Heartache of William Tyrrell’s ‘lost Christmases and stolen years’

FRIENDS and family of missing William Tyrrell have posted their feelings of grief, hope and despair in a touching message, speaking of ‘love, hugs and kisses to make up for the heartbreak and tears of lost Christmases’.

FRIENDS and family of missing William Tyrrell have posted their feelings of grief, hope and despair in a touching Christmas message on social media.

Christmas Day marks three years, three months and 13 days since little William was last seen. He was wearing his favourite Spiderman costume when he vanished without a trace from his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall in NSW’s mid-north coast.

Saddest Christmas message... The Facebook post.

“On Christmas morning when little ones around Australia and the world awaken bright-eyed with wonder at toys found in stockings and beneath lighted trees, William’s loved ones will continue to shed tears for their precious little boy and the stolen years,” the post on the official campaign Facebook page reads.

“On Christmas morning when families hold loved ones near, it will mark 3 years, 3 months, 13 days and countless tears since William was held in the arms of those he loved and who loved him.

“Wherever you are William, we hold hope in our hearts that soon you will find your way home to us and we can smother you with love, hugs and kisses to make up for the heartbreak and tears, the lost Christmases and stolen years.”

William was wearing his favourite Spiderman costume when he vanished.

Search team... NSW police have vowed never to give up the case.

His mother Karlie Tyrrell had been unable to talk publicly about the apparent abduction of her child for years because of child protection laws that prohibited identifying a child in foster care.

Her suppressed identity was revealed earlier this year after the Supreme Court found the boy was likely to be dead.

While unable to speak publicly about the disappearance of William in September 2014, Ms Tyrrell flooded Facebook with a series of grieving posts and photos throughout the years.

William would have turned six years old in June this year.

Hoping desperately that he would be found, Ms Tyrrell nevertheless was unable to go public with appeals to find her missing child.

There’s no suggestion that either William’s biological or foster families were involved in his disappearance or have any knowledge of his whereabouts.

Police have vowed to continue looking for William even though a court has ruled there was a “tragic probability that he is dead”.