William Tyrrell’s foster mum breaks silence with heartfelt plea to police

William Tyrrell’s foster mother has broken her silence after being acquitted of lying to the NSW Crime Commission, issuing a plea to the police.

William Tyrrell’s foster mother has tearfully pleaded with police to concentrate on finding the missing boy after she was sensationally acquitted of lying to the NSW Crime Commission.

Magistrate Miranda Moody on Friday found the woman not guilty of knowingly giving false or misleading evidence during the secret hearing that was examining the three-year-old’s disappearance.

Bombshell details of the NSW Police investigation into the state’s most famous cold case were heard as the woman – who cannot be named or identified – faced a hearing before Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday.

The 57-year-old pleaded not guilty and was embraced by supporters on Friday morning as she was acquitted of the charge.

“Her Honour has given a detailed judgment today about the circumstances surrounding this charge being brought against me,” the foster mother said outside court as she held back tears.

“She’s found me not guilty of lying to the crime commission. With this behind me, I hope that police focus on finding William and what happened to him.”

Police had alleged the foster mother lied or misled NSW Crime Commission officials during a two-day hearing last November when she said during her evidence that she did not strike a child with a wooden spoon.

The child was not William Tyrrell.

The court was played audio from police listening devices planted inside her home that allegedly captured her striking the child with a wooden spoon.

However, Ms Moody said she could not find beyond a reasonable doubt that she had willingly lied when she told the crime commission that she “never” struck the child with a wooden spoon.

William Tyrrell’s foster mother denied lying to the NSW Crime Commission. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

William disappeared from his foster grandmother’s Mid North Coast home. Picture: Supplied

The court was played audio taken from devices planted inside the foster parents’ home that captured the alleged incident with the child.

In the tape, a child can be heard screaming while a woman says “stand up, stand up”.

A child is heard saying “please” before a sound, similar to a smacking, can be heard.

The foster mother’s barrister John Stratton argued it could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the foster mother knowingly lied, saying she was clearly distressed during her questioning before the crime commission.

Ms Moody said the foster mother had made admissions about striking the child on other occasions before denying hitting the child with a spoon.

As well, Ms Moody said that during the crime commission hearing the foster mother was never played the police tapes that were used against her in the Local Court.

She was also clearly distressed – often sobbing – during the gruelling two-day crime commission hearing, where she was confronted with serious allegations that she had buried William’s body.

“She’s clearly aghast at the allegation she had anything to do with the disappearance of her foster child,” Ms Moody said in handing down her judgment on Friday.

Ms Moody said she could not find beyond a reasonable doubt that the woman had lied.

The foster mother is separately facing two counts of common assault and earlier this year failed to have the charges dealt with on mental health grounds.

She will face a hearing next year, along with William’s foster father, who has pleaded not guilty to one count of common assault and one count of intimidation.

Ms Moody noted that it was never alleged that the foster mother had been violent towards William or harmed him.

Rather, police and the crime commission questioned her over whether William had died as the result of an accident and she had dumped his body.

Police believed that William Tyrrell’s body was dumped in bushland at Kendall. Photo: NSW Police

The Local Court was told this week that during the crime commission hearing, the foster mother was grilled over bombshell allegations that the missing boy died when he fell from a veranda and she buried his body.

William was in the care of the foster mother and her partner when he vanished in 2014 while at his foster grandmother’s home at Kendall on the NSW Mid-North Coast.

No one has ever been charged over his disappearance and the foster parents deny any knowledge or involvement.

The court was told that during the crime commission hearing, 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 was told.

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

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

Police searched scrub at Batar Creek Rd for William last year. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Peter Lorimer.

He still hasn’t been found. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Peter Lorimer.

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

The court was also told details of a heated conversation between police and the foster mother during which detectives made the allegation to her that she knew where William was buried.

“We aren’t guessing, we aren’t bluffing. We know why, we know how. We know where he is,” the foster mother was told by Sergeant Scott Jamieson, the court was told.

Detective Sergeant Andrew Lonergan told the court that he believed that William had been buried in an area on the corner of Batar Creek Rd and Cobb and Co Rd on the outskirts of Kendall.

The area was searched by police and volunteers last year but found no evidence.

Sergeant Lonergan told the court the charges were designed to elicit information about William’s whereabouts.

“Our main objective is to find out what happened to William Tyrrell,” Sergeant Lonergan said during his evidence to the Local Court on Thursday.

He also told the court that he believed that the foster mother disposed of William’s body.

Meanwhile, in a separate matter, William’s foster mother and father on Friday entered not guilty pleas to fraud charges.

Both have been charged with one count of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, with police alleging they had someone make fake bids on a house in Sydney at auction.

In Hornsby Local Court on Friday, solicitors for the pair entered not guilty pleas on their behalf.

They will appear again in court later this month when a hearing date will be fixed.

Originally published as William Tyrrell’s foster mum breaks silence with heartfelt plea to police