Missing Cheryl Grimmer: Animal bones found in search for girl who vanished 55 years ago

The "area of interest" flagged by a team of volunteers has turned out to be a false alarm.

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A volunteer team who used cadaver detection dogs in search of Cheryl Grimmer had hoped their finding would be a breakthrough in the case which has remained a mystery since she disappeared in 1970, when she was three.

But bones that were found in the area belong to an animal, police said in response to the BBC's queries, adding that the search had "concluded".

Authorities suspect Cheryl, who had emigrated from Bristol with her family, was abducted from Fairy Meadow beach in Wollongong in January 1970.

Thursday's search happened in Balgownie, on a small pocket of woodland mentioned in a confession made by a teenage boy.