The devastating theory that detectives believe solves the William Tyrrell mystery – and why he has still never been found 10 years after he vanished
The inquest into William Tyrrell’s disappearance will probe the police theory that his foster mother buried his body in bushland after he fell from a balcony and died on the morning he vanished.
‘That’s the reason we’re here,’ counsel assisting, Gerard Craddock SC, told Monday’s resumed hearing into the three-year-old’s death, who was last seen in Kendall on the NSW mid north coast in 2014.
‘The theory [is that] William must have died at [his foster grandmother’s home at] 48 Benaroon Drive [in Kendall],’ said Mr Craddock.
‘The theory… police assert is that she must have quickly resolved that if the accidental death of William was discovered she might lose ‘Lindsay’.’
Lindsay – not her real name, which can’t be revealed for legal reasons – was another foster child in the care of the foster mother at that time, who also can’t be named.
‘Police assert that in that frame of mind, [the foster mother] placed William in her mother’s car,’ said Mr Craddock.
‘After alerting [a neighbour] to William’s disappearance, [she] drove her mother’s car to Batar Creek Road and placed William’s body somewhere in the undergrowth.’
Mr Craddock told the hearing on Monday that the foster mother had no recollection of the precise time she drove her mother’s car from the house after the boy vanished on the morning of September 12, 2014.
The inquest into William Tyrrell ‘s disappearance will probe the police theory that his foster mother buried his body in bushland after he fell from a balcony
William’s foster parents are attending the hearings, as are detectives from Strike Force Rosann, and its boss Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw
Police in 2021 search the Kendall house from where William vanished in 2014, theorising that he may have fallen from the balcony in an accidental death
The inquest’s chief counsel also told the hearing on Monday that he cannot confirm the foster mother’s claims of seeing ‘strange cars’ in the street.
Both William’s biological father and his foster parents are attending the hearings, as are detectives from Strike Force Rosann, and its boss Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw.
The long-running inquest into the 10-year mystery will also hear from Professor Jon Olley, a water science expert who was onsite at the renewed hunt for the toddler body in a fresh dig staged in 2021.
Mr Craddock said the area around Batar Creek Road had been extensively searched by police who did not believe any trace of William was left there.
He also said that in the search for William after his disappearance – with police, fire fighters, cadaver dogs, chainsaws and hydraulic equipment – meant that the little boy had not simply just been lost in the search area.
‘William under his own steam could not travel beyond the area of the intensive search,’ he said. ‘The conclusion there must have been human intervention.
‘It’s beyond argument that no eye eyewitness can provide an account about how he left the boundaries of 48 Benaroon Drive.’
The inquest, which began in 2019 but has been beset by protracted delays has now entered its final block of hearings, which will be held this week, and over two weeks just before Christmas.
William’s disappearance has become one of Australia’s most notorious missing persons cases.
The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame – examining William’s disappearance and suspected death – was delayed last year when prosecutors weighed up charges against the boy’s foster mother.
The inquest into the disappearance of three-year-old William Tyrrell (above) has resumed for its final set of hearings in November and December
A police theory is that William fell from the verandah of his foster grandma’s Kendal home and afterwards his body was disposed of allegedly by his foster mother (above, with the foster father)
William’s foster mother and father have continuously denied the allegation they played a part in his disappearance or any wrongdoing.
The inquest originally began in 2019 and ran for 18 months before it was adjourned in October 2020 and Ms Grahame’s findings were due to be handed down in June 2021.
The inquest was pushed back for police to begin the fresh investigations in late 2021 that involved searching new locations around Kendall.
On the fresh dig, teams scoured the garden of his foster grandmother’s home and nearby bushland, but did not report finding anything of significance.
The inquest was then pushed back again, as prosecutors weighed up the evidence concerning the missing boy’s foster mother.
Last year, police handed a brief of evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions that recommended William’s foster mother be charged with perverting the course of justice and interfering with a corpse.
Around that time, the foster parents’ solicitor Rylie Hahn called for police to disclose any evidence.
‘William’s foster mother and foster father hold the position of calling for the disclosure of evidence which police suggest forms the basis of criminal proceedings,’ Ms Hahn said last year.
‘We are midway through the inquest and William remains missing and his case unsolved.
‘William’s foster mother maintains she had nothing to do with his disappearance … and asks the police to continue to look for William and what happened to him.’
Then in August this year, Ms Grahame was handed a letter from the DPP, outlining the status of that request for advice.
Professor Jon Olley, a water science expert, at the William Tyrrell dig in 2021, has been called as a witness to the latest round of inquest hearings
William Tyrrell, dressed up as his favourite character, in a photo not long before he disappeared while playing on the verandah in Kendall, on the NSW Mid North Coast with his grandma and his sister
In the letter, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sally Dowling SC, said that NSW Police had in April asked her office to ‘suspend’ its request for advice until the conclusion of the final block of inquest hearings.
In 2022, William’s foster mother was found not guilty of lying to the NSW Crime Commission.
In November last year, William’s foster father was also acquitted of five counts of lying to the NSW Crime Commission.
The court was told at the time that during the Crime Commission hearing, counsel assisting, Sophie Callan SC, questioned the foster mother about whether William had fallen from the balcony and she had disposed of the body.
The couple denied any wrongdoing or disposing of his corpse.
