Editorial: Police need to produce evidence in William Tyrrell case

OUR SAY: Almost 10 years on from the day William Tyrrell disappeared, we are no closer to understanding what happened to him. If police have evidence backing their claims that William’s foster mum is responsible, they need to produce it.

The William Tyrrell case is so heavily weighed down with sadness and uncertainty.

On one level it is the heart-wrenching story about a missing boy and a family shattered forever. But at the same time, it is a criminal investigation dogged by poor policing, appalling internal politics inside the NSW force, and the very public pursuit of a foster family with very little thought given to the notion of innocence until proven otherwise.

It has been almost 10 years since three-year-old William Tyrrell disappeared from his foster grandmother’s home at Kendall in NSW, and we are no closer to understanding what happened to him than we were on that fateful day on September 12, 2014.

This is despite investigating officers declaring on at least two separate occasions they knew what happened to William, knew where his body had been buried and knew who was responsible for burying him.

Publicly, they declared William’s foster mother as the only person of interest, alleging the toddler had been the victim of misadventure and his foster mum had panicked and covered it up.

The last known photo of William Tyrrell, who disappeared almost 10 years ago.

Since making those proclamations to the media, there has been hundreds of officers involved in renewed searches, more than 14 months of surveillance audio collected and dissected, tonnes of dirt overturned and hours and hours of interviews.

A coronial inquest was even put on hold after being told the police were close to laying charges.

If police have evidence implicating William’s foster mum in his disappearance, they need to produce it. Picture: Damian Shaw

Last year, the inquest was put over until 2025 to give police more time, and even then there is no guarantee of an outcome.

And yet, as of today, the police have not revealed one piece of new evidence, have no new witnesses, no new forensic evidence worth speaking about and, most importantly, no body. Whatever they claimed they knew, they don’t know it well enough to share with the public, or it seems, the coroner.

They clearly don’t know enough to press charges.

They also have two foster parents — who have had no prior involvement with police and have been considered upstanding enough to foster 12 children, even after William’s disappearance — who have consistently maintained their innocence.

They haven’t even buckled as they fought low-level charges of faking a bid at their house auction and intimidating another foster child in their care.

The real estate offence was acknowledged by a court this week as a desperate act by people who needed to sell their home to fund their legal battles and the intimidation charges, while unfortunate, were considered at the lower end of the scale when viewed through the lens of a family enduring a high level of stress brought on by William’s disappearance and the pursuit of the foster parents.

The devastation of losing William has been compounded by aspects of the police investigation, and has left the reputations of two people in tatters.

Their daughter has been taken from them, and they have been banned from the foster system.

Even though their names have been suppressed it was revealed this week they struggle to find meaningful work and keep their place in the community.

There is no doubt every stone should be overturned in the search for answers as to what happened to William, and if it comes to pass the foster parents are proven to be responsible, they should feel the full force of the law.

But we cannot, and should not, condone a society in which police openly accuse people of committing a crime without being required to produce any evidence.

And a vague promise that they will have evidence one day is no justification, because it appears as though that day may never come.

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