NSW Parliamentary Inquiry Begins Into Cold Cases and Possible Links to Serial Killer Ivan Milat
A New South Wales parliamentary inquiry into unsolved murders and long-term missing persons held its first public hearing in Bowral, where families described decades of alleged police failures in cases potentially linked to serial killer Ivan Milat. The inquiry examined cases including the 1970 disappearance of three-year-old Cheryl Grimmer, the 1979 disappearance of 15-year-old Kay Docherty, and the 1971 disappearance of Keren Rowland, with families alleging lost evidence, ignored leads, and prolonged silence from authorities. The inquiry is significant because it may shed light on whether earlier police action could have prevented Milat's later confirmed murders of at least seven backpackers between 1989 and 1992.
The first public hearing of a NSW parliamentary inquiry into unsolved murders and long-term missing persons convened in Bowral on Thursday, with families of victims delivering emotional testimony about alleged systemic police failures spanning more than five decades. Ricki Nash, brother of Cheryl Grimmer — a three-year-old British girl who disappeared from Fairy Meadow beach in Wollongong in January 1970 — told the inquiry that a 17-year-old suspect known as 'Mercury' made a graphic confession that was never disclosed to the family and sat in archives for over 45 years. Mercury was charged with Cheryl's abduction and murder in 2017, but the trial collapsed after his teenage confession was ruled inadmissible under laws requiring a minor to have a support person present during police interviews; prosecutors subsequently dropped the case, though the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is reportedly reviewing that decision. Kevin Docherty, twin brother of Kay Docherty who disappeared near Wollongong in 1979, told the inquiry that police made no contact with his family for 30 years and initially dismissed Kay as a runaway; a 2013 inquest found evidence suggesting Ivan Milat may have murdered Kay and her friend Toni Cavanagh. The family of Keren Rowland, who was 20 and five months pregnant when she disappeared in Canberra in 1971, submitted that she may have been one of Milat's earliest victims, and that connecting her case to him sooner could have prevented his later killings. Milat was convicted in 1996 of murdering seven backpackers in Belanglo State Forest and died in prison in 2019. The inquiry, chaired by NSW MLC Jeremy Buckingham, has received scores of submissions and will resume in Grafton in July.
What's missing
The inquiry's formal terms of reference, scope, and any powers it holds to compel evidence or recommend prosecutions are not detailed in either source, leaving unclear what concrete outcomes the parliamentary process could produce.
How coverage differed
Both outlets covered the hearing with similar neutrality, but the BBC placed greater emphasis on the British connection to the Grimmer case and included expert forensic criminologist testimony about Milat's psychology, while ABC Australia provided more operational detail about ongoing search efforts and the role of volunteers in cold case investigations.
What different sources said
- BBC Top StoriesCenter
Family of British toddler speaks as Australian inquiry into cold case murders begins
- ABC AustraliaCenter
Families tell of grief and police failures over loved ones and killer Ivan Milat
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