Bones ‘had no ties to William’
TOYS, bones and a speargun were among the items uncovered during an intense four-week police search for William Tyrrell, a Sydney inquest has been told.
But none of that was deemed to relate to the threeyear-old’s mysterious disappearance from his foster grandmother’s property in NSW mid north coast town of Kendall in September 2014.
The inquest into the boy’s disappearance resumed yesterday with a focus on the fiveyear police investigation.
Detective Sergeant Laura Beacroft, who helped organise a new land search in 2018, said she understood that was the first time police were looking for evidence of deliberate human intervention and not just signs of misadventure. “My understanding was it was a new notion,” she said.
The examination of more than 40ha of bushland surrounding the home involved dozens of police and several other authorities. Many bones, backpacks, toys, shovels and a speargun were uncovered over the 20 days but Sgt Beacroft agreed none was deemed to relate to William’s presence in the area.
Counsel assisting the coroner Gerald Craddock SC said 97 per cent of child abductions in the United States involved family members or close acquaintances. But after five years and no witnesses or forensic evidence, there were no fixed conclusions about where William went.
“The present state of evidence is if William was murdered – and that’s a big if – it may be one of those rare 3 per cent of cases,” he told the inquest. “(For cases with no witnesses and no evidence) worldwide, these cases have proven the most difficult to solve.”
Mr Craddock said police still believed the case could be solved and their investigation continued. “The offender is a sneaky, complex offender who has hidden their desires for some time and has chosen to act on those desires.”
Running until August 30, the second tranche of the inquest is examining police tactics to find William.
Former detective inspector Gary Jubelin, who led the fresh investigation into William’s disappearance, was among those to attend yesterday. He has pleaded not guilty to four charges alleging he illegally recorded conversations while leading the investigation in late 2017 and 2018.