William Tyrrell podcast: Secrecy in search for a little boy lost

The search for William Tyrrell has been bedevilled by secrecy and torn the NSW homicide squad apart | LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Little boy lost William Tyrrell, left, former head of the Tyrrell investigation, Gary Jubelin, top right, and the new head of the investigation, David Laidlaw, bottom right.

The new head of the investigation into missing boy William Tyrrell had never worked on the five-year-old case before he took it over in January.

Detective David Laidlaw is one of the State’s most experienced detectives, but The Australian has been told he had never touched the Tyrrell file, and starts from scratch.

That can be a good thing in policing as old biases and dead leads are swept away.

But it’s indicative, too, of the toxic atmosphere within NSW Homicide, with relations between the old boss, Mick Willing, who was recently promoted; the current homicide squad commander, Scott Cook; and the old head of the Tyrrell investigation, Gary Jubelin, who is facing criminal charges, stretched well past breaking point.

It has resulted in a surreal situation where Mr Jubelin has briefed the NSW acting state coroner, Harriet Grahame, on an inquiry over which he’s now been charged; but not the lead detective, who must now run the case.

The Australian today launches a new podcast investigation, Nowhere Child, into the Tyrrell investigation, which is one of the largest, and most expensive in Australian history.

The podcast will unfold over the next few months, with the launch of each episode scheduled for 3pm on Fridays.

The investigation concerns the disappearance of a three-year-old boy from the village of Kendall on 12 September 2014.

William Tyrrell was a foster child but, for the first three years, nobody was allowed to know that. The inquiry into his disappearance has been bedevilled by secrecy, and miscalculations.

The former Police Minister, Troy Grant, authorised resources of the type never before seen in a missing person’s case. There were at one point twenty-six detectives from NSW Homicide working on the Tyrrell matter.

Six hundred names made it onto the list of persons of interest.

There have been 2800 calls to Crime Stoppers from members of the public and more than 1000 calls related to possible sightings of William. Each of the calls is logged and followed up, which has led to more than 11,000 pieces of information that police are sifting through.

No trace of William has been found.

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