Cheryl Grimmer: Man charged over British toddler missing since 1970
Australian police arrest 63-year-old man in Melbourne in connection with disappearance of three-year-old
A man has been charged with the murder of British toddler Cheryl Grimmer, who disappeared from a beach in Australia almost 50 years ago.
The 63-year-old, originally from the UK, was arrested in Melbourne on Wednesday and will face court on Friday morning.
He was a "person of interest" during the original police investigation, when he would have been 16, the BBC reports.
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Bristol-born Cheryl, then aged three, went missing from a beach in New South Wales on 12 January 1970, not long after her family had emigrated to Australia. She had been sent to shower in a toilet block 110yds from the beach with her three brothers, Ricki, Stephen and Paul, but disappeared from the changing rooms and was never seen again.
Despite a huge search, police failed to discover what happened to her and now doubt her body will ever be found.
However, during a re-enactment of her disappearance last year, three witnesses said they had seen a teenager "loitering" around the area.
Cheryl's parents, Carole and Vince, both died without knowing what happened to their daughter. Stephen Grimmer, 53, told the Sydney Morning Herald his mother had never given up hope that her daughter was still alive.
He added the news of the arrest was "great", but also "unreal".
Police said the suspect was questioned at a police station in Frankston, in outer Melbourne, on Wednesday and held in custody.
Detective inspector Brad Ainsworth said: "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."
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