Harry Phipps’ niece blasts ‘farcical’ Beaumont children bombshell claim

The woman broke her silence on Adelaide radio over dig at the former Castalloy factory site over the past week.

The niece of Harry Phipps has broken her silence slamming claims she is linked to the latest privately-funded dig underway at the former Castalloy site in North Plympton to find the Beaumont children.

Last Saturday, Independent MP Frank Pangallo claimed he obtained new information suggesting Mr Phipps’ niece married a cousin of the children’s father, Jim, in the years following the disappearance of the three children.

Mr Pangallo said it one of the “circumstantial” claims that came to light after he commissioned a new, privately-funded dig of the North Plympton site, which was owned by Adelaide businessman Mr Phipps who had been subject to claims of links to the Beaumont case following his death in 2004.

However, the niece of Mr Phipps released a statement to FIVEAA radio in Adelaide on Friday morning saying she was disgusted over the allegations.

“The niece of Harry Phipps is disgusted with the fabricated reporting that she and her late husband are the bombshell link providing significant evidence between Harry Phipps and the Beaumont children disappearance,” the statement read.

SA state MP Frank Pangallo Picture: Russell Millard Photography

Castalloy Ltd managing director Frederick Henry “Harry” Phipps, right, inpsection a special order of plastic crates to be sent to Carlton Brewery Ltd with SA Premier Don Dunstan in 1971.

“Harry’s niece and her husband – the very distant third cousin of Jim Beaumont – were first associated with each other in 1983 (and) the Beaumont children disappeared in 1966 making the family liaison between Harry Phipps and the Beaumont children farcical.

“Harry’s niece had never met the Beaumont children, or their parents Jim and Nancy while her husband and Jim Beaumont knew of each other, they did not socialise.

“Furthermore, the niece and her husband never separated as reported by Frank Pangallo. They had a loving marriage. And we find this reporting to be lies, hearsay, and these innuendos contemptible.

“The smear campaign with its preposterous stories is a great tragedy not only for Harry Phipps and his family members who cannot speak from their graves but for the Beaumont family who endured years of pain and suffering in their search for the truth.

“Authentic and truthful reporting with integrity is what the Beaumont and Phipps families deserve.

“The family fully supports SAPOL, in their search for this horrendous tragedy to be solved.

“Prior to the excavation commencing SAPOL advised that the individuals conducting the fresh excavation of the site are following a theory that SAPOL believes is not supported by evidence and available information.”

Mr Pangallo, in response to the statement, said it didn’t change anything.

MP Frank Pangallo, forensic archaeologist Professor Maciej Henneberg, retired major crime detective Bill Hayes and author Stuart Mullins at the CastAlloy excavation site. Picture: NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

“This connection isn’t what we’re interested in,” he said. “I knew that her marriage would have been long after the children disappeared.

“We are solely interested in finding the location of that hole that was dug up by the two boys, three days after the children disappeared.

“That’s primarily been the target of this investigation, it’s got nothing to do with the family, and it’s got nothing to do with her.”

Mr Pangallo said he received permission from the government to do the dig last year, whereas he learnt about the family connection a few weeks ago.

It comes as TV host Andrew ‘Cosi’ Costello said he’d always thought the Beaumont children could be buried at the old Castalloy factory or an alternative location 200km away.

With efforts to search the old Castalloy site almost exhausted, Cosi latched onto speculation the children could in fact be buried in Stansbury, announcing on Wednesday his commitment to self-fund a dig at that site if the Castalloy excavation fails.

“It only takes a quick Google search to find a lot of evidence that points towards Stansbury,” Cosi said.

Two members of the McIntyre family, brother and sister Andrew McIntyre and Rachel Vaughan, have long claimed their deceased father Allan ‘Max’ McIntyre and convicted pedophile Anthony Alan Munro are connected to the Beaumont case.

Police have previously said there was no evidence linking Max McIntyre or Munro to the high-profile disappearance of the three children, nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant, who went missing from Glenelg Beach on January 26, 1966.

Andrew McIntyre, 71, claims to know exactly where they were buried — a filled over well on his family’s Stansbury property.

“They’re not (at the Castalloy factory),” Andrew McIntyre claimed to The Advertiser.

“They’re in Stansbury at the bottom of a well.”