William Tyrrell cop’s big payday as families left waiting

Families of dead or missing loved ones have spoken out about their agonising wait for answers as the huge salary of a top detective is revealed.

EXCLUSIVE

The lead William Tyrrell detective was paid over $191,000 last year despite leaving 19 unsolved homicide cases to “collect dust” on his desk – with victims’ families saying loved ones will go to their graves not knowing what happened.

Homicide victims’ advocate Peter Rolfe says he has “no faith” in Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw, who is leading the search for three-year-old William, last seen on 12 September 2014.

The mother of another unsolved murder victim said her emails to Mr Laidlaw have gone unanswered. Families like hers wrongly believe police are working on these investigations “and they’re bloody well not”, she said.

Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar

William Tyrrell was last seen 10 years ago.

Last week, news.com.au revealed a litany of failings at the NSW Police Unsolved Homicide Team, at which Mr Laidlaw is the Investigation Co-ordinator.

These included missing evidence and a backlog of hundreds of cases, including 19 files Mr Laidlaw told a 2023 public inquiry he left unread for a year as the search for William had taken up “a significant amount of my time”.

Asked if he had requested more resources “instead of sitting quietly, leaving files collecting dust on the desk?” Mr Laidlaw told the inquiry “No, I haven’t.”

Other members of the strike force investigating William’s disappearance are also members of the Unsolved Homicide Team.

Peter Rolfe has lost more than one friend to homicides. Picture: AAP Image/Troy Snook

Mr Rolfe, the founder of Support After Murder, sat through every day of the Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes at which Mr Laidlaw was questioned and said his evidence was damning.

“So I just have no faith in him at all,” Mr Rolfe said.

NSW Police minister Yasmin Catley said the inquiry “made for difficult reading” and “we are committed to widespread and lasting change.”

“Behind every unsolved suspected homicide are families and friends who have never received closure,” Ms Catley said.

Over 200 unsolved homicide cases are now being reviewed as a priority, with two tasked for reinvestigation and dozens more currently with detectives.

Police Minister Yasmin Catley says the government was committed to lasting change. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Mr Laidlaw, who has been in the Unsolved Homicide Team since 2017, has benefited from a system that guarantees pay rises every year for inspectors, capped at $191,385.

Several relatives of unsolved homicide victims have now spoken publicly following the launch of news.com.au’s podcast investigation Witness: William Tyrrell.

Karen Bryant has waited 21 years for police to find her daughter Harmony’s killer, with an inquest finding police had “failed” the family more than a decade ago.

Ms Bryant said she emailed Mr Laidlaw last December, asking for an update on the coroner’s recommendation to increase the reward for information, and for the name of the detective working her daughter’s case.

“What did I get back? Nothing,” said Ms Bryant.

“It’s a problem not only for the 19” families of those cases left unread for a year, she said.

“There are so many cases that are sitting down there. You’ve got elderly relatives. People are dying and nothing’s been done.

“They’re dying believing that the police are looking at those cases.”

Harmony Bryant was found lying beside her smouldering car in 2003.

A coroner found she met with foul play. Pictures: Supplied

Twenty-six year-old Harmony Bryant was found severely injured near the wreckage of a burning car on the NSW Mid North Coast, on August 16, 2003.

X-rays revealed she had suffered a shattered pelvis, fingers, wrist and arm, as well as serious burns.

Police first said she was involved in a single vehicle crash, but a coroner later found “there can be little doubt Harmony Bryan met with foul play at the hand or hands of person or persons unknown”.

The coroner lambasted the initial police investigation, saying officers had been “blinkered” and Harmony’s death would have been written off as having “no suspicious circumstances” if not for her mother’s campaigning.

“The system has failed Harmony Bryant and her family and opportunities that may have been available in those first vital 48 hours were missed,” found the coroner, Malcolm MacPherson.

He referred Harmony’s case to the Unsolved Homicide Team, and recommended “consideration be given” to raise the reward from $100,000 to $250,000, although this has not happened.

“I’ve battled this for a long, long time,” said Ms Bryant.

“I know how many times I’ve rung and written and said ‘Can you tell me anything?’ and we just get nothing and get treated like I’m an idiot. And I’m not an idiot but I could have ended up in the nuthouse the way I was treated.

“People go to their graves thinking something is being done by the Unsolved Homicide Team and they’re bloody well not.”

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Matthew Leveson died in 2007.

His parents Mark and Faye Leveson.

Mark Leveson and his wife Faye have lived with the loss of their son Matt since 2007, including 10 gut-wrenching years before the 20-year-old’s body was finally recovered.

“From what we’ve been through”, nothing at last year’s public inquiry surprised him, said Mr Leveson.

“There’s a mixture of good and bad people (in the police),” he continued.

“You get honest, diligent ones and others who are just reckless or lazy.

“Of course, they’ve got a lot of work on – but these are people’s lives.

“If that’s the case it needs more funding, it needs more resources. You can’t go on where people like us feel like second class citizens. You’re collateral damage.”

Mr Rolfe highlighted the unsolved death of his friend Crispin Dye, former manager of the legendary rock group AC/DC.

Last year’s public inquiry revealed police had never tested the blood-soaked clothing Mr Dye was found wearing at the time of his 1993 death.

Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said police had made breakthroughs in several cold cases. Picture: David Swift

Information written on two pieces of paper found in his shirt pocket was left undetected in an evidence box for almost 30 years.

“I’m afraid I’m painting a pretty depressing picture of my association with the NSW Police Force,” Mr Rolfe said.

“That’s the way it is,” he continued.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson stressed that William’s disappearance “is an active investigation” that has not been formally referred to the Unsolved Homicide Team.

The team’s “sole purpose is to never give up searching for answers” and it had made 30 arrests in the past 16 years, he said.

The police force would “work through all recommendations made by the Special Commission of Inquiry” said Mr Hudson.

As William’s disappearance is “currently before inquest we are unable to comment further”.