William Tyrrell’s abductor could be ‘laughing they got away with it’

A woman behind the very public campaign to find William Tyrrel is worried the three-year-old’s abductor is out there somewhere, laughing at the fact they got away with it, while the coronial inquest saga drags on.

The women behind the “Where’s William” campaign aimed at finding the missing toddler who disappeared nine years ago is worried the abductor is still out there somewhere, laughing at the fact they got away it.

Clare Collins was instrumental in launching a national campaign at NSW Police Headquarters on June 26, 2015 that featured advertising, billboards, posters, flyers, a television special investigation and a dedicated Sunday Telegraph lift-out poster as the country battled to come to terms with how a three-year-old boy could vanish without a trace.

While the campaign generated thousands of leads all those years ago, the case sits in an unprecedented limbo.

The inquest into the 2014 disappearance of William was delayed so prosecutors could weigh up evidence against the missing boy’s foster mother who has consistently denied having any to do with William’s disappearance.

In May this year Detectives asked the DPP to suspend their assessment of evidence in relation to the foster mother until after the coronial inquest resumes.

Three-year-old William Tyrrell who went missing almost ten years ago, sparking one of the state’s biggest manhunts. Picture: Police Media

On Tuesday, the key players will appear before Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame for a directions hearing.

“It’s been almost three years since Strike Force Rosann announced their so-called breakthrough in William’s disappearance with only one prime suspect in mind, William’s foster mother,” Ms Collins told the Sunday Telegraph.

“The media was on hand to cover every element of the high intensity search in Kendall for William’s remains. Hundreds of officers used cadaver dogs, bulldozers, metal detectors and drones, and luminol to detect even the smallest amount of blood while scanning the grounds beneath and around the home where William was last seen,” she said.

“Police seized William’s foster grandmother’s car for forensic testing, removed around 15 tonnes of soil also sent for forensic analysis, and brought in police divers to examine a water tank installed by the new owners of the home on Benaroon Drive, long after precious William had disappeared.

Advocate Clare Collins during the Where's William Campaign at NSW Parliament. Picture: Supplied

“However, to date no evidence has been presented by police and no charges laid to sustain Strike Force Rosann’s very public assertion that William’s foster mother is responsible for his disappearance.”

Ms Collins said the assertion had caused the “already deeply bereaved foster parents’ unimaginable harm”.

“It’s destroyed their lives while the real perpetrator is still out there, laughing at the fact they’ve gotten away with this heinous crime,” she said.

Her colleague Alice Collins said: “Countless lives have been severely impacted by William’s disappearance – none more so than his siblings, William’s birth and foster parents, and the many people who love little William.”

Former detective Gary Jubelin says William Tyrrell’s family deserves answers. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Former lead detective in the investigation for years Gary Jubelin said the family deserve answers “and so do the public”.

“How are we expected to get answers when the Coroner has publicly stated the inquest can’t proceed until the DPP has made a decision on the submission supplied by the police that nominates a person they suspect having knowledge and involvement in William’s disappearance, which I might add was inexplicably and unaccountably released to media, destroying lives,” he told the Sunday Telegraph.

“And then we have the police, who have said under oath they know what’s happened to William asking the DPP to put on hold their decision. It seems to me there is a stalemate here.”

“How long does this matter have to drag on. The investigation has been shrouded in controversy from the start. Surely the focus should be on providing answers, sadly it appears that is unlikely given that the very parties tasked with providing answers seem to be at loggerheads.”

The coronial inquest into the disapperanace of three-year-old William Tyrrell is listed for directions heatring on Tuesday. Picture: NSW Police

The case cost Jubelin his career and his reputation in 2019 when he was convicted of illegally recording four conversations with a person of interest.

“I am personally caught up in the controversy so I am not immune to criticism.

“But I would like to think personal agendas are not impacting on this investigation. The only focus should be on finding out what happened to William,” the former detective said.

“After that is done any person who has failed in the investigation should be held to account. That’s the responsibility that comes with investigating the disappearance of a three-year-old boy.”