William Tyrrell’s foster father charged with giving false evidence

The former foster father of missing boy William Tyrrell has been charged with giving false or misleading evidence.

William Tyrrell’s former foster father has been charged with giving false or misleading evidence.

Court documents reveal the man was charged over evidence given to the NSW Crime Commission. He has pleaded not guilty.

The case had been subject to strict suppression orders that were revised by the Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday morning.

Both of Tyrrell’s foster parents were charged in November 2021 in relation to the alleged assault of another child – not William Tyrrell – and have pleaded not guilty.

The former foster mother was charged in February with a new offence of common assault, also not linked to Tyrrell. It is understood she intends to plead not guilty to the fresh charge.

William Tyrrell disappeared in 2014, aged three-years-old.

Tyrrell disappeared in 2014 at age three, and was last seen at a property owned by his former foster grandmother.

It emerged last year that William’s foster mother and now-deceased foster grandmother were persons of interest in his disappearance.

They have both denied any involvement and no charges were laid.

Due to an extensive, but ultimately unsuccessful initial search for the boy, police began operating on the belief he was kidnapped.

The case gained national attention and sparked a tireless years-long search to find him.

Last year police launched a renewed effort, scouring bushland around the property where Tyrrell was last seen.

Last year, around 30 police officers spent more than a month searching scrub and waterways near where Tyrrell disappeared.

Around 30 police officers spent more than a month searching scrub and waterways near Kendall, south of Port Macquarie, on the NSW mid north coast.

AFP officers also used ground penetrating radar to scan the garage of the property and in nearby bushland to detect anything out of the ordinary.

Teams searched rainwater and septic tanks at the property and police divers entered a nearby creek bed.

During the search, officers found pieces of cloth seeming to match the spiderman outfit Tyrrell was wearing when he disappeared, and even bone fragments. However, nothing was deemed to be connected to the case.

A $1 million reward remains in place for information that leads to the recovery of William Tyrrell.

Originally published as William Tyrrell’s foster father charged with giving false evidence