Police scrutiny of William Tyrrell’s foster parents ‘extraordinary’

Senior police investigating the disappearance of William Tyrrell have been lambasted for spending days in court watching his foster mum’s trial on a separate matter instead of actively looking for clues in the decade-old case.

• Where is the evidence on foster mum?

Minutes after William Tyrrell’s foster mother walked from a courtroom this week, sentenced over her behaviour relating to another foster child, she stood for a moment, tears welling in her eyes, then asked: “Who is out there looking for William?”

Several senior homicide detectives had just walked past her.

She seemed bewildered as to how many officers had sat through the five-day hearing, then judgment and sentencing, in a case that had no relation to William’s disappearance.

“Why aren’t they out there looking for William?” she said, before quickly composing herself.

Both the foster mother and foster father faced court for charges that were laid by police in the course of investigating William’s disappearance 10 years ago.

The police have said publicly they know what happened to William, they know where his body was buried and they have only one person of interest, the foster mum.

“We aren’t guessing, we aren’t bluffing, and we know why, we know how, we know where he is,” they have said.

It has been almost 10 years since William Tyrell went missing. Picture: Supplied

But despite hours of interviews, searching bushland and digging up areas around the last place William was seen, police have yet to reveal any new evidence or lay any charges relating to the disappearance.

The lawyer representing the foster father, Lauren MacDougall, told The Saturday Telegraph the level of scrutiny the foster parents had been under since William vanished was extraordinary.

“It’s something I have only ever encountered in organised crime matters,” Ms MacDougall said.

William was three when he disappeared without a trace from his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall on September 12, 2014. His body has never been found and he is presumed dead.

William’s foster parents, who cannot be identified, at court last week. Picture: Damian Shaw

“The police’s position is that the foster mother is the main suspect, despite clearing her previously, yet to date no charges have been laid,” Ms MacDougall said.

“The irony is that the best opportunity for her to clear her name in circumstances where fingers are pointed at her, would be to defend a charge.”

In the course of the investigation, the foster parents have been charged over fake bids at the auction of their family home, and also intimidation charges relating to parental threats of retribution against a troublesome child in their care, who wasn’t William.

Police have faced questions about whether or not the additional charges were laid to increase pressure on the foster parents.

The foster mum, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, and her husband were each placed on 12-month good behaviour bonds this week over the intimidation of a different child.

They were also each fined $1500 for dummy auction bids.

Retired NSW Police homicide detective Gary Jubelin, who previously headed the Tyrrell investigation, was in court this week — to show support, he said, for the foster parents who he said had “been through a nightmare”.

Mr Jubelin, who now works for the publisher of this newspaper as a podcaster and columnist, had previously cleared the foster parents of wrongdoing, after what he described as “putting them through the wringer”.

Gary Jubelin, who initially headed up the searching investigation for little William. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

He still believes them innocent in relation to William’s disappearance, especially in the absence of any new evidence to the contrary.

“I think anyone would appreciate what they have been through over the past 10 years,” Mr Jubelin told The Saturday Telegraph.

Asked to comment on what he thought about the progress of the investigation into William’s disappearance, he said “seeing five senior police sitting all day through a local court proceedings where they were not required to give evidence was not an efficient use of resources considering there is still a child missing”.

Magistrate Susan McIntyre found the 58-year-old woman and her 57-year-old partner had each intimidated another child in their care during arguments recorded on police surveillance devices.

The couple’s home and cars had been bugged for a 14-month period by detectives from Strike Force Rosann, who had been tasked with finding William Tyrrell.

There were some 1000 hours of recordings.

Police divers search a dam in the search for William’s remains. Picture: Peter Lorimer

The 2021 search for clues about what happened to William was fruitless. Picture: Peter Lorimer

Magistrate McIntyre, who listened to the secret recordings, found the man intimidated the other child by berating the child in a car, while the woman intimidated the child on two occasions by threatening a slap.

The audio further captured allegations admitted to by the foster mother, namely that on separate occasions she kicked and hit the child with a wooden spoon.

Ms McIntyre had already dismissed other counts of intimidation against the foster mother and rejected an assault charge against the foster father, and she noted that on listening to the hours and hours of recordings, the transcripts provided by police had been taken out of context.

In the 1000 hours of recordings, there were six occasions that the police had identified alleged misconduct, she said, finding there was no “pattern” of violence, as suggested by the prosecution.

Lawyer Lauren MacDougall. Picture: Monique Harmer

The charges were laid after police investigating William’s disappearance interviewed the other foster child at school, questioning the child about what had been heard on the recordings.

In two separate interviews, the child was asked 750 questions each time, some of which the magistrate described in court last week as “leading”.

When asked about being hit with the wooden spoon, the child said the blow wasn’t hard, “it didn’t hurt”, and it didn’t leave a mark.

When the child was asked why they thought Homicide Squad officers were there to interview, the child said maybe to do with William.

The child told police about walks with the foster mother, that she was nice and easy to talk to but added she could be “bossy”, “always telling me what to do”.

The child said after being put in “time out”, the foster mother would always hug the child and say “I love you”.

The child also told police about jealousy towards a younger foster child also living in the home.

The court was told the foster mother conceded she should have walked away when an argument turned to screaming and said she had spoken to her own psychologist and admitted she was “struggling”.

William was just three years old when he disappeared.

Ms McIntyre noted there were many circumstances that led up to the foster mother’s offences, including William’s disappearance.

She said the woman found herself in an “extraordinary” situation, but was still able to maintain employment as a highly regarded member of the community.

“It has been a difficult sentencing process, because there are so many competing factors to weigh up here,” Ms McIntyre said.

John Stratton SC, representing the foster mother, said his client had been left with a lack of knowledge about what happened to William 10 years ago and was “not really able to grieve or move on”.

She was also under “extreme stress” when the auction offence was committed, the barrister said, and had “a series of traumatic events in her life”, in particular William’s disappearance.

The criminal court case may be behind them, but the ramifications have changed their lives forever.

The couple, who have cared for 12 foster children at different times over the years, can no longer have children in their care.

The court was told the foster father has had difficulty finding work since William’s disappearance, leading to financial stress on top of the emotional stress of losing a child and having no closure.

All of this against the backdrop of the foster mother remaining the only suspect in the eyes of the police investigating the case.

Police searching for clues in 2021. Picture: NSW Police

During a 2022 hearing where the foster mother and father were accused — and found not guilty — of misleading the crime commission, police said they knew where William’s body was.

The officers said when they served a summons on October 28, 2021, they told the foster mother they knew where the body was and said to her: “You will have to live with it. Today is the day you make a decision for William. We understand decisions have been made for different people and different reasons. We aren’t guessing, we aren’t bluffing, and we know why, we know how, we know where he is”.

The detectives said they were not saying the foster mother hurt him, but “we’re saying we know how it happened, and we know why it happened”.

Almost two years later, no charges have been laid and William’s body has not been recovered.

In June last year, police handed a brief of evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions, which recommended William’s foster mother should be charged with perverting the course of justice and interfering with a corpse.

Three months later, the NSW Coroner’s Court was told that prosecutors were still deciding whether to recommend laying charges.

In February this year, counsel assisting the coroner, Gerard Craddock SC, told the court the DPP had still not come back with a decision to charge or not to charge the foster mother.

The coroner said she could not proceed with the matter until that was finalised.

The foster parents continue to deny any wrongdoing in relation to William’s disappearance.

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