but was never charged. He would have been 16 at the time. Detective Inspector Brad Ainsworth, from Wollongong Police, said he doubted Cheryl’s body would ever be found. “I`m not going to get into the specifics of the actual details of the offences but I can say that they are quite horrific, and will be unfolding in court” he added. The man in custody is expected to appear in a Wollongong court on Friday (March 24).