William Tyrrell’s foster mother lashes police ‘persecution’
The missing boy’s foster parents have alleged police carried out a smear campaign against them in a new statement.
The foster mother to missing child William Tyrrell has alleged NSW Police went “to great lengths” to “blacken” her character, breaking years of silence on the case.
From the time William disappeared from Kendall on the NSW north coast in September, 2014, his foster mum has said police opted to “persecute” her in favour of thoroughly investigating the young boy’s disappearance.
Her statement in response to questions from the news.com.au podcast series Witness: William Tyrrell comes amid a second coronial inquest into the boy’s disappearance.
The foster mother’s identity has been suppressed since the disappearance became a court matter in order to maintain the anonymity of William’s siblings.
“For the past five years, the police have done nothing to try to discover who took William, and what has happened to him,” she said in her first statement in nearly two years.
“Instead, they have concentrated all their efforts on trying to build a case that I was in some way to blame for his death, and the disposal of his precious little body.”
NSW Police has previously stated it believes William’s foster mother may have disposed of his corpse following his death by misadventure.
“(I have) no idea who took William, or what happened to him,” she said. “I believe that if the police had properly investigated this case, instead of persecuting me, they may well have found the person responsible for William’s disappearance. They have gone to great lengths to blacken my character in the media.”
Public scrutiny towards William’s foster parents reached a peak in September 2021 after reports identified a new person of interest police were investigating. In November 2021 his foster mother was confirmed as being the subject of the investigation.
She has never been charged.
“It did not matter one bit that he was not connected to us biologically. William made my life complete; I loved him fiercely. I just loved being his ‘mummy’,” she said.
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