Today, news.com.au is asking you, our audience, to help make a difference.

As the biggest news site in Australia, we’re asking the 12 million people we reach every month to bear witness to a little boy called William Tyrrell who went missing, and has not been found.

That should never happen.

That’s why we’re launching our new podcast investigation Witness: William Tyrrell to ask questions about how it happened, and what happened after.

We’re also using every platform available to us, including this website, Instagram, TikTok, Apple News, WhatsApp and YouTube, to amplify those questions.

Because 10 years after William was reported missing on September 12 2014, we still do not know what took place that morning.

And the police investigation that followed has left many broken lives behind it.

That also should never happen.

The simple truth is that someone out there does know something.

Today, news.com.au is asking its unrivalled audience to come forward with what you know.

But this is not something we are doing lightly.

We have spent almost two years working on this investigation. I reported on William’s disappearance at the time, and have kept returning to it over the years since.

So we know there are vulnerable people involved; those lives that have been forever damaged by William’s disappearance, and by the police investigation.

There is also the silence surrounding this case.

What has happened after William’s disappearance played out in every level of the court system in New South Wales, with each issuing different orders about what cannot be said, or reported.

Those orders sometimes repeat or contradict each other. We know because we asked each court for every order they issued, as well as searching legal databases and lists of orders drawn up by lawyers who have acted in the case at different times.

We’ve done this so we can respect those orders, while at the same time recognising that this official silence has created a sea of speculation surrounding the few facts that are known.

For both these reasons – the vulnerability of those involved, and the court-ordered silence – we have chosen to tell this story in a podcast. So you can hear those involved, in their own voices.

Even then, there are several people we cannot identify for legal reasons.

There are others who spoke to us but asked not to be identified, so we have protected their names and in some cases used actors to disguise their voices.

We have also spent months – and in some cases, years – trying to talk to people, so that anyone who wants to have their voice included can do.

Sometimes, those conversations have been simply to let people know what we are doing, so it does not come as a shock when published.

We have done the same with a number of organisations, including the New South Wales Police Force and the state Coroner’s Court, or with lawyers representing some of those involved.

That work is ongoing. We have not been able to find everyone – yet. And some have chosen not to speak so far.

So if we have not spoken to you, and you want to, please get in contact.

Because we know how important this is to get right.

Over the past two years, we have been told more than once that if we trip up in our reporting, we will face the consequences.

We are also aware of the sheer number of those online who have followed the investigation into William’s disappearance and will pick up on a perceived mistake.

Including some who have strong opinions about what happened and criticise those who do not share them.

Our responsibility is to give a fair, balanced and truthful account of what has happened.

Not due to any fear of criticism, but because there are real people involved.

To do this, we have gone back to many of those people more than once, to give them an opportunity to respond, including in writing.

This process has taken months, and is also ongoing.

We have also delayed our reporting until various criminal prosecutions have been resolved in the courts.

The years-long inquest into William’s likely death is due to complete its public hearings over the next three months, and we will include reporting on that evidence in this series.

News.com.au will also report the coroner’s findings when they are ultimately published.

For that reason alone, we do not yet know where this reporting will take us.

And there are also other reasons.

Because someone out there knows something about what happened to William, and what followed.

So now it is our responsibility to bear witness to William’s story.

And if you do know something, we are asking you to come forward.

That is why each episode of the podcast ends with me saying that you can contact Crime Stoppers to report any information.

Or, if you want to contact us, please do so.

Our email address is witness@news.com.au