Moment Tyrrell case took sharp turn

A major shift in the investigation into the disappearance of William Tyrrell has led to a series of new developments almost a decade after he went missing.

Detectives have recommended the boy’s foster mother – who cannot be named for legal reasons – be charged with perverting the course of justice and interfering with a corpse, 9 News first reported on Tuesday.

She has always strenuously denied being involved with his disappearance and claims she was not informed of any potential charges against her. The foster mother is not accused of causing the boy’s death.

The development came just one day after the little boy’s 12th birthday, almost nine years after he went missing, and appears to be the culmination of a major turn the investigation took in 2021.

William was three years old when he disappeared from a home in the small town of Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast in September 2014, last seen wearing a Spider-Man suit.

Despite dozens of officers searching bushland a kilometre from the house, there was no trace of the child.

THE CASE TAKES A TURN

The last three years have resulted in a number of major developments in the disappearance case.

After one of the largest scale and longest-running search efforts for a missing person in Australian history gleaned no substantial leads, the call was made to open a coronial inquest.

The inquest opened in March 2019 and took more than 18 months to come to a close in October 2020.

The findings have never been released.

Two months before the inquest was called, the lead investigator for the last four years, Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin, was removed from all duties – and the investigation – while he faced court.

Jubelin was eventually found guilty of making illegal voice recordings of a person of interest and retired from the police force.

Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw took over as lead investigator of Strike Force Rosann – the investigation team dedicated to William’s disappearance.

Under Laidlaw, the case took a new direction, with a new theory – that William had fallen off a balcony at the Kendall home in a likely accident, and his body was hidden afterwards.

In September 2021, on the seventh anniversary of William’s disappearance, Chief Inspector Laidlaw said in a statement that “further information had come to light” as part of an ongoing review into the case, but provided no detail as to the nature of that information.

In November 2021, police began the first forensic search of the garden below the second-floor balcony of William’s foster grandmother’s home, though no major leads emerged.

Around the same time, a car that once belonged to the foster grandmother was seized from its new owners in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire.

A year later, William’s foster mother appeared in Sydney’s Downing Centre charged with lying to the New South Wales Crime Commission in a matter unrelated to William. She has since been found not guilty of the charge.

The court heard recordings from the secret Crime Commission hearing, held in 2021, where counsel assisting Sophie Callan put the allegation to the foster mother that William died when he fell from the veranda of his foster grandmother’s home.

“William went around on the veranda and toppled over and it was nobody’s fault,” Ms Callan said during the Crime Commission hearing, the court heard.

“It was an accident that he fell down off that veranda.”

The court heard that the foster mother responded: “No, I would have found him.”

The foster mother also denied using the foster grandmother’s car to dispose of William’s body.

FOSTER PARENTS IN AND OUT OF COURT

William’s foster parents, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, have moved in and out of the public spotlight a number of times over the years, largely by way of court appearances in matters unrelated to the missing boy’s disappearance.

They were both called to testify during a two-day secret hearing of the NSW Crime Commission in November 2021 – the same month detectives searched the foster grandmother’s garden.

During the hearings, audio from listening devices planted inside the foster-mother’s home were played as evidence she had struck a child in her care with a wooden spoon.

The child was not William Tyrrell.

Since then, both parents have each faced charges of lying to the commission about the recordings. The mother was found not guilty and the father’s hearing has been delayed while he fights separate assault charges.

The couple also fought unrelated charges over hiring someone to place fake bids at a real-estate auction.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Macedone Legal principal lawyer Sam Macedone appeared on the Today show on Wednesday morning to explain how the case would progress after being referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

“The DPP now has to decide whether they believe the brief of evidence that’s been supplied to them is sufficient for someone to be charged,” Mr Macedone said.

“If that’s the case, they will then charge her.”

If she is charged, the matter will go before a Local Court and will remain there until the case is committed to trial.

If she enters a plea of not guilty, the case will be committed to the District Court and will be heard in front of a judge and jury.

“Not only has it been a long haul but it will be a long haul before we get to the end of this, because it will take the best part of 18 months to get to a jury hearing,” Mr Macedone said.

“But at the end of the day, I dare say, public opinion will be split.”

NSW Police have declined to provide any details but confirmed the investigation into William’s disappearance was ongoing.

FOSTER MOTHER SPEAKS OUT

The foster mother released a letter to media via her lawyer on Wednesday urging the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to reveal any evidence relating to criminal offences.

Her lawyer Sharon Ramsden, a partner with Marsdens Law Group, claims neither she nor the foster mother were informed of any potential charges against the woman.

“His foster mother had previously been ruled out of any wrongdoing in relation to his disappearance,” Ms Ramsden said.

“She has always, and maintains, she has nothing to do with William’s disappearance. She desperately urges the police to resume the investigation into finding out what happened to William.”