William Tyrrell foster mum evidence passed to prosecutors by police
Detectives believe there is enough evidence to charge William Tyrrell’s foster mother, in the biggest step in the nine-year case.
Detectives believe there is enough evidence to charge William Tyrrell’s foster mother with interfering with a corpse and perverting the course of justice over the disappearance of the toddler in 2014.
In the most significant development in the nine-year case, NSW Police have provided a brief of evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions recommending the charges against the foster mother, following what they suspect was three-year-old Tyrrell’s accidental death before his body was disposed of.
Police sometimes seek support from the DPP to lay charges, and can provide their own recommendations on the evidence gathered.
The DPP could still provide advice that there is not enough evidence to bring any charges against the foster mother, who cannot be named.
The Australian understands lawyer Sharon Ramsden, representing the foster mother, will speak with the officer in charge of the investigation on Wednesday to ascertain the police position.
William’s foster parents have always denied any involvement in his disappearance.
William would have turned 12 on Monday. His disappearance during a visit to his foster grandmother’s home at Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast has become one of the nation’s most significant unsolved crimes.
Last year, after police had made stunning claims that the foster mother was a “person of interest”, a senior detective claimed the woman knew where the missing boy was buried.
A court was told the NSW Crime Commission grilled the foster mother in a secret hearing over allegations she disposed of William’s body after he fell from a balcony at his foster grandmother’s home. Detective Sergeant Andrew Lonergan, from the Tyrrell strike force, told the court he had formed the view that the foster mother “knew where William Tyrrell is”.
The claims came as the foster mother faced Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on charges of giving false or misleading evidence to the Crime Commission.
The court heard police told the foster mother “we know why, we know how” William disappeared and his body was disposed of.
The foster mother was acquitted of that charge, which was unrelated to William, with a magistrate finding she did not lie to the Crime Commission about hitting a different foster child with a wooden spoon.
Police had bugged the foster mother’s home and intercepted phone calls in 2020, after the focus of the investigation changed following the removal of former lead investigator Gary Jubelin from the case. Mr Jubelin had described the foster mother as a “very decent human being”, and said he had not suspected her.
The foster family told police that Tyrrell, dressed in a Spider-Man outfit, vanished while playing in the garden with his five-year-old sister shortly before 10.30am on September 12, 2014. Residents and emergency service workers scoured bushland, but no trace was ever found.
A NSW Police spokeswoman declined to comment on the brief of evidence on Tuesday.
“There are no updates in relation to this matter. The investigation is ongoing,” a NSW police statement said.
NSW Police had earlier issued a statement saying the “determination of strike force detectives has never wavered”.
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