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Courts / New South Wales

Cheryl Grimmer's family 'deeply angry' as decision to drop case upheld

ABC News
1 min read Rewritten in plain language

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  • Cheryl Grimmer's family is damaged after the DPP upheld the decision to abandon the case over her 1970 disappearance.
  • Cheryl disappeared from Fairy Meadow Beach near Wollongong on January 12, 1970.
  • The prosecution collapsed in 2019 after the NSW Supreme Court excluded admissions Mercury made to police when he was 17.
  • In a two-page letter emailed to the family on September 16, director of public prosecutions Sally Dowling SC acknowledged the impact of the original decision and their patience while the review was conducted.
  • Mr Nash said the family had provided 50 detailed submissions, setting out extensive evidence and legal arguments.

5 sentences from our version of the report, chosen to cover it. Nothing here is written; every line is in the article below. How

Headline check

One of the two things this headline claims is not in the report.

  • The headline puts “deeply angry” in quotation marks. Nobody says those words anywhere in the report.

Figures, names and quoted words in the headline, looked for in the report itself — not in the summary above. How this is checked

Cheryl Grimmer's family is damaged after the DPP upheld the decision to abandon the case over her 1970 disappearance.

The family says the review failed to adequately address more than 50 detailed submissions.

The family are considering an offer to meet with the DPP and urging police to follow alleged new evidence.

Cheryl disappeared from Fairy Meadow Beach near Wollongong on January 12, 1970.

The review examined the decision to discontinue proceedings against a man known by the pseudonym "Mercury", who had been charged over Cheryl's disappearance.

The prosecution collapsed in 2019 after the NSW Supreme Court excluded admissions Mercury made to police when he was 17.

Justice Robert Hulme found the interview did not meet legal requirements applying to admissions made by children, including safeguards concerning the presence of an adult.

In a two-page letter emailed to the family on September 16, director of public prosecutions Sally Dowling SC acknowledged the impact of the original decision and their patience while the review was conducted.

"As you appreciate, this question turns on whether the exclusion of the recorded interview with Mercury by the trial judge is reasonably open to challenge."

Mr Nash said the family had provided 50 detailed submissions, setting out extensive evidence and legal arguments.

Mr Nash said the repose provided little detail explaining how those matters were dealt with.

Shortened to 1 minute of reading, this version reads 5.9 on the Niral Score.

You are reading our version, not theirs. This is ABC News's report shortened to its most important sentences, in plainer words, with verdicts and loaded words taken out. Plain description stays, and so do adjectives that carry a fact, such as "former" or "federal". The reporting, the facts and the quotations are theirs — quotations are never edited — and the indicators beside it measure this version. Hover or tap Adjectives to see every one left in the text.

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Outlet Niral ScoreAdjectivesSourcingSentimentHappiness
ABC Newsas they published this story 12.5 11 78 -0.2 49.3
Mundane Readneutralized from ABC News 8.2 9 78 -0.3 49.3

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