William Tyrrell is buried near the “Bird Tree” on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, according to disputed claims that were never heard during an inquest into the three-year-old’s disappearance.

The claims were allegedly made by the brother of a convicted pedophile who was named a “person of interest” to the investigation. They are revealed today in the new episode of news.com.au’s investigative podcast Witness: William Tyrrell.

It comes after the recent inquest revealed no evidence against the woman identified by police as their main suspect, the child’s foster mother.

The Bird Tree is a well-known landmark in the area around Kendall, where William was reported missing in September 2014, sparking one of the biggest police investigations in Australian history.

Standing in deep forest around Middle Brother mountain, it is one of a pair of giant eucalyptus trees, with the other known as Benaroon.

William vanished from Benaroon Drive, which is a roughly 20-minute drive from the two trees, although the area has not been searched by police.

The allegation is one of a series of shocking claims uncovered by a months-long investigation into the former person of interest, Frank Abbott.

These include allegations Abbott, who is currently in prison for child sex offences, also sexually assaulted other young or teenage victims. These were made separately by three people: one alleged victim, one alleged witness and a third man who claimed he knew the victim personally.

Knowledge of Abbott’s child abuse convictions was also widespread among his former neighbours in Johns River, a tiny town a short drive from Kendall, where William was reported missing.

The town’s former shopkeeper, Patrick Teeling, said he was told: “Warn your kids, don’t let your kids go near him.”

Abbott “didn’t have any scruples”, Mr Teeling said. “You wouldn’t feed him. Jail’s too good for him.”

Another former neighbour said he’d heard Abbott took “young girls and young boys … out to the forest … tied them up to the trees and did something bad out there.”

Others described him as a dirty, “stinky” man with long hair, living in a “feral” house with rotting walls and floorboards, the backyard deep in junk, including old washing machines, bathtubs and scrap metal.

One said Abbott once threatened him with a machete during an argument. Another that he was “fascinated by crime”.

The inquest investigating William’s disappearance heard other claims about Abbott, including that he boasted about having killed the three-year-old and burying him in a suitcase.

He was not questioned at the inquest, however, either in public or in private.

Our investigation also revealed evidence tendered to the inquest suggested Abbott’s mobile phone pinged off the Middle Brother cell tower the morning after William was reported missing. This tower is near the Bird Tree, although it covers a very wide area of land.

Members of Abbott’s family have told us they used to visit the Bird Tree as children.

Abbott, who is in prison for sexually assaulting two girls and a boy, has not responded to written questions from us and has privately denied any role in William’s disappearance.

A series of recorded prison phone calls suggest police did consider his potential involvement, however.

In these recordings, which were tendered to the inquest, Abbott can be heard saying the police think he “might have done this one”.

In another recorded call, he says detectives suggested Abbott “borrowed somebody’s car and went down, enticed (William) out with lollies and ice cream out of the yard”.

Among the dozens of people we spoke to during this investigation were two men who now live in Abbott’s old house in the town of Johns River, a short drive from Kendall.

The older of these men said Abbott’s late brother Jeffrey – also known as Bluey – initially denied his brother was involved in William’s disappearance.

“He always said, when the stories were going around with Tyrrell, that he didn’t do it,” this man said.

“(But) pretty close to when he died, Bluey said to my son, ‘He did do it … and he’s buried up on Big Bird Mountain there, where that big tree is’.

“No one ever checked that out.”

The man’s son said he did not remember the conversation, saying instead Jeffrey Abbott “didn’t … believe Frank had anything to do with it”.

“But … I think he was under the belief that Frank needed the jail time,” he continued.

“He deserved to be in jail because of things he’d done in his past.”

When we returned to the same house weeks later, the older man repeated his claim that this conversation happened, and that it referred to the Bird Tree.

When told his son did not remember Jeffrey saying this, the older man said, “He would have said it.

“I remember … ‘tight-lipped or shut your mouth’,” suggesting this is what somebody had said to him.

The older man did not have time to fully explain this as his son arrived and told us to get off the property, saying he did not want to talk about Frank Abbott again.

Neither man wanted to be named and we are not suggesting these allegations are correct, only that they have been made and have not been properly investigated.

Abbott was a focus of the police investigation from at least 2018. His brother Jeffrey died in May 2020.

Two months later a review of the police investigation shifted their attention to William’s foster mother, who was subsequently convicted of other, unrelated offences.

She is currently appealing those convictions. No one has been charged over William’s disappearance.

Abbott has privately claimed a bank withdrawal proves he was somewhere else on the morning William was reported missing, although this has not been confirmed at the inquest.

He interrupted one hearing of the inquest to say “two solicitors” visited him to say he was no longer a person of interest, though the Coroner’s Court of NSW has declined to answer questions, including whether this is the case.

Abbott’s sister Elaine and brother David both told us they believe he is innocent of any involvement in what happened to William.

When asked in March why Abbott was not questioned at the inquest, the Coroner’s Court said an answer might take weeks as they were “currently occupied” with other work.

We have not heard back since, while Abbott, and the NSW Police Force declined to answer questions.

dan.box@news.com.au | nina.young@news.com.au