‘I can’t let it go, I won’t let it go’: Moment colleagues turned on William Tyrrell detective
The former lead detective in the William Tyrrell case has opened up about how the boy’s unsolved disappearance continues to haunt him.
Not a day goes by without Gary Jubelin thinking of William Tyrrell, the toddler who went missing in NSW 10 years ago, in September 2014. A few months after the three-year-old’s disappearance, Jubelin was placed as lead detective on the case.
A decade later Tyrrell remains missing, as an inquest into his disappearance plays out.
“I am still passionate about the William Tyrrell matter. I can’t let it go. I won’t let it go,” the former homicide investigator told the Stellar podcast Something To Talk About.
Jubelin, who left the police force in 2019 after being accused – and then found guilty – of illegally recording a suspect in the case, believes people have a right to be critical of the investigation.
“I am as confused as the public on the information that has got out. I think we – and I’m still including myself as a police officer in this term – should be judged on the way that investigation has been handled. And I don’t know how the public could possibly have confidence in what’s going on,” he said.
Listen to the full interview with Gary Jubelin now on the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About:
“There was criticism of things I did. I still stand by what I did. The courts have criticised me. I’ve got to accept the findings of the court. But I also believe the courts are only as good as the information that’s been provided to them.
“I haven’t given up. The thing that we should all be hanging onto is the fact a young child has disappeared, and that shouldn’t get lost in all the politics and all the infighting and all that. We all should be working in the same direction to bring some closure.”
Jubelin told Something To Talk About that his portrayal as a character in popular drama series Underbelly “changed the landscape” for him, and possibly led to his ousting from the Tyrrell investigation.
Listen to the full interview with Gary Jubelin now on the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About:
“What I found within my own organisation, there was some resentment from people about ‘Why was he getting recognition?’ I think there were some very narrow-minded people that wanted to bring me down.
We can bring him down [by] recording a conversation on his telephone.’ I still shake my head at that given the fact that we had listening devices in the place approved by a Supreme Court judge. I could go on and on, but it bores people and I understand,” he said.
“What gave me a lot of strength was I had high-profile detectives from across the country, some of which I didn’t even know, they reached out to me and said, ‘We’ve been through this same process.’ We got a reputation and the organisation turns on you like that.
“The impact it had on the William Tyrrell matter was devastating.
“There were other investigations that I was working on that I wasn’t allowed to work on anymore.
“So that hurt me more than losing my career. The fact that I’d made the commitment to William Tyrrell’s families, foster and biological, I’d do everything humanly possible – and other investigations. That was all taken away.”
A good friend of Jubelin advised him to take hold of the opportunities presented to him rather than wallow in self-pity.
He took the advice, reinventing himself as a media commentator. Now his podcast I Catch Killers is one of the country’s most listened-to true-crime podcasts.
“The last five years I’ve worked very hard,” he said.
“But that’s me, just something that’s instilled in me: pay your dues to get where you are. The fear of failure, I carry that with me, and my father instilled that in me. I’ve tried to instil in my kids to enjoy the success rather than fear the failure. But I’ve always been one to fear the failure. So that’s why I keep pushing and pushing.”
The new episode of the Stellar podcast Something to Talk About featuring Gary Jubelin is out now, available wherever you get your podcasts.
For more from Stellar and Something To Talk About, click here.
Originally published as ‘I can’t let it go, I won’t let it go’: Moment colleagues turned on William Tyrrell detective
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