Gary Jubelin: I Catch Killers author says William Tyrrell could still be alive
Gary Jubelin, the former top detective who led the investigation into William Tyrrell’s disappearance says there is a remote chance he is still alive and that his family deserves answers.
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Gary Jubelin, the former top detective who led the investigation into William Tyrrell’s disappearance, say the missing boy could still be alive — and his family “deserve better”.
Jubelin, who headed the investigation for four years and as removed from it in controversial circumstances, has voiced his frustration and regrets over the case that has gripped national attention since 2014.
Gary Jubelin is appealing a conviction and $10,000 fine for illegally recording a person of interest during the search for answers in the North Coast town where William went missing.
Jubelin, who continues to justify his actions, said he is “devastated” the case remains unsolved, adding, “Every possible thing that can be done should be done to solve that crime.”
The 58-year-old, who has previously slammed a lack of resources and flaws in the investigation dating back to before he took over, said police wrangling over his role had let William’s relatives down.
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“The families deserve better. And I’m talking the foster family and the biological family, (who) deserve better than these internal squabbles going on with the police over this matter.
“There was so many resources put to the investigation into me. I would love to see those resources put into the investigation into William Tyrrell.
“And I’m sure if we took a poll with the public where they wanted those resources put, wouldn’t we put it into … finding out what’s happened to a three-year-old rather than the circus that became the matter that I was accused of?”
Jubelin had recorded conversations with Paul Savage, an elderly neighbour of William’s foster-grandparents in the town of Kendall. William was playing outside at his foster-grandparents’ home before wandering out of sight and disappearing within moments on Sept 12, 2014.
Mr Savage is no longer considered a person of interest by police.
For Jubelin, it is a pressing matter that after all this time, “I can’t say definitively that William’s dead … It’s a possibility, be it remote, that he’s still alive. We need to find out what’s happened to William.”
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The case features prominently in Jubelin’s long-anticipated autobiography, I Catch Killers: The Life and Many Deaths of a Homicide Detective, out tomorrow.
Speaking ahead of the release, Jubelin stressed that despite his frustrations he does not claim he would have solved the Tyrrell mystery, but he was heading “in the right direction”.
Nor was he critical of all higher police decisions, but he believes top brass failed to see the case for what it was.
“Where I think that the police probably took their eye off the ball (was) they didn’t realise what the William Tyrrell investigation was. It is a once-in-a-generation crime and it’s not going to go away. It’s a Madeleine McCann matter.
“It’s one of those one of those investigations. And I said with this, we are going to be judged by our response.”
I Catch Killers: The Life and Many Deaths of a Homicide Detective, is published by HarperCollins Australia on Thursday, August 20 in paperback, e-book and audio. Pre-order your signed copy at Booktopia.