A man previously charged with kidnapping and murdering a little girl more than 50 years ago has been named for the first time in NSW parliament.

Cheryl Grimmer, a UK-born toddler, vanished from outside a shower block while on an outing with her family at Fairy Meadow Beach in the Illawarra, NSW.

Her disappearance has never been solved and a coronial inquest in 2011 found that she was likely dead and urged police to reopen the case.

Investigators discovered records of a police interview in 1971, in which a 17-year-old boy allegedly admitted to police he had abducted and killed the girl.

Because of his age at the time, he has only been identified by the pseudonym "Mercury" until today, when Legalise Cannabis MP Jeremy Buckingham revealed his name in parliament.

Parliamentary privilege m

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