Child sex ring unearthed in William Tyrrell town, police allege
Police allege a child sexual abuse ring has been unearthed in the town of Kendall, where William Tyrrell vanished in 2014, with two men so far charged with allegedly abusing children and recording their “horrific” crimes.
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Police say the town made infamous by the disappearance of NSW toddler William Tyrrell is now the epicentre of the nation’s worst pedophile ring where young men allegedly filmed “horrific” abuse against young children.
Investigators are now examining stomach-turning evidence looking for other alleged victims or even a break in the case of the missing boy in the Spider-Man suit.
Australian Federal Police arrested two men aged in their 20s in a weatherboard home in the NSW Mid-North Coast town of Kendall on Thursday morning.
The raid was just 1.3 kilometres, a few streets, from the Benaroon Drive house where William vanished from in September 2014.
A 21-year-old was charged with six counts of sex with a child aged under 10 and one count of possessing child abuse material.
A 26-year-old was charged with two counts of sex with a child under ten, two counts of producing child abuse material and two counts of possessing child abuse material using a carriage service.
Police allege the men, who cannot be named to protect their alleged victims, sexually abused at least eight children in 2018 aged between four and seven.
All the children so far identified are male and some were known to their alleged attackers.
“We will also allege that they made recordings of these alleged crimes to share with others and access other abhorrent content online,” AFP Assistant Commissioner Lesa Gale said on Friday.
Neither man has been charged with any offence related to the disappearance of William Tyrrell nor is it alleged they were involved.
But they did live in the close-knit rural community when the boy vanished.
The Kendall pair are among nine men charged with 40 total offences under the AFP’s Operation Arkstone which began in February.
Seven of the alleged perpetrators are from NSW.
Investigators from the Australia Centre to Counter Child Exploitation had so far identified up to 14 other children who had been “removed from harmful situations”.
“We suspect this is the biggest domestic child exploitation network uncovered in recent times,” Assistant Commissioner Gale said.
The children had been painstakingly identified from child exploitation material that investigators are still combing.
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Among those investigators are the NSW Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad, which is working to establish if the men made contact with others in NSW.
One of the Kendall pair previously worked in a childcare centre in Taree and investigations are underway to see if he contacted any of those children.
The child abuse detectives will also be keeping an eye out for anything related to William - with a view to pass it along to Strikeforce Rosann, which was established to investigate NSW’s most chilling missing child case.
“We are continuing to investigate any other potential links between the offenders and the victims,” Ms Gale said.
“I plead, I plead to the parents who are listening ... many who cannot bare to hear this type of offering, please do not walk away from your television.
“Please do not turn the volume down. Please turn the volume up.
“We need you to listen, we need you to be vigilant. Child exploitation in Australia is becoming more prolific, the victims are getting younger and younger.
“This type of offending is becoming more violent and brazen.”
Addressing the media today, the AFP warned those involved in the dark web pedophile network that the net was closing.
“My message today to those offenders watching ... we are coming, we are coming after you.”
A coronial inquest into William’s disappearance, last year, heard investigators believed the boy did not wander into bushland and succumbed to misadventure.
Counsel Assisting the commission Gerard Craddock SC said the dominant theory was that William was taken from the home’s front yard and whisked away quickly.
“The offender is a sneaky, complex offender who has hidden their desires for some time and has chosen to act on those desires,” he said.
An extensive search of bushland around the home yielded not forensic evidence of the missing boy.
This week the NSW Coroner announced the inquest into William’s disappearance will resume in October.