Police seize car, top cop slates ‘wasted time’ in Tyrrell search

A car which belonged to William Tyrrell’s now-deceased foster grandmother is taken for forensic examination as a rift over the police investigation erupts.

A vehicle is undergoing forensic examination after being seized by Strike Force Rosann detectives.

Detectives investigating the disappearance of three-year-old boy William Tyrrell have seized a car from a home in Gymea as part of their ongoing investigations.

NSW Police confirmed a Mazda was taken last Tuesday under a Coronial Order and was taken to a secure facility where it is currently undergoing forensic examinations.

The investigation is expected to take several weeks.

The vehicle once belonged to William’s foster grandmother, who died in March aged 88.

Police said the activity relates to its investigations being undertaken in the Kendall area from where William vanished.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller announced on Tuesday that detectives had identified one person of interest in the case which has puzzled the nation for more than seven years.

Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon says investigators would leave “no stone unturned”, as the search operation at a Kendall home on the NSW mid-north coast enters its second day.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, Deputy Commissioner Lanyon said detectives would not stop until they had investigated every possible lead. “The investigation into William Tyrrell is continuing,” he said. “What I can say is that the investigation is part of the dogged determination of investigators and we will leave no stone unturned to do that.’’

A rift in the NSW police investigation into the disappearance of William has erupted into the open, with high-profile former detective Gary Jubelin hitting back at criticism by Commissioner Fuller of the early years of the investigation.

On Tuesday, Mr Fuller conducted a radio interview in which he openly and uncharacteristically criticised earlier phases of the investigation, code-named Strike Force Rosann, saying officers had “wasted” time pursuing individuals who were “clearly” not linked to the crime.

“The investigation was looking at some persons of interest that were clearly not, and I think some time was wasted on that, and bushland is overgrown,” Mr Fuller said. “But a new team on-board … inherited what was a bit of a mess and have cleaned up that investigation.”

Mr Jubelin, who ran the case over a four-year period before resigning from the NSW Police Force as a detective inspector in 2019, said Mr Fuller and other high-ranking police officers were routinely informed of the investigation’s strategy and operational direction but never once raised a word of criticism about its progress.

The row flared as police conducted a second day searching a home in Kendall, on the NSW mid-north coast, where William disappeared in September, 2014.

The home belonged to William’s foster grandmother, who has since died, and whom he was visiting at the time he vanished.

NSW Police Commissioner Michael Fuller. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Former detective Gary Jubelin. Picture: Joel Carrett

The premises has become a site of extensive preparations for a search that police say is expected to last up to three weeks, and which they have described as an operation intended to recover the missing child’s remains.

The Australian revealed on Monday that NSW Homicide Squad officers had identified the boy’s foster parents as persons of interest in the case, along with other information that has since become the subject of suppression orders.

Specialist police officers and Rural Fire Service volunteers spent the day digging the garden beneath the home on Benaroon Drive and sifting through dirt below a balcony.

Other preparations, including bush-clearing, were made ahead of excavations expected to occur later this week.

A career homicide detective, Mr Jubelin assumed control of the investigation in 2015.

He resigned from the force over allegations he had illegally recorded conversations with a person of interest. He defended the charges but was convicted and fined $10,000 in 2020.

He lost an appeal against the ruling later that year.

Mr Jubelin said he was unable to comment on the ongoing investigation and its developments but “it’s disappointing that Commissioner Fuller (has) now decided to publicly come out and criticise the Tyrrell investigation”.

“As the commissioner, he is ultimately responsible for the investigation that has been running the whole time he was commissioner,” Mr Jubelin said.

William Tyrrell has been missing since 2014. Picture: AAP

He said as Mr Fuller was the force’s leader through much of the investi¬gation, the progress and outcome of the case was his responsibility.

Mr Fuller was appointed NSW Police Commissioner in March 2017, by which time Mr Jubelin had been leading the case for about two years.

Mr Fuller has committed to exiting the role during the first half of 2022.

“I led the investigation for four years during which time detailed reports were submitted on a monthly basis outlining the direction of the investigation,” Mr Jubelin said.

“These reports were signed off on at assistant commissioner level and are retained by the NSW police.”

Mr Jubelin said at no time was he provided with any criticism of the investigation’s direction, operational decision-making or strategies that were employed as part of his team’s inquiries. “I own and take responsibility for the way I led the investigation.

“I hope the police who sat above me are prepared to do the same thing,” he said.

“There were a lot of hard-working police on the investi¬gation who were determined to find out what happened to William. I am sure they would not appreciate the public criticism from their commissioner.”

William was aged three at the time of his disappearance and the scale of the investigation dedicated to finding him has evolved into one of the largest and most enduring mysteries in Australian policing history.

Members of Strike Force Rosann sift soil on Day 2 of their search operation for clues to the whereabouts of William Tyrrell. Picture: NSW Police

It has spanned seven years, involved an 18-month coronial inquest, which remains open, and has taken in thousands of leads concerning his possible whereabouts and other intelligence.

In September, the NSW Police Force announced that it had obtained fresh information concerning his disappearance; the development is what has prompted the current search of the premises on Benaroon Drive.

By the time he resigned from the police force, Mr Jubelin, an effective but polarising detective beloved by victims of crime, was leading a fractured team of officers who, according to one account, had splintered over the pursuit of various suspects.

At times these divisions became heated.

In 2018, Mr Jubelin fell out with his officer-in-charge, Detective Sergeant Craig Lambert, over whether to include evidence in a coronial brief about a particular suspect whom Mr Lambert did not believe was involved in the disappearance.

The argument was witnessed by numerous officers and required intervention to separate the two men.