The brother of British girl Cheryl Grimmer who was snatched from an Australian beach 54 years ago claims cops missed key clues to crack the case.
Ricki Nash was the last person to see his youngest sibling when she disappeared, aged three, from Fairy Meadow Beach just outside Wollongong in New South Wales in January 1970.
And yet, he points out, police only first took a statement from him in 2017 almost five decades on from the tragic day.
He told The Sun: ‘How much more pain has our family got to get through to get some truth?
‘It is frustrating beyond belief. To say the word frustrating doesn’t even touch how I feel, let alone how my brothers feel as well.’
Ricki Nash (pictured), the brother of British girl Cheryl Grimmer who was snatched from an Australian beach 54 years ago claims cops missed key clues to crack the case
Ricki was the last person to see his youngest sibling (pictured) when she disappeared, aged three, from Fairy Meadow Beach just outside Wollongong in New South Wales in January 1970
Cheryl pictured with her brothers Ricki, Paul and Steve. The family had moved to Australia from Bristol towards the end of 1968
The family, which also included brothers Paul and Steve and their parents, had moved to the country from Bristol towards the end of 1968.
Cheryl vanished just after lunch on a warm day just yards from the hostel where they were staying.
Ricki, then seven, had been tasked with making sure his siblings washed the sand off their bodies after a day at the beach but soon found Cheryl unwilling to leave the ladies’ toilet block.
He then decided to get their mother to help him but by the time they got back to the showers Cheryl had disappeared.
The heartbroken brother says he has always remembered the last moments he had with his sister and that he also recalls seeing a kid larger than him with a ‘big nose’.
Three days after her disappearance, a ‘ransom note’ was sent to Bulli Police Station demanding $10,000 and a pardon in exchange for the toddler.
An interview with a Superintendent Lynch at the time saw the officer ask anyone who recognised the letter’s handwriting, which was judged by experts to be that of a 14 or 15 year old, to get in contact with detectives.
The time and place of the exchange were set by police and broadcast on television, which Ricki, now 62, argues was their first key error.
Ricki (centre) pictured with Stephen (left) and Paul (right)
Cheryl (pictured, left, with father Vince)) vanished just after lunch on a warm day just yards from the hostel where they were staying
Cheryl with pictured with Paul (left) and Stephen (right). Three days after her disappearance, a ‘ransom note’ was sent to Bulli Police Station demanding $10,000 and a pardon in exchange for the toddler
Military pictured joining police in the search for Cheryl in January 1970. By 1971, a 17-year-old suspect had confessed to the kidnapping and killing of Cheryl and even showed officers the spot where he had supposedly buried the toddler
What resulted was a huge crowd of hundreds of intrigued people desperate to witness the handover.
Ricki added that the attention that the potential collection received ruined the possibility of it actually taking place.
In 1971, a 17-year-old suspect confessed to the kidnapping and killing of Cheryl and even showed officers the spot where he had supposedly buried the toddler.
But police shelved the confession, citing inconsistencies in his account and the case went quiet until March 2017 when the same man was arrested and charged with the young girl’s murder in Melbourne.
Ricki believes the confession was ignored until an inquest in 2011 but that he was not informed about it until 2016 or 2017, which meant he and his family did not get the chance to corroborate details of the confession.
It also ensured that Cheryl’s father died before he found out that someone had confessed to killing his young daughter.
A trial was then scheduled for May 2019 after the suspect pleaded not guilty at the Supreme of New South Wales in September 2018.
But a judge then ruled that a new law, declaring confessions inadmissible if not made in the presence of a parent or guardian, could be imposed retroactively.
Cheryl pictured with her three brothers. Police shelved the confession, citing inconsistencies in his account and the case went quiet until March 2017 when the same man was arrested and charged with the young girl’s murder in Melbourne
Ricki (pictured, centre, with Stephen, second left, and Paul, right, in 2016) believes the confession was ignored until an inquest in 2011 but that he was not informed about it until 2016 or 2017, which meant his family did not get the chance to corroborate details of the confession
Cheryl’s heartbroken family pictured after her disappearance
A trial was then scheduled for May 2019 after the suspect pleaded not guilty at the Supreme of New South Wales in September 2018
But a judge then ruled that a new law, declaring confessions inadmissible if not made in the presence of a parent or guardian, could be imposed retroactively
As a result, the charge was dropped in February 2019 and by 2020 police were on the hunt again for new clues, offering a $1million for more information.
Ricki claims a senior officer and a prosecutor had both told him that the suspect was responsible for his sister vanishing more than five decades ago.
The traumatised brother has vowed to never give up his search for the truth about his sibling’s disappearance and added: ‘Stop the lies. Let’s hear what went wrong, let’s challenge this retrospective law.’