William Tyrrell’s foster mum hit with new charge

The foster mother of missing boy William Tyrrell has been ordered to face court next month after being hit with a criminal charge. ­

William Tyrrell’s foster mother has been charged with giving false or misleading information to the NSW Crime Commission.

The 59-year-old woman was hit with court attendance by detectives on Tuesday.

She is set to appear at the Downing Centre in Sydney on May 24.

NSW Police released a statement on Thursday detailing the charge.

“On Tuesday, Strike Force Rosann detectives issued a Future Court Attendance Notice to a 56-year-old woman for knowingly give false or misleading evidence at a hearing,’’ the statement read.

William Tyrell went missing from NSW’s north coast in 2014. Pic Nathan Edwards

The boy was three when he vanished from his foster grandmother’s house in Kendall on the NSW north coast in 2014.

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

The former foster mother was charged in February with a new offence of common assault, also not linked to Tyrrell.

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

The William Tyrrell search site last November, less than 1km from where he was last seen. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Peter Lorimer

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.

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.

Police look at a water tank at the house William Tyrrell went missing from near Kendall. Supplied Picture: NCA NewsWire / Peter Lorimer.

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 mum hit with new charge