Inside the new police theory about William Tyrrell

When William Tyrrell’s foster mother got in her car and raced down a road on the outskirts of Kendall on the morning of September 12, 2014, she says she was frantically looking for her child who only moments earlier had gone missing.

But it was that 2km journey which ignited a firestorm of suspicion, with police now believing she was responsible for dumping his body.

The disappearance of the little boy in the Spider-Man suit has been Australia’s most high-profile missing person’s case ever since vanished from his foster grandmother’s home on the NSW Mid North Coast.

It is suspected that he is dead and his disappearance has been the subject of a long-running inquest which will next month hear the last pieces of evidence and submissions.

The inquest, before Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame, ran for 18 months before it concluded in October 2020.

Ms Grahame was due to hand down her findings the following year, but the inquest was reopened as police carried out a comprehensive review of the case which resulted in a renewed focus on the foster mother.

The foster mother has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing.

A video of her evidence to the NSW Crime Commission, which was this week played to the inquest, showed her tearfully denying the allegations under a barrage of questions.

THE POLICE THEORY

For years police investigated theories that William had been taken by a paedophile ring or a stranger who happened upon the little boy on the cul-de-sac on the rural outskirts of the sleepy town of Kendall.

But in October 2021, they went to the foster mother’s home and confronted her with the allegation that William had died in an accidental fall.

“We aren’t guessing, we aren’t bluffing,” Sergeant Scott Jamieson told the foster mother as he came to her door to deliver a summons to appear before the NSW Crime Commission.

“We know how, we know why, we know where he is.”

According to the police theory, the court has heard, William died in an accidental fall from a balcony at his foster grandmother’s home and the foster mother discovered him in the ferns below.

Police had alleged fearing that she would lose another child in her care, she decided to place the young boy’s body in her mother’s Mazda 3 and drive down to the corner of Batar Creek Rd and Cobb and Co Rd, near a riding school, and dump his body in undergrowth.

The court heard during the week, that the woman repeatedly told the Crime Commission “no” as she was confronted with the allegations.

“30, 40, 50 YEARS”

During her grilling before the NSW Crime Commission, counsel assisting Sophie Callan questioned her about supposed inconsistencies in her story.

At the time William went missing, William’s father was in Laurieton making a business call.

The court was told that she received a text message from her husband some time after William went missing, but did not reply.

She was also asked why she did not phone him or call triple-0 immediately.

Instead, she drove down to the intersection. She says she was looking for William who she thought might have been on foot.

“Why didn’t you call triple-0 at that point in time,” Ms Callan asked.

“I thought William had walked off. I thought that (the foster father) may have seen him on the road and may have picked him up,” the foster mother said.

In an intercepted phone call, which was played to her at the Crime Commission, she complained about the police and their investigation.

She told the friend that William’s bones would be found “in 30, 40, 50 years’ time or 200 years when they are doing clearing”.

She was asked by Ms Callan if she expected William’s body to be found at those locations.

“No,” the foster mother replied.

She continued: “I didn’t take him there.

“Where did you take him,” Ms Callan asked.

“I didn’t take him anywhere,” the foster mother said.

THE GRILLING

The NSW Crime Commission is a secretive body which has the power to compel witnesses to give evidence.

When she arrived at the hearing, the inquest heard on Thursday, she was told that police were about to launch a renewed forensic dig around what was formerly her mother’s property and the area around the Batar Creek Rd and Cobb and Co Rd intersection.

During the hearing, she explained her version of events that she was having tea with her mother when she realised she could no longer hear William.

She said her reaction was: “That’s too quiet.”

When she could not find him, she began searching around the house and at some point decided to drive down Batar Creek Rd, which was just off Benaroon Drive, to see if she could spot the red and blue of William’s Spider-Man outfit.

“I drove down and I stopped. I don’t know if it’s a clearing, it’s a slightly wider part of the road … So I stopped and I’m looking out the window and I’m thinking he’s not here,” the woman said.

“I’m thinking he’s not here. This is ridiculous.”

She was also confronted with the allegation that she had found William’s lifeless body and decided to hide it.

Ms Callan: “I want to suggest to you William went around on that veranda and he toppled over and it was nobody’s fault.”

The foster mother: “No, I would have found him … And I didn’t find him.”

THE SEARCH

The inquest has heard that despite renewed digs around Kendall in November and December 2021, no forensic evidence has been discovered.

“It’s beyond any argument now that William Tyrrell has not been found,” Counsel assisting Gerard Craddock SC told the inquest this week.

“It’s beyond argument that no forensic evidence has been located at 48 Benaroon Drive or anywhere else that provides a clue to William’s disappearance.”

During the search, police and SES drained creeks, removed topsoil and thick vegetation, used rakes to sift through the ground for clues and examined leaf litter and soil by hand.

The inquest also heard from members of the NSW Police dog squad, who combed the search ground with cadaver dogs.

They found no human bones, nor did they find the famous Spider-Man suit which William was wearing on the day he went missing.

Professor Jon Olley, who was on hand for the search, says that the polyester suit would have taken centuries to break down.

“The estimate is hundreds of years,” Professor Olley said.

As well, Professor Olley said that if anything was thrown into a nearby creek, it would have been found downstream.

“HURLING ABUSE”

The fifth block of the inquest was on Monday marred by an ugly incident during which a member of the public allegedly hurled abuse at William’s foster mother as she exited the Coroner’s Court complex at Lidcombe.

This week, the foster mother and foster father were in the gallery for the inquest, along with members of the public, lawyers, police and media.

Before the proceedings began on Tuesday morning, counsel assisting Gerard Craddock SC told the court that as the foster mother was leaving court on Monday afternoon, “somebody started hurling abuse at her”.

TV footage of the incident captured the woman yelling insults and “justice for William”.

And the court heard that the person also used the female foster carer’s name.

Neither the foster mother nor the foster father can be named due to a non-publication order made by court, and naming them could represent contempt of court.

It prompted Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame issued a “stern warning”.

“I’m very, very disappointed, Mr Craddock, to hear that,” Ms Grahame said.

She added: “This sort of behaviour must not occur … I’m just disturbed by this sort of behaviour.”

The inquest will resume on December 16.

The court heard on Thursday that the NSW Police would make an application to recall the foster mother as a witness.