William Tyrrell’s foster mother was afraid his disappearance would end up as a cold case

The foster mother of William Tyrrell who has been named as a person of interest in his disappearance fought to keep the case open when she thought it was on the verge of being shut down.

William Tyrell’s foster mum, now a person of interest in the three-year-old’s disappearance, has fought tooth and nail to keep the police investigation open.

When former Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin stood down as lead investigator she made no secret of her fears the evidence would end up in a sealed box and be left to gather dust in the cold case archives.

Ironically, unless investigators find evidence connecting her to William’s disappearance, that’s exactly where the case files are likely to end up — and no one will ever know what happened to William.

The toddler’s foster mum has always denied any wrongdoing over William’s disappearance and has never been charged in relation to it.

The coronial inquest into the toddler’s disappearance from his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall five years ago has stalled for police to follow up “new evidence”.

William Tyrell

While the original senior investigators ruled out William’s foster mother as a suspect, police are now examining what they said are “inconsistencies” in her account of what happened the morning of September 14 when the little boy in the Spider-Man suit vanished without a trace.

Jubelin this week said during his time investigating William’s disappearance he “ambushed and interrogated” the child’s foster parents and formally interviewed them before ruling them out as persons of interest.

LISTEN! Don’t miss a special podcast with Gary Jubelin on the William Tyrrell investigation.

Jubelin left the foster mother “furious” and “gobsmacked” when he interviewed her at Parramatta police station in 2016, she would tell a court three years later.

The former homicide detective asked her if she had played a hand in the toddler’s disappearance and if William’s foster grandmother was hiding anything.

Police looking for clues in Kendall. Picture Peter Lorimer

“I was livid and really furious with Gary because of the trust,” William’s foster mother told the hearing.

“I remembered very distinctly being really affronted that he would ask the questions he asked
and some of the scenarios he put to me.

“I looked at him in amazement. I was gobsmacked. I was indignant and taken aback that someone would even consider the scenarios he put forward.”

She walked out of the police station furious, unaware police had bugged the foster parents’ car to listen to their reactions afterwards.

All they got were a few disparaging remarks about Jubelin being an “arsehole”.

“He interviewed me as if I was a suspect,” the foster mother said.

“That showed me he was all over this investigation and he wasn’t half-hearted, he was fully invested.”

William Tyrell Copy pics

William’s foster mother was testifying at the trial of Mr Jubelin who was ultimately convicted and fined $10,000 for illegally recording conversations with Paul Savage, who was wrongly singled out as a suspect in the case. She told the court she was “angry” about police handling of the case, in the year since Jubelin was charged with misconduct.

She also told the court she detected a distinct lack of interest from former homicide chief Scott Cook, which she said was confirmed when she finally met him, at the 2019 inquest into William’s dis­appearance.

“Mr Cook said to me: ‘You are not the only families of victims of crime’.”

She said she asked whether he was planning on sending the investigation to “cold cases” to which he replied: “ ‘Yes, it’s going to unsolved’. He said ‘It has to go to unsolved, that’s the process’.”

The woman said she feared the case would “sit in a box” and every six months somebody would take the lid off and say: “Oh, nothing new.”

“He’s looking at me and he’s nodding,” she said. “I’m thinking: I can’t believe you are saying this to his parents. We see ourselves as his parents, we raised him … I’m angry.”

Jubelin also gave evidence at his own trial that he detected in 2018 a desire by police hierarchy to flick the file to cold case. He said that Mr Cook, on seeing a picture of William he kept at his desk, said: “Nobody cares about that kid.”

The court was told Mr Cook “emphatically denies” making that statement.