DPP suspends consideration of charges against William Tyrrell’s foster mother

Detectives previously recommended the 58-year-old woman be charged with perverting the course of justice and interfering with a corpse regarding the boy’s disappearance.

William Tyrrell disappeared from a home in Kendall NSW in September 2014.

NSW Police have asked the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to suspend its review of evidence against William Tyrrell’s foster mother, after police last year referred her to prosecutors for consideration of charges over the little boy’s disappearance.

It was previously reported that detectives believed they had enough to charge the 58-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, over William’s disappearance, and referred the matter to the ODPP. 

Detectives recommended the woman be charged with perverting the course of justice and interfering with a corpse, and a brief of evidence was given to prosecutors in June to determine whether there was a reasonable prospect of conviction.

William was three years old when he disappeared from a home in the small town of Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast in September 2014 – last seen wearing a Spider-Man suit.

William Tyrrell's foster parents. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

The foster mother was grilled more than two years ago during a secret NSW Crime Commission hearing about whether the missing toddler had fallen off a veranda into ferns before she disposed of his body in nearby bushland.

She has always strenuously denied being involved with his disappearance, reiterating her denials as recently as November.

In a statement on Tuesday from an ODPP spokesperson said: “The NSW Police Force asked that this Office suspend its consideration of their request for advice in this matter until after the conclusion of the next tranche of the inquest hearings in November and December 2024.”

The inquest, which has been going since 2019, heard in September that prosecutors expected to know by January whether she would be charged over the nine-year mystery, with Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame also telling the Coroner’s Court “I really can’t proceed until that issue is finalised”.