Case 322: William Tyrrell (Part 2/2)

[Part 2 of 2] *** Content Warning: child victims, child sexual assault, child abuse*** As the search into the disappearance of three-year-old William Tyrrell reaches its third fruitless year, the investigation takes turn after turn until a coronial inquest is eventually called. The inquest aims to figure out what happened to William once and for all, but will it succeed or raise more questions than it answers? --- Narration – Anonymous Host https://www.instagram.com/caseys.snaps/ Research & writing – Elsha McGill Creative direction – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas http://mikemigas.com/ Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/casefile-true-crime/id998568017?ign-itscg=30200S&ign-itsct=casefile_podcastsSpotify Premium https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/9gSwcv7USsbPatreon https://www.patreon.com/casefileFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-322-william-tyrrell-part-2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  From journalist Olivia LaVoix, the creator of the hidden investigative series The Bakersfield Three, comes the new Case File Presents series, Ada. In 2011, the body of a woman was discovered in a California vineyard. For more than a decade, she was known only as Jane Doe. Then detectives finally discovered her name. But identifying her was only the beginning. Listen to Ada wherever you get your podcasts.

• 1:04Speaker 01

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• 2:16Speaker 00

  Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. Today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all listeners.

• 2:46Speaker 00

  Please note that the names of several individuals have been changed due to court suppression orders preventing them from being identified, while others have been changed to protect their privacy.

• 3:01Speaker 00

  By the time William Tyrrell had been missing for three years, police had almost 700 persons of interest remaining on their list. But among the legitimate leads they received, they were also inundated with bogus sightings, prank phone calls and clairvoyant prophecies. On the third anniversary of William's disappearance, Lead Detective Gary Jubelin spoke publicly about the case for the first time in 12 months.

• 3:30Speaker 00

  With William's status as a foster child now able to be reported on, Detective Jubelin attempted to quash the ongoing rumours by making it clear that both the foster parents and biological parents had been ruled out of the investigation. He insisted that William's foster parents had been bringing him up in a warm and loving home and that they had nothing to do with his disappearance. Detective Jubelin appealed for anyone with information to come forward, clarifying that he didn't want to get bogged down with irrelevant details.

• 4:05Speaker 00

  "It's three years down the track, let's be realistic," he said. "We're not interested in sightings of a child running around in a Spider-Man suit playing in the McDonald's car park. What we are interested in is people that have genuine information. That information might be in the form of someone that has concerns about someone they know, someone within their family, in the way they react when William Tyrrell's name is mentioned. We're interested in speaking to those people. We can do it in the strictest of confidence, and I would encourage those people to come forward." It sounds counterintuitive to say "we're making progress",

• 4:48Speaker 00

  but each day we're learning more about what happened at the time, and we're eliminating people. We're making progress each day. We don't think this has been a success by any stretch of the imagination, but we're not going to give up."

• 5:06Speaker 00

  Once again, police canvassed homes around Kendall, hoping that the passing of time might propel someone to talk. If anyone knew anything, they were remaining as tight-lipped as ever. However, what Detective Jubelin hadn't publicly revealed was that he'd set his sights on someone.

• 5:51Speaker 00

  Paul Savage was a retiree aged in his late 70s who lived on Bennerun Drive, directly across from William's foster-grandmother, Mary Saunders. His front veranda looked towards the back of Mary's house, where William was last seen playing. Police had interviewed Savage in the early stages of the investigation and discovered that he was the only person, outside of William's foster-family, who had heard the children playing outside on the morning that William disappeared.

• 6:23Speaker 00

  According to Savage, the morning of Friday, September 12, 2014, had started out like any other. At around 8:30, he'd gone for his daily walk in the bush behind his property. Afterwards, he ate breakfast on his back deck before pottering around the house in preparation for an upcoming trip to pick his brother up from the hospital. At around 10:35, Paul Savage's wife, Heather, left for her weekly bingo game in Lorrington. Savage had walked Heather to her car, but said he hadn't heard any of the commotion going on down the street. He only discovered that William had gone missing at around 11:00 a.m., when a neighbour

• 7:07Speaker 00

  knocked on his door to inform him. Savage told the police that he immediately went looking for William down the firetracks in the bush behind his property. He looked for two hours before finding himself a bit lost. Eventually, he found his way home and sat down to have a cup of tea. Shortly after, at around 1:30 p.m., some of Heather's relatives arrived for a pre-arranged visit, and they all joined in on a line search. Savage said he continued searching until around 7:00 p.m., and then all weekend, only stopping on Monday for his road trip to pick up his brother from the hospital in Lismore,

• 7:51Speaker 00

  which was a four-hour drive away. Heather Savage's statement to police supported her husband's version of events. She had left for bingo at around the same time that William was thought to have gone missing, with CCTV footage from the Candle Tennis Club confirming that Heather's car had left town at 10:42 a.m. She said she hadn't seen or heard anyone or anything out of the ordinary at the time.

• 8:21Speaker 00

  Although there was nothing outwardly suspicious about Paul Savage or his movements, Detective Gary Jubelin couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right. With Heather at Bingo, there was no one who could vouch for his movements between 10:35 AM and 1:30 PM on the day of William's disappearance. It also struck Detective Jubelin as odd that Paul Savage said he'd gotten lost in the bush during his search, given that he walked in the area every day.

• 8:53Speaker 00

  Savage also had a reputation with the locals for being a bit of a sticky beak. Detective Jubelin therefore found it strange that he claimed to have returned home to have a cup of tea without checking in with anyone to see if William had been found.

• 9:10Speaker 00

  If he could be nosy when not much of anything was going on, then why keep to himself when genuine drama was unfolding around him?

• 9:22Speaker 00

  These factors alone weren't incriminating, but they became of interest to the strike force after covert cameras were placed in the bushland surrounding the home of the man who police had dubbed "guerillas in the mist". One of the cameras went missing, and it turned out that Paul Savage had it.

• 9:42Speaker 00

  He held on to the camera for six weeks before reporting it to the police station. At that point, Detective Jubelin's suspicions were intensifying. He looked into Savage and discovered that his home hadn't been searched until three days after William went missing. He hadn't been asked to provide a witness statement until two weeks later. When Paul Savage had driven to Lismore on the Monday after William went missing, his car hadn't been stopped or searched either.

• 10:15Speaker 00

  Theoretically speaking, if Savage had been involved in William's disappearance in any way, this would have given him a sizable window of time to dispose of any evidence.

• 10:27Speaker 00

  It turned out that Savage had also exhibited some odd behaviours in the past. The local postwoman had a restraining order against him for harassment, and William's foster grandmother Mary told the police that Savage often showed up at her house uninvited. She claimed he had once stood outside her glass doors, just watching her inside. These interactions had made Mary feel so uncomfortable that she'd approached Heather Savage and asked her to have a word with her husband about it. Strike Force investigators posited several theories centring around the Savages.

• 11:08Speaker 00

  They even considered the possibility that Heather could have accidentally hit William with her car when leaving for Bingo, and Paul Savage had then gone to great lengths to protect her by covering it up. Or maybe it was Savage himself who had accidentally hit William. He drove a Peugeot 4-wheel drive, which in the eyes of the three-year-old, might have looked like a Land Rover. Investigators theorised that William could have seen Savage's car, mistaken it for his foster father's, and ran towards it, only to be accidentally run over. They also considered the possibility that William could have entered the Savages' property and some other kind of accident had occurred.

• 11:54Speaker 00

  By the time the Savages came onto the Strike Force's radar, Heather Savage was no longer able to provide a statement. She had passed away six months into the William Tyrrell investigation. Her death left her husband devastated. For a month afterward, he wore a photo of Heather around his neck. Detective Gary Jubelin didn't necessarily think that Paul Savage was involved in William's disappearance, but he did think he might be the closest thing the police had to an eyewitness. He also wanted to be confident that he'd covered all bases before eliminating him as a person of interest.

• 12:36Speaker 00

  Despite some pushback from other members of the Strike Force who didn't think Savage had anything to do with it, Detective Jubelin organised warrants authorising listening devices to be installed in his home, car, and telephone.

• 12:54Speaker 00

  Officers were tasked with listening to the hundreds of hours of audio files taken from the covert surveillance of Savage, and discovered he had a habit of talking to himself. While he went about his daily life at home, he often chatted out loud, sometimes to his deceased wife. Most of his mutterings were irrelevant, but some further sparked Detective Jubelin's suspicions. Wanting to either pursue or eliminate Savage from his investigation once and for all, Jubelin hatched a plan. Officers would hide a dirty Spider-Man suit along the bush tracks behind his property, and covertly film his reaction. If he had an extreme response

• 13:39Speaker 00

  or attempted to conceal the suit, they'd have further reason to suspect he was hiding something. More importantly, if Savage did have knowledge of where William's remains were, seeing the suit might compel him to visit that site, inadvertently leading police to William's body.

• 13:59Speaker 00

  The plan went ahead on the morning of Wednesday, July 26, 2017, less than two months before the third anniversary of William's disappearance. As expected, Paul Savage got up and went for his usual morning walk along the bush tracks behind his home. When he approached the area where the Spider-Man suit had been planted, he walked a few steps past it, then bent over and paused for approximately 12 seconds. Savage then returned home without reporting anything to the police. That evening, listening devices in Savage's home recorded him saying to himself: "You know I love you, Angel.

• 14:43Speaker 00

  I bloody screwed up, eh."

• 14:48Speaker 00

  Investigators were torn. Some were convinced that Savage had seen the suit and had stopped to get a closer look at it, while others believed he hadn't noticed the suit at all and had coincidentally paused to look at something else. The Spider-Man suit was left alongside the bush track again the following morning. This time Savage stopped and prodded the costume with his foot. He then turned around, walked home, and called the police to report the sighting.

• 15:22Speaker 00

  Two days later, the listening devices captured Savage talking to himself once again. He said something along the lines of: "Well, I'm gonna run into your property too. This is my place, you're in my place, you do what I want. Hey, I'm not interested in your bullshit mate. You're a little boy, you're nobody. You don't tell me, I'll tell you. I did tell you."

• 15:52Speaker 00

  Detective Jubelin still wasn't sure what to make of Paul Savage. Many others on the task force thought he was chasing a dead end, but Jubelin wasn't prepared to rule him out entirely. In August 2017, Detective Jubelin brought Savage in for questioning. He thought that if he interrogated him with enough pressure, he might be compelled to say something incriminating when he returned home. But Savage steadfastly maintained that he had nothing to hide. He vehemently denied the police theories that he or Heather could have accidentally killed William, saying there was no way in the world that either of them would ever hurt a child.

• 16:37Speaker 00

  He also denied having seen the Spider-Man suit in the bush the first time he walked past it.

• 16:44Speaker 00

  But as Savage drove home from the interrogation, the listening device in his car recorded him saying: "Make sure you don't tell anyone, love. They are right after me. Don't tell anyone, love, please. They are right after me. Sorry."

• 17:04Speaker 00

  The following month, Savage was recorded at home saying to himself: "They're gonna find something mum, don't dob on me, okay? Oh mum, what do I do?"

• 17:19Speaker 00

  Although these recordings were equal parts bizarre and compelling, they proved nothing. By this point, the surveillance team had amassed thousands of hours of audio of Paul Savage, and there wasn't enough time to listen to it all. Many of the officers wanted to move on, but in early October 2017, Savage said something that Detective Jubelin couldn't ignore. In a recorded conversation with his daughter about whether or not he had seen the Spider-Man suit that first day, he remarked: "I didn't see the suit. From memory, I'd just seen this white thing on the ground that was covered in dirt."

• 18:04Speaker 00

  Detective Jubelin was stunned. The Spider-Man suit that William Tyrrell was wearing on the day he disappeared had a white spider motif on the back, but this detail had never been released to the public. It was something that only the person who took him could have known. The suit planted in the bush didn't have a white spider on it either. In fact, there was no white on it at all, just red, blue and black.

• 18:34Speaker 00

  So why, Detective Jubelin wondered, did Paul Savage recall seeing a white item of clothing?

• 18:42Speaker 00

  Jubelin wanted to press him about this detail on a phone call, but by this point, the warrants on his telephone intercepts had expired. The devices in Savage's home were still present, but it meant Jubelin's end of the conversation wouldn't be on the record. This could present an issue if Savage ever accused the detective of saying anything problematic further down the track. He'd already complained about being treated poorly during police interviews, saying the air conditioning was too high and that he hadn't been offered any water.

• 19:17Speaker 00

  To cover himself, Detective Jubelin decided to put the call on speakerphone and then use his own mobile to record the conversation.

• 19:27Speaker 00

  Jubelin called Savage and asked him about the Spider-Man suit he'd spotted in the bush. Savage repeated his claims that he'd just seen a white bit of cloth, but made no mention of the red or blue of the suit. There still wasn't any solid reason to suspect he had any involvement in William's disappearance, but Detective Jubelin believed there were enough red flags to keep pursuing him.

• 19:54Speaker 00

  Over the following months, he visited Paul Savage at home several more times to question him further. Knowing that the covert listening devices in Savage's home produced poor-quality audio and their batteries sometimes went flat, Detective Jubelin secretly recorded their conversations on his mobile phone to ensure he had a clear record of what was said. Despite his efforts, the constant pressure he applied led nowhere, and the strike force was no closer to making any arrests.

• 20:31Speaker 00

  Meanwhile, there was another name that had come up multiple times during the investigation into William Tyrrell's disappearance that couldn't be ignored.

• 20:41Speaker 00

  Frank Abbott was an elderly man aged in his seventies who made a living doing odd jobs and collecting scrap metal. At the time of William's disappearance, he'd been living rough in a caravan 10 kilometres north of Kendal. Referred to by some townspeople as a "dirty old man", Abbott apparently had a habit of making people feel uncomfortable. He wasn't trusted around children, with many parents warning their kids to stay away from him. He wasn't trusted around animals either. At least one of his neighbours had accused him of bestiality after walking into a disturbing scene involving Abbott and their family dog.

• 21:26Speaker 00

  Frank Abbott was already known to police as he had a long rap sheet that included various charges involving breaking and entering, theft, firearms offences, and escaping from custody. At the time William Tyrrell went missing, he was out on bail after being charged with sexually abusing an eight-year-old girl. Strike force interest in Abbott grew after a woman who lived across the paddock from him claimed to have heard the pained scream of a young boy coming from the direction of where Abbott lived on the day after William went missing. Since then, Abbott had apparently made some odd comments.

• 22:05Speaker 00

  When police were searching the house of white goods repairer Bill Spedding, Abbott allegedly told two people that the police were looking in the wrong spot. To another, he claimed that he'd smelt a dead body in the bush near Logan's Crossing, an area 4.7 kilometres north of Kandor. Abbott allegedly said it wasn't an animal because he “knew the difference between a dead kangaroo and a dead human smell”. That comment alone was incriminating. In 1968, seventeen-year-old Helen Harrison went missing while riding her bike towards

• 22:47Speaker 00

  her home in the Sydney suburb of Morelia. One week later, her semi-naked body was found buried in a shallow grave south-west of Sydney. She had been robbed of her watch and $20 cash. Frank Abbott was spotlighted as a person of interest, but his parents supported his alibi that he'd been home at the time Helen went missing, and there was no other evidence to link him to the crime. Helen's murder remained unsolved for decades until the early 1990s, when Frank Abbott was serving time for unrelated offences. While in prison, Abbott allegedly confessed to a fellow inmate that he was responsible

• 23:31Speaker 00

  for killing Helen Harrison. He ultimately faced trial for Helen's murder not once, but twice. The passing of time and death of critical witnesses meant the first jury couldn't reach a verdict, and the second found him not guilty.

• 23:51Speaker 00

  Abbott often bragged about beating the murder charge, with one local saying he saw it as a badge of honour. Frank Abbott also had a connection to another person of interest in the Tyrrell investigation. Word around town was that Abbott had been telling various people: "I know where William Tyrrell is, why don't you check Jeff Owen's place?"

• 24:19Speaker 00

  Jeff Owen was a qualified electrician and a general tradesman aged in his 60s who lived in a caravan on the property next door to Frank Abbott.

• 24:29Speaker 00

  The two men were known to be friends and had been seen driving around together in the past. Locals were somewhat wary of Owen, who reportedly had schizophrenia and had once killed a neighbour's dog after failing to take his medication. He came on the police radar after it was revealed that he had a direct connection to William Tyrrell's foster grandmother, Mary Saunders. Owen was Mary's handyman and he had been booked in to repair her deck in mid-September 2014. At 9:10 on the morning of William's disappearance, Owen had called Mary to let her know the work would be delayed due to an unexpected stay in the hospital.

• 25:13Speaker 00

  Mary had missed the call as she'd been outside watching the children ride their bikes at the time.

• 25:21Speaker 00

  Police made some inquiries and discovered that Jeff Owen and Frank Abbott had worked on some repair jobs together in the past. They considered the possibility that Owen could have offered Mary's deck repair job to Abbott, who then drove past the property and came upon William, grabbing him in a moment of opportunity. But, when questioned, Jeff Owen denied being friends with Frank Abbott. He said they were merely acquaintances and that he'd sometimes given Abbott a ride.

• 25:54Speaker 00

  Frank Abbott didn't have a driver's licence or own a car, but further inquiries revealed that he had access to one. His friend Ray Porter drove an old white Commodore station wagon, similar to the one William's foster mother claimed to have seen on Benarun Drive on the morning of William's disappearance. According to some witnesses, Ray often let Abbott borrow it.

• 26:21Speaker 00

  By 2018, Frank Abbott was being held in prison pending an upcoming trial for unrelated child sex offences when police questioned him about William Tyrrell. He claimed that on the day the toddler went missing, he'd been in the nearby town of Warhope. He said he'd done some repair work at a takeaway shop before having lunch at the uniting church and then making a deposit at the bank. Abbott denied having anything to do with William's abduction, but implied that he knew who did.

• 26:57Speaker 00

  Abbott told police they should look into Tony Jones, the convicted child sex offender who had momentarily shared a cell with white goods repairman Bill Spadding. Jones had since been released from jail after serving just two of his three-year sentence for child sexual assault.

• 27:17Speaker 00

  Abbott claimed that in early 2015, a few months after William went missing, Ray Porter drove him out to a property in Logan's Crossing near an old radio tower and log dump site. There, they met two men who were driving a white station wagon.

• 27:36Speaker 00

  One of the men allegedly introduced himself as Tony Jones. With them was a little boy.

• 27:52Speaker 00

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• 31:17Speaker 00

  If the investigation into William's disappearance had exposed anything, it was just how many sex offenders had chosen the quiet life of the mid-north coast to call home. But whitegood repairman Bill Spedding was not a convicted sex offender.

• 31:35Speaker 00

  Although he remained a person of interest in the William Tyrrell investigation, by 2018, nothing further had been uncovered to link him to the crime. In March that year, Spedding faced trial for the 1987 child sexual assault charges against him. The woman at the center of the allegations was Spedding's ex-wife. She was unable to provide any compelling evidence for the claims, saying she had lost crucial files.

• 32:05Speaker 00

  On the stand, Speddings’ two alleged victims were reluctant. As grown adults, they admitted they had no memory of the abuse ever taking place. Had it occurred, Speddings’ legal team suggested it was possible that the real abuser could have been their uncle. He was a convicted paedophile and murderer, who had been living with them around the time the alleged abuse was said to have taken place.

• 32:34Speaker 00

  The judge ultimately threw the case against Bill Speddings out, declaring it was based on claims that had already been disproven decades earlier, and she ordered that legal fees be paid in his favour. In turn, Speddings had ordered defamation claim out of court with the Daily Telegraph newspaper, after they incorrectly referred to him as a “convicted paedophile”. Although police had gathered no further evidence to link Speddings to William Tyrrell’s disappearance, he remained on their list of persons of interest regardless.

• 33:11Speaker 00

  By mid-2018, the case was approaching its four-year anniversary with no major breakthroughs, and the New South Wales Police were starting to come under fire. The decision was made to refer the case to the coroner for a formal inquest. Police told reporters that an inquest would give them an opportunity to test information and evidence gathered by strike force Rosanne, and allow them to further the investigation. If nothing else, it would formally solidify that William’s disappearance was the result of human intervention, and provide another step in getting answers for his loved ones.

• 33:52Speaker 00

  However, it also came with a downside. Unless the coroner recommended that charges be laid against a particular individual and referred the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions, William’s case would inevitably go to the unsolved homicide unit, where police resources were already stretched thin.

• 34:14Speaker 00

  In conjunction with the inquest, police announced that a new major search would be conducted of the bushland behind Benaroon Drive. Unlike the initial search, which was focused on finding a lost child, this would be a forensic search of a three-kilometre radius focused on finding evidence such as human remains or clothing. The aim was to rule out with forensic certainty that William hadn’t gotten lost in the bush and died. The search went ahead on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, led by officers from the Public Order and Riot Squad. For four weeks, they scoured the rugged bushland, digging through leaf litter as GPS trackers

• 34:59Speaker 00

  recorded their every movement. Various items were uncovered, but nothing that could be linked to William Tyrrell. As police began the monumental task of putting a brief of evidence together for the coroner, it was revealed that someone on the strike force had spoken out about Detective Gary Jubelin’s decision to record his conversations with Mary’s neighbour, Paul Savage, without a warrant. In doing so, Jubelin had breached the Surveillance Devices Act, a criminal offence that carried a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

• 35:39Speaker 00

  Jubelin was given four charges and handed a legal document advising he was no longer allowed to speak to members of the strike force or to William Tyrrell’s family. With the inquest about to begin, this was a major blow. Detective Jubelin had been leading William’s homicide investigation for almost four years, and he knew the case better than anyone. He’d also formed a close relationship with William’s foster parents, and they relied on him for support. Detective Jubelin fought to continue working on the case, even if it was only in an advisory capacity.

• 36:20Speaker 00

  To the great disappointment of Peter and Angela, his request was denied. Feeling as though he had little choice, Jubelin resigned from the police force as he awaited trial for the charges against him, which he intended to strongly defend.

• 36:38Speaker 00

  At Gary Jubelin’s two-week hearing, his defence barrister claimed he had both a lawful right and an operational need to record his conversations with Savage to protect himself against any future complaints that the man might make. She argued that Jubelin was entitled to a degree of leniency due to his exemplary public service, calling this “an exceptional case about an exceptional man”. Several high-profile and well-respected figures within law enforcement testified on behalf of Jubelin’s strong character and professional work ethic, with some labelling him “the best cop in New South Wales”.

• 37:20Speaker 00

  William’s foster parents were among his supporters. Angela teared up as she spoke of the connection her family had made with Gary Jubelin and how the investigation into William’s disappearance had suffered since his absence. The prosecution argued that a potential future complaint could not be considered a lawful interest to justify recording without a warrant. Jubelin was ultimately found guilty of four counts of breaching the Surveillance Devices Act and given a $10,000 fine. The sentencing magistrate criticised Jubelin’s constant pursuit of Paul Savage, accusing

• 38:00Speaker 00

  him of belittling and humiliating the elderly man with no evidence, leads or witnesses to suggest he had anything to do with William’s disappearance. Jubelin appealed against the conviction, saying he’d rather go to jail than pay to do police work, but he lost the appeal. Speaking to reporters outside court, Jubelin said: “I’m obviously disappointed by the decision of the court. The court says that I went too hard to find out what happened to William Tyrrell. I couldn’t live with myself if I did anything less, so I stand by what I did.”

• 38:44Speaker 00

  While all this was going on, Kendal man Ray Porter's health was failing. Ray was the friend of Frank Abbott's who drove an old white station wagon similar to the one Angela claimed to have seen on Benaroon Drive on the morning of William's disappearance. In early 2019, Ray was living in an aged care facility and didn't have long to live. Wanting to get something off his chest, he struck up a conversation with a nurse named Kirsten. Ray trusted Kirsten because he thought she had an honest face. He allegedly told her that on Friday, September 12, 2014,

• 39:27Speaker 00

  he drove to pick up his best mate from a shed behind Kendal's school. When he got there, his mate had a "cute little boy" with him.

• 39:40Speaker 00

  Ray claimed he had driven his friend and the boy 300 kilometres north.

• 39:47Speaker 00

  Kirsten asked if the boy was William Tyrrell. Ray allegedly responded: "Yes."

• 39:56Speaker 00

  Ray never told Kirsten his friend's name, but he had only ever spoken of having two friends, one of whom was named Frank. By this point, Frank Abbott had been sentenced to 16 years in prison for 10 counts of child sex offences committed against two young boys and a girl. When Ray passed away shortly after this supposed confession, his sister-in-law was going through his possessions when she found a letter that had been sent from prison.

• 40:29Speaker 00

  It provided instructions for Ray to pick up a boat and move it to the house of a female friend. Ray's sister-in-law disposed of the letter, but remembered with clarity that it was signed: "From your good friend, Frank."

• 40:47Speaker 00

  From prison, Frank Abbott's phone calls were being recorded. During one conversation, Abbott told a friend that two people were involved in taking William. He didn't want to say the names over the phone, so he asked his friend to come and visit so he could give him the information in writing.

• 41:09Speaker 00

  The friend obliged, and as promised, Abbott handed over a note with two names written on it. After the visit, Abbott's friend took the note directly to the police.

• 41:23Speaker 00

  For reasons unknown, they did not publicly reveal the names of the individuals Abbott implicated, nor did they disclose the extent of their investigations into them.

• 41:39Speaker 00

  As the inquest into William Tyrrell's disappearance grew closer, there still hadn't been any arrests in relation to his case.

• 41:49Speaker 00

  Every possible theory about William's fate had been discussed by investigators, web sleuths, and curious members of the public. They ranged from the optimistic, that William had been abducted and raised by a loving couple who were desperate for children, to the outlandish, that William had been abducted by aliens or fell victim to a yaoi, the Australian equivalent of Bigfoot.

• 42:16Speaker 00

  The inquest aimed to clear things up once and for all. By the time the strike force put together their brief of evidence for the coroner, investigators had interviewed 263 local residents, retrieved CCTV footage from 181 locations around Kendall and beyond, and received over 2,000 reports of sightings of William from Australia and overseas.

• 42:45Speaker 00

  When the inquest commenced in March 2019, the courts clarified that Paul Savage was no longer being considered a person of interest. The inquest, which was scheduled to be held in several instalments, began by establishing William’s family situation. William’s biological father, Tyler Martin, made no attempt to hide his disdain for the Department of Family and Community Services. He told the court that the authorities had failed by placing William in foster care, remarking:

• 43:20Speaker 00

  “The minister had a duty of care to keep William safe until he was 18. That was not the case at all.”

• 43:29Speaker 00

  He expressed disappointment about the way William had been treated by Peter and Angela, telling the court: “I don’t think the foster mother and father really care about the kids, as they aren’t their kids. They don’t love them like we do.”

• 43:47Speaker 00

  One of the most compelling pieces of evidence in William’s case was the now infamous photograph his foster mother Angela had taken less than an hour before his disappearance.

• 43:59Speaker 00

  The seemingly innocuous image of William in his Spider-Man costume, looking up at the camera with his mouth agape, mimicking a lion’s roar, served as proof of life and helped establish the timeline of the morning he went missing.

• 44:14Speaker 00

  It had also provided an exact description of what the young boy was wearing at the time. However, during the inquest, a shocking allegation surfaced regarding the photo.

• 44:28Speaker 00

  Metadata in Angela’s digital camera showed that the photo had been taken at 9:37 a.m. on Friday, September 12, 2014. However, the brief of evidence revealed that the timestamp had been altered, with the original photo having been taken at 7:39 a.m.

• 44:49Speaker 00

  When presented with this evidence, William’s foster parents vehemently denied having altered the timestamps in any way.

• 44:58Speaker 00

  But those critical of the Foster family weren't satisfied. If the photo had been taken at 7:39am, they wondered what happened in those unaccounted-for 118 minutes between the time the photo was taken and when the timestamp was altered. Angela's explanation was that she didn't set the clock correctly when she originally purchased the camera. It was a simple enough reason, but the skeptics weren't buying it. Some wondered if the Foster family could have been involved in William's disappearance and had altered the timestamp to cover their tracks.

• 45:41Speaker 00

  The coroner ordered the police to conduct an urgent probe into those unexplained missing minutes. Sifting through the content on the camera, examiners discovered another photo that had been taken 11 days prior to William's disappearance.

• 45:58Speaker 00

  A television in the background had captured the live broadcast of a morning news programme, which featured an on-screen clock. The time displayed was 118 minutes earlier than that shown by the camera's timestamp, proving Angela's assertion that she simply hadn't ever set the camera's inbuilt clock to begin with.

• 46:23Speaker 00

  But some questions were also raised about other details Angela had provided, including the dark-coloured sedan she claimed to have seen momentarily pull into a neighbour's driveway on the morning William went missing.

• 46:38Speaker 00

  When first questioned by police, Angela said she didn't get a look at the occupant. In an interview with Detective Jubelin years later, Angela described the driver as "an older gentleman with grey hair". When asked if there was anything in particular that drew her attention to the car or its driver, Angela had responded: "If I think about it, he didn't look over. He just kept driving straight ahead."

• 47:08Speaker 00

  At the inquest, her story changed significantly. Angela said she got a very clear view of the driver, describing him as a large man who appeared to be aged in his 50s, with a thick neck, beer belly, weathered skin, and thinning red hair.

• 47:27Speaker 00

  Angela testified that the two had locked eyes, and the man gave her a challenging stare, as if to say, "I'm watching you."

• 47:37Speaker 00

  Despite police efforts, they'd never been able to verify this sighting or track down the vehicle. The same went for the white station wagon and grey sedan Angela claimed had been parked oddly on Benaroon Drive that morning. Some found it hard to believe that Angela hadn't remembered this detail straight away, and had only come forward with the information two days later. The only other person who recalled seeing any cars matching this description in Candle was Mary's neighbour, Paul Savage. He'd told police he'd seen the cars too, but not on the day of William's disappearance, but two days prior, before William's family were in Candle.

• 48:24Speaker 00

  A forensic psychologist who specialised in memory, Dr Helen Patterson, was called to give evidence. She told the court it was possible that Angela had unintentionally created a false memory. Dr Patterson explained that information learned after an event has the potential to distort future versions of the event. So it was possible that Angela had seen the vehicles at a different time, but then mistakenly attributed the memory to the morning that William went missing.

• 48:59Speaker 00

  The same went for Ronald Chapman, the man who claimed to have seen a four-wheel drive speeding off through Kendall with an unrestrained boy matching William's description in the back seat and a woman behind the wheel. Over time, Ronald had added extra details to his original story, including that the boy he saw was wearing a cape. Dr Patterson said it was possible that Ronald was incorporating information that came to light after the event, such as news reports, into reconstruction of his own memory. If this was the case, Dr Patterson clarified that both witnesses were still acting in good faith, explaining:

• 49:42Speaker 00

  “There are ways that people can report information that is not true, but they are not lying.”

• 49:53Speaker 00

  One of the first aspects that the inquest focused on was white goods repairman Bill Spedding’s possible involvement in William’s abduction. It quickly became apparent that all wasn’t as it had appeared in the trial by media. Spedding had always maintained that on the morning William went missing, he and his wife had dined at a café before attending their grandson’s school assembly. Police had a bank statement that confirmed the café visit, and it turned out that there were some witnesses who could attest to his alibi, with at least one parent testifying to seeing Spedding at the assembly. Spedding’s work records also confirmed that the replacement part for Mary’s washing

• 50:38Speaker 00

  machine still hadn’t arrived by Friday, September 12, giving him no reason to visit Benaroon Drive that morning.

• 50:47Speaker 00

  Police had previously accused Bill Spedding of deleting a voicemail from Angela off his phone. Spedding’s legal team had his phone records examined by an expert, who found that Spedding had been on another call when the call from Angela came in.

• 51:05Speaker 00

  Because of this, the voicemail was never recorded on his handset. The legal team accused the police of using this erroneous detail against Spedding during their interrogation of him, rather than having his phone records thoroughly checked themselves. Had they done so, it would have eliminated one of the major pieces of information they were holding over him. As for Dean Pollard, the witness who claimed to have seen Bill Spedding's work van speeding down Ghost Road on the day after William vanished, it was suggested that he made the sighting up with malicious intent. It was known that Dean didn't like Spedding.

• 51:49Speaker 00

  At the inquest, Dean denied saying he saw Spedding's car near Ghost Road on the day after William went missing. He stated: "I didn't say it was Bill's van. I said it was the same colour as Bill's van."

• 52:06Speaker 00

  Furthermore, video footage proved that Spedding was exactly where he'd always claimed to be that day, at the local footy club celebrating the end of season with a beer.

• 52:19Speaker 00

  With all this evidence brought to light at the inquest, it was clear that police had targeted the wrong man. Bill Spedding was ruled out as a person of interest. Outside court, he told reporters: "I know what I've been through is nothing compared to what William's family are going through now. I wish the coroner all wisdom in getting to the bottom of this mystery."

• 52:46Speaker 00

  Former case detective Gary Jubelin maintained that police made the right decision to investigate Bill Spedding. He told ABC's Four Corners programme that while he regretted that things had played out so publicly, "The decisions that were made at the time were the decisions that had to be made, and I'm comfortable with that."

• 53:10Speaker 00

  Speddings life was turned upside down from the negative publicity against him. His business failed and he and his wife were subject to ongoing scrutiny from the community and greater public. The public accusations had even led to violence. A stranger had once recognised Speddings outside of a restaurant and grabbed him by the throat. The Speddings had been forced to move, but their new neighbours were anything but welcoming. One parent sternly warned Speddings not to use his phone in his front yard in case he was filming her children. She also advised him against stepping outside his house or opening his blinds if her children

• 53:55Speaker 00

  were playing out in the street.

• 53:59Speaker 00

  Speddings eventually went on to sue the New South Wales Police for malicious prosecution in relation to the historical child sex abuse allegations, arguing that the charges had only been placed to pressure him into giving evidence about William Tyrrell's whereabouts. He also sought damages for false imprisonment, loss of reputation, and four years of psychological counselling that he'd undergone in relation to the ordeal. Speddings ultimately won the lawsuit and was awarded $1.5 million in damages, with his lawyer labelling it “the worst police prosecution Australia had ever seen”. His wife told Four Corners:

• 54:44Speaker 00

  “I’d like to hear the police apologise to him for what they put him through, but I don’t know whether he’ll get that, because they told him they were going to ruin him, and they did.”

• 55:00Speaker 00

  By March 2020, the inquest into William Tyrrell’s disappearance reached its second year, when shocking testimony was delivered by two witnesses. One was a woman who operated as an emergency foster carer by taking at-risk children into her home. She told the court that in 2017, she was hosting two young brothers aged seven and 10, who were given the pseudonyms of Jeffrey and Matthew.

• 55:29Speaker 00

  One afternoon, the woman's teenage daughter was babysitting for the boys when Jeffrey allegedly turned to her and said, "I know who took William Tyrrell."

• 55:41Speaker 00

  The comment shocked the teenager as it seemingly came out of nowhere. As Jeffrey spoke, Matthew looked at him in wide-eyed fear. He warned his brother to stop talking, but Jeffrey continued. He claimed that William was dead and had been stuffed into a suitcase. As for the person who killed him, it was Frank Abbott.

• 56:09Speaker 00

  Jeffrey and Matthew were survivors of Abbott's sexual abuse, the same crimes he was serving time in prison for. The teenager told her mother about the boy's revelation, and she questioned the brothers further. She asked why Matthew was so adamant that Jeffrey keep this secret. Matthew said that Abbott had threatened that he would snap their mother's neck if they told anyone. Both boys were utterly petrified.

• 56:42Speaker 00

  When these testimonies were delivered to the court, William's foster mother Angela became visibly upset. Since the beginning of the inquest, she and Peter had openly criticised the police handling of the case. They claimed there hadn't been a proper handover after Gary Jubelin was removed from the strike force, and that the police had seemed indifferent about the investigation ever since.

• 57:10Speaker 00

  According to author Ali Chumley, after hearing the allegation that Frank Abbott had killed William, Angela appeared to be somewhat relieved. In her book, Searching for Spider-Man, Ali wrote, "I sensed she had accepted that this was indeed what had happened to her little boy. It seemed we now had two separate confessions that implicated Abbott, one from an old mate on his deathbed, and the other from a terrified child. On the face of it, neither had any reason to lie."

• 57:47Speaker 00

  After this harrowing testimony, the coroner announced that they would be hearing from a final witness in a closed court session. The final pieces of evidence were due to be presented in mid-March 2020, but just days before the scheduled date, the inquest was adjourned indefinitely due to the Covid-19 global pandemic. The coroner said: “I’m so sorry the world has done this. There’s still work to be done. There’s nothing in relation to this matter which I consider to be a cold case.” Likewise, police assured that the investigation would be ongoing.

• 58:32Speaker 00

  In June 2020, they conducted a second search of the log dump site in Logan’s Crossing that had previously been pinpointed by Frank Abbott. As officers scoured the site, they noticed something odd. Black electrical tape had been wrapped around the trunk of a tree and the ground underneath looked particularly lumpy. The area was examined and several items of interest were found, but nothing that related to William Tyrrell. By the time the inquest resumed in early October 2020, William’s foster-grandmother, Mary Saunders, had passed away.

• 59:15Speaker 00

  William’s biological father, Tyler Martin, was being treated in a mental health facility and was unable to attend the hearing. Speaking on his behalf, Tyler’s lawyer said: “Imagine having your son taken away and doing everything to try and get him back, only for him to go missing. William’s father hasn’t been the same since he disappeared. In a way, two sons have been lost.”

• 59:45Speaker 00

  William's biological parents had suffered immeasurably in the years since William went missing. In addition to losing their son twice, first to the foster system and then to the unknown, they had been subjected to intense media scrutiny and public abuse, with some going as far as throwing eggs at their home. A statement read in court on their behalf said: Because of some of the media, the world is blaming us. We have had six years of pain and broken promises. We are grieving, and we have been grieving for six years.

• 1:00:28Speaker 00

  We are angry and frustrated, and we want answers. Life will never be the same again. Living without answers makes things so much harder. William's foster family also spoke of how difficult their lives had been since William went missing. Not only had they lost the little boy that they loved so dearly, but they'd been the victims of online trolls and ongoing harassment. Complete strangers convinced of their guilt had degraded their privacy, stalking their home and encouraging others to do the same. Photographs had been taken of them without their permission, and serious threats had

• 1:01:11Speaker 00

  been made against their lives. Peter spoke of their ongoing anguish, saying their hearts had been split into a million pieces. Angela said her arms still ached to hold William, stating: Our world and the contented life we knew collapsed around us. It's hard to understand how the sun could continue to shine.

• 1:01:38Speaker 00

  Peter and Angela also voiced their discontentment about the way the investigation was going since Detective Jubelin had been removed from it. Not only did they feel they'd been treated coldly ever since, they were deeply disappointed when it was revealed in court that there were only five investigators currently working on the strike force.

• 1:02:01Speaker 00

  "Today, we are at the same point we were when the investigation began six years ago", they told the court. "How can the investigation into a missing three-year-old boy have its resources so significantly reduced when there is so much more information that needs to be examined? Every day, this heinous crime remains unsolved. The perpetrators remain at large and are capable of committing other monstrous crimes against children. No other family should ever feel the need they have to fight tooth and nail for those people in leadership positions to take notice."

• 1:02:41Speaker 00

  By this point, the inquest had been running for eighteen months. The coroner was left to review all the evidence presented before handing down her findings nine months later in June 2021. Many were critical about the inquest. Despite being one of the longest-running in New South Wales' history and costing a significant amount to the taxpayers, it didn't seem to have brought any answers. The allegations against Frank Abbott were compelling, but no physical evidence had been uncovered to implicate him or any other person of interest in William's disappearance. Abbott had appeared at the inquest via video link from jail

• 1:03:24Speaker 00

  and was allowed to question witnesses about any allegations made against him, but he was never questioned himself. The reason why is unknown, as the coroner ordered that her decision not to do so be withheld from the public.

• 1:03:43Speaker 00

  The general consensus was that the coroner would deliver an open finding, meaning that she'd confirmed that William was dead, but with no clarity about how he had died. This led some to question whether it was worth it to put William's loved ones through all the pain and discomfort of the inquest at all. Then came the breaking news that no one saw coming.

• 1:04:18Speaker 00

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• 1:06:21Speaker 00

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• 1:06:37Speaker 00

  In mid-2021, it was announced that the coroner's findings would be delayed indefinitely, with no further explanation given. Then in November that same year, police held a press conference to announce that they would be returning to Kendall to conduct several new searches based on further information that had come to light. They said the searches were not speculative, but were being conducted at three different locations in conjunction with evidence obtained during the course of the Strike Force investigation, as well as coronial orders. According to the police minister, a number of people had been providing intelligence and working with the police, which had led to new developments.

• 1:07:24Speaker 00

  Various news outlets subsequently reported that the police were focusing on a new suspect who had previously been ruled out, a claim the police would not officially confirm or deny. William's foster parents called this "fake news". They released a statement saying... Once again, we are forced to watch others objectify William for personal gain. Time and time again, we've watched people lose sight of the tragic reality that William was a precious, innocent little boy who was taken from those he loved and who love him deeply, forgetting that there is a heartbroken family waiting in hope that William will be found.

• 1:08:08Speaker 00

  To publish unverified claims without consideration to the hurt that articles of this nature cause is disrespectful and devastating to everyone who knows and loves William.

• 1:08:22Speaker 00

  But those reports turned out to be true. The strike force had been focusing on one particular individual: William's foster mother, Angela.

• 1:08:34Speaker 00

  Bolstered by inconsistencies in her story, the police had been conducting surveillance of William's foster parents for some time.

• 1:08:43Speaker 00

  During one covertly-recorded phone conversation, Angela had made an interesting comment to a friend. She'd remarked that William's skeleton would be found in “30, 40, 50 years’ time”, or 200 years, when they had done clearing.

• 1:09:02Speaker 00

  Police were particularly interested in this comment because of something Angela had told them three days into William's disappearance. She said that before calling emergency services to report William missing, she had driven her mother's car, a grey Mazda, about a kilometre down the road in case William had wandered off. The coroner had pressed Angela about this detail at the inquest. Angela said that she’d driven down Benaroon Drive before turning right onto Batar Creek Road. She drove along slowly with her windows down before pulling up on the verge outside the old horse-riding school on the corner of Cobb and Co Road to let a truck pass.

• 1:09:47Speaker 00

  Angela said she looked out for any sign of William's Spider-Man suit among the surrounding greenery, but all she saw was bushland.

• 1:09:58Speaker 00

  Police were curious as to why Angela only disclosed this detail a few days after William went missing. Then, there was the ongoing question about whether or not Angela had really seen two cars parked oddly on Benaroon Drive. It had taken her days to report this sighting too, and given that no one else had seen the cars that morning, there was increasing suspicion that Angela could have created this detail to cover up something that she herself had done.

• 1:10:33Speaker 00

  Despite being cleared by former case detective Gary Jubelin and his predecessor, the current strike force had been working on the theory that William had died after accidentally falling from Mary Saunders' front balcony. They suspected that Angela could have panicked upon finding his body, fearing that his death would mean she'd lose custody of Lindsay. She could have quickly bundled William into her mother's car and drove him to Batalk Creek Road, where she disposed of his body in the thick undergrowth. Mary's Mazda was the only other car at the property at the time, and it had not been searched by police.

• 1:11:16Speaker 00

  If the strike force had any evidence to support this theory, they kept it to themselves. Publicly, Angela had never swayed from her story about William wandering off and seemingly disappearing into thin air. Over the years, she'd worked hard to draw attention to the case and had publicly criticised the police when she felt they weren't doing enough to find her foster son. She had made emotional heartfelt pleas for anyone with information to come forward and had spoken openly about how difficult life had been for her and her family since William vanished. If there was any truth to the new police theory, many agreed that Angela had done an incredible job of hiding it.

• 1:12:03Speaker 00

  An investigation was opened by the New South Wales Crime Commission, a highly secretive criminal intelligence organisation. The government-run body holds extensive powers and can hold hearings and supply evidence obtained during its investigations to various other courts and agencies.

• 1:12:24Speaker 00

  Such hearings are often a last-ditch attempt to get reluctant witnesses or persons of interest to provide information. Although these hearings are only inquisitorial in nature, individuals are compelled to provide testimony. If they refuse, they can be charged with contempt of court. If they lie while giving testimony, they face a perjury charge.

• 1:12:51Speaker 00

  Police visited Angela at her home in Sydney and summoned her to appear at a Crime Commission hearing. One of the officers urged her to come forward with the truth. "You will have to live with it", he said. "Today's the day you make a decision for William." "We understand decisions have been made for different people for different reasons." "We aren't guessing, we aren't bluffing." "We know how, we know why, we know where he is."

• 1:13:26Speaker 00

  In November 2021, Angela was subject to two days of intense questioning at the Crime Commission hearing. As she sat before the panel, the police theory was put directly to her for the first time. Angela repeatedly denied the allegations, crying and yelling out: "No, no, no!" Asked why she had gone for the drive down Bata Creek Road before calling emergency services, Angela said she couldn't explain why. She said she thought William might have walked off and her husband might have picked him up. "It's a panic. All I could think was, I don't know. I panicked.

• 1:14:10Speaker 00

  'Where is he? I don't know where he is', Angela told the commission."

• 1:14:16Speaker 00

  I don't know what I was thinking. All I could think about was, I have to find him. I can't give you an answer to that. I remember driving, I remember stopping, I remember thinking I can't see him. This is silly, so I went back.

• 1:14:35Speaker 00

  Angela was then told that the purpose of the upcoming searches in Candle was to look for evidence to support the police theory. Asked if the police could expect to find William's body during these searches, Angela replied: "No, I didn't take him anywhere. I didn't touch him." "If you want to dig up that entire house at Mum's, dig it up."

• 1:15:05Speaker 00

  On Monday, November fifteen, twenty twenty-one, hundreds of police officers and specialists descended on Candle. Mary Saunders' old Mazda was also seized from its new owners at a Sydney property and taken for forensic examination.

• 1:15:23Speaker 00

  The police cut no corners as they searched Mary's former home on Benaroon Drive, which had been sold to new owners years prior. The front garden under the balcony was extensively dug up, with officers putting every shovel of soil through a sifter and sorting through the rubble by hand. Luminol tests were conducted for any evidence of blood, while cadaver dogs searched the yard and underneath the house, and cameras were put into the septic tank.

• 1:15:55Speaker 00

  Ground penetrating radar was also brought in to test the concrete slab under the home that had been installed in the years since William went missing. News crews captured footage as officers bagged numerous items and took them off-site for further testing.

• 1:16:13Speaker 00

  The bushland on Batar Creek Road where police suspected Angela could have dumped William's body was densely vegetated and overgrown. Machinery was brought in to clear an area the size of three football fields while water was drained from the nearby creek. For weeks, the team searched through over fifteen tonnes of soil, sediment and leaf litter by hand, looking for anything not naturally occurring in the bushland. Police divers searched nearby dams, using their hands to claw through the mud along the bottom. The search efforts were hampered by wild wind and rain, but one detective said they were leaving no stone unturned.

• 1:16:58Speaker 00

  “It's painstaking, it's difficult,” he told reporters. “We're very happy with the progress so far, but we've got no great milestone to report.” If anything of interest was found during these three searches, police didn't say, and no charges were laid as a result. However, something else had been going on behind the scenes. It turned out that listening devices installed in Peter and Angela's home as part of Strike Force Roseanne had allegedly captured something startling. Angela was apparently overheard assaulting another foster child in her care, the identity

• 1:17:41Speaker 00

  of whom is unable to be revealed. According to the police, in October 2021, Angela had been attempting to intervene in the child's problematic behaviour, which had been the source of several arguments between herself and her husband as they discussed how to handle the situation. Audio revealed that on separate occasions Angela had kicked the child in the thigh and hit her with a wooden spoon. She also allegedly threatened the child numerous times, once warning: “I'm going to slap you across the face, do you want to do that?” Another time Angela said:

• 1:18:23Speaker 00

  “If I see or hear you throw something around again, that won't be the only thing that gets thrown around. You only seem to listen when I threaten to get violent.” She also ordered the child to wash their own clothes, saying they smelt putrid, and told them, quote, "Not to act like a homeless person."

• 1:18:46Speaker 00

  Phone taps captured Angela telling Peter that she had kicked the child. "Did you kick her hard?" he asked. "Yeah," Angela responded. "I can't believe I did that." Later on, Angela told Peter that she had hit the child really hard with that wooden spoon. She remarked that the child would have a massive welt on her leg, stating, "She didn't even cry."

• 1:19:16Speaker 00

  One morning, Peter was recorded yelling at the crying child to get ready for school. As they got into the car, he admonished them for not closing the front door, yelling, "Every fucking day." Peter continued yelling and swearing at the sobbing child throughout the drive, at one point reportedly calling them a, quote, "Stupid little shit." His voice was so loud that it caused the recording device to distort. As a result of these recordings, the child was subsequently removed from their care and interviewed by the police in the presence of a support worker.

• 1:19:58Speaker 00

  She allegedly confessed that Peter had once put his hands around her neck, saying he had mental health and anger management issues.

• 1:20:09Speaker 00

  Peter and Angela had both been questioned about these incidents during the secret Crime Commission hearings. Under oath, Angela admitted to having hit and kicked the child, but she denied having ever hit her with a wooden spoon. Despite having recorded conversations in which they discussed these events, Peter denied that his wife had ever hit or kicked another child in their care.

• 1:20:35Speaker 00

  As a result of the audio recordings, Angela and Peter were both charged with assault of a child as well as stalking and intimidation of a child. For their Crime Commission testimony, they were both also charged with knowingly giving false or misleading information.

• 1:20:56Speaker 00

  When the suppression order was lifted on these allegations, the police clarified that they didn't believe Angela or Peter had mistreated William Tyrrell while he was in their care, and that these charges had no connection to his disappearance. Nonetheless, public speculation began to circulate. According to author Ali Chumley, records kept by social workers said that Angela had expressed some concerns about William's challenging behaviours. At times, he could be oppositional, unsettled, boisterous and defiant. He was a troubled sleeper who often fought with his older sister, sometimes biting and hitting her.

• 1:21:40Speaker 00

  While William had formed an immediate connection with his foster father, he'd been slower to warm to Angela. As their relationship improved, he became clingy and required constant reassurance and attention. Such behaviour was not unusual for kids in foster care, but Angela admitted to social workers that she was struggling. She had sought professional help for some of William's more challenging behaviours, but continued to second-guess her parenting strategies. About a month before William went missing, his foster parents took him to the hospital with a black eye, saying he had fallen against a table.

• 1:22:23Speaker 00

  William's biological parents had seen the black eye at a subsequent supervised visit, their last, before William went missing. Amy Tyrrell spoke about it at the inquest, saying she'd also noticed that William had appeared to be a bit too skinny. "It's hard because I don't know the carers," Amy had testified. "I don't know where they live, and I never get to see them. I don't want to come across as though I am blaming them or being mean, but it's just been really hard."

• 1:22:57Speaker 00

  However, Amy had been wary of the care William had been receiving since the beginning. In her 2017 interview with the Channel 7's Sunday Night Programme, Amy had told presenter Melissa Doyle in previously unheared footage that William showed up for their supervised visits with bruises, a snotty nose, and inappropriately dressed for the weather. She claimed his motor skills deteriorated once he was placed into care and that she'd written letters to the authorities saying William would be better off with her. Nothing in any of the caseworkers' notes supported any allegations of wrongdoing on the foster parents' behalf.

• 1:23:41Speaker 00

  Department of Family and Community Services staff, childcare workers, and family friends had nothing but good things to say about Peter and Angela and their treatment of William. One childcare educator had even described Angela to the police as "the perfect parent".

• 1:24:01Speaker 00

  In September 2023, Peter and Angela appeared in the Parramatta Local Court to face the child abuse charges against them. For kicking and hitting the child in their care with a wooden spoon, 58-year-old Angela pleaded guilty to two counts of assault. However, she pleaded not guilty to two counts of intimidation against the same child for threatening to slap them. For allegedly placing his hands around the child's neck, Peter pleaded not guilty to one count of common assault. He claimed he'd only ever put his hands on the child's shoulders while giving them a time out. For berating the crying child on the drive to school,

• 1:24:45Speaker 00

  he pleaded not guilty to one count of intimidation.

• 1:24:50Speaker 00

  Over the five-day hearing, the defence teams argued that the incidents had occurred during a time of significant stress, both emotionally and financially, which was exacerbated by the ongoing trauma of William’s disappearance.

• 1:25:06Speaker 00

  Various audio recordings were played to the court in which the couple discussed the pressure Angela was under, both in managing the child’s behaviour and becoming the focus of the Strike Force investigation.

• 1:25:20Speaker 00

  In the recordings, Angela admitted she wasn’t coping, and Peter expressed his concern, saying: “I’ve never seen you like this.”

• 1:25:31Speaker 00

  The defence said the couple had shown great remorse for their actions and were unlikely to re-offend, factors they believed should result in non-convictions.

• 1:25:43Speaker 00

  Peter’s assault charge was ultimately thrown out, as the judge found that the level of physical force he’d used on the child constituted lawful correction. The child had also told the police that Peter had never hurt them.

• 1:25:59Speaker 00

  For berating the sobbing child in the car, she found Peter guilty of one count of intimidation, calling his conduct unacceptable and unlawful.

• 1:26:10Speaker 00

  For threatening to slap the child on two occasions, the judge found Angela guilty of two counts of intimidation. She accepted that the couple had been under significant stress and that they had shown genuine remorse.

• 1:26:26Speaker 00

  Describing Angela as an admired foster parent, the judge stated: “It has been a difficult sentencing process, because there are so many competing factors to weigh up here.”

• 1:26:40Speaker 00

  She ultimately convicted both Peter and Angela, and gave them both 12-month good behaviour bonds.

• 1:26:50Speaker 00

  The charges for knowingly giving false or misleading information during the Crime Commission were dealt with separately by Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court. The presiding magistrate dismissed all five charges against Peter, citing the substantial ambiguity of the questions that he had been presented with during the Crime Commission hearing. The counsel assisting had asked Peter if his wife had harmed the child in recent times. They had also asked if he recalled if she had kicked the child. Peter had answered “no” each time. The magistrate reasoned that Peter wasn’t given a clear definition of the word “harm”

• 1:27:33Speaker 00

  or “recent times”, and therefore it couldn’t be proven that he’d been deliberately lying. It was also possible that he’d forgotten the incident. The charges against Angela were also dropped. Although the covert recordings had captured her hitting the child with a wooden spoon and telling Peter about it later, the magistrate said she couldn’t discount the possibility that Angela had simply been mistaken when telling the Crime Commission that she’d never done such a thing. During that hearing, Angela had admitted to hitting and kicking the child in her care, but denied the wooden spoon incident.

• 1:28:14Speaker 00

  The magistrate said she might have taken a different view if Angela had denied those allegations, and acknowledged the intense pressure Angela had been under at the time. Angela became emotional as she was cleared of the charges. Former Tyrrell case detective Gary Jubelin was present and gave her a hug. He continued to stand by his belief that the foster parents had nothing to do with William’s disappearance, and that he’d been right to clear them from the investigation. Outside court, a teary Angela told reporters: “With this behind me, I hope that police focus on finding William and what happened to him.”

• 1:29:03Speaker 00

  By the time Peter and Angela had dealt with all the unrelated charges against them, the public were well aware of the prevailing police theory that Angela had buried William’s body after a fatal fall from her mother’s balcony.

• 1:29:18Speaker 00

  In June 2023, New South Wales Police handed a brief of evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions recommending that Angela be charged with interference with a corpse and perverting the course of justice.

• 1:29:32Speaker 00

  They cleared Peter of any involvement, clarifying they did not believe Angela had caused the toddler’s death, but only concealed his body out of fear of losing custody of Lindsay. Angela was not informed of the recommendation before it went public. To the best of her knowledge, police had no evidence to support their theory. Angela’s lawyer demanded that any evidence relating to the claims be disclosed, releasing a statement that said: “To date, William’s body has never been found. The foster mother has always and maintains she has nothing to do with William’s disappearance.”

• 1:30:14Speaker 00

  She desperately urges the police to resume the investigation into finding out what happened to William.

• 1:30:23Speaker 00

  Whether or not the police theory could be true has been discussed at length by journalists and members of the public. Without any evidence to support it, many questions were raised about the police’s proposed timeline.

• 1:30:39Speaker 00

  As pointed out by journalist Dan Box in an exclusive article for news.com.au, the last ever photo of William in his Spider-Man suit was confirmed to have been taken at 9:37am on Friday, September 12, 2014. Angela first alerted a neighbour that William was missing at around 10:40am.

• 1:31:04Speaker 00

  If the police theory was true, this gave Angela a window of just over an hour to realise William was missing and to discover his body. She would have had only a few moments to make the decision not to call for help or alert anyone of his death. She then had to get the keys to her mother's Mazda and carry William's body to the car. While all this was going on, she either had to keep what she was doing a secret from her mother and Lindsay, or tell them what had happened and convince them to agree to her plan.

• 1:31:40Speaker 00

  With William's body in the car, Angela would have then had to drive the two minutes to the corners of Batar Creek Road and Cobb and Co Road and dispose of his body in the thick, almost impenetrable scrub, before racing back home again for her husband's return at 10:33am. Either she quickly brought him in on her conspiracy, or flat-out lied to him.

• 1:32:06Speaker 00

  By the time Angela alerted a neighbour at around 10:40am, she was in the company of someone outside of her family for the rest of the day. This meant she had no other chances to tamper with any evidence or conspire with her family members.

• 1:32:24Speaker 00

  While it was technically possible for Angela to have done all of these things within this short timeframe, skeptics to the police theory have raised several questions.

• 1:32:36Speaker 00

  For one, the area on Batar Creek Road where police suspected Angela could have dumped William's body was in view of the old riding school as well as two other properties. Angela would have had no way of knowing if someone was watching what she was doing. However, just a bit further up the road, the bushland was just as thick but with no properties in sight. Why not dump his body there, where she could be sure there were no witnesses?

• 1:33:08Speaker 00

  William's sister and foster grandmother had always maintained that William disappeared after wandering around the side of the house. So if the police theory was true, how did Angela do all of this without Mary or Lindsay seeing? And why would Angela continue to keep calling for more public attention and police resources towards William's disappearance if she had something to hide? Before being publicly named as a suspect, a reporter had asked Peter and Angela if they would ever stop fighting for William. Angela had resolutely responded: "Never.

• 1:33:49Speaker 00

  If police think they've seen the last of us, big mistake. We will not give up on William and we will not let other people give up on him. He is too important to give up on." In May 2024, the police asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to suspend its consideration of the proposed charges against Angela until after the coronial inquest resumed. The possibility that Angela could have covered up William's accidental death then became the focus of the inquest when it recommenced in early November 2024.

• 1:34:30Speaker 00

  By this point, over five years had passed since the inquest was first opened, and it had been three years since the police first went public with their theory. Anticipation was high in the courts as those gathered waited anxiously to hear what evidence had been gathered to support their suspicions. The general consensus was that the police must have some fresh and compelling evidence to justify their allegations. As Angela arrived at the court, a member of the public hurled abuse at her, using her real name.

• 1:35:07Speaker 00

  The counsel assisting the coroner kicked things off by clarifying there was still no forensic evidence or eyewitnesses to confirm what had happened to William Tyrrell. He reiterated that the police theory was just a theory and the coroner couldn't act on the expressed belief of a police investigator. Over four days, testimony was heard from numerous experts who had been involved in the 2021 search of Mary Saunders' former property and the bushland on Bata Creek Road. It was confirmed that officers had found several pieces of fabric and some animal bones,

• 1:35:48Speaker 00

  but no human remains and nothing directly connected to William Tyrrell. According to a professor in geomorphology, this didn't necessarily mean that William hadn't been buried there. He said it was possible that a child's remains could have been carried away by wild animals, such as a pig or a fox. While one expert told the court she couldn't say for certain whether William's remains would still be present after this long, examples were also given of juvenile bones that had lasted over 100 years in the Australian elements. The video of Angela's Crime Commission hearing was also played to the court.

• 1:36:33Speaker 00

  In it, she was grilled about what she meant when she told her friend on a taped phone call that William's skeleton would be found years down the track when clearing was being done. Angela strongly denied that she meant she knew William had been hidden in the bush. She said she had simply meant that he could be anywhere. On that same call, she had also told her friend she couldn't believe the police were focusing on her, stating: “If I had done anything to William, I wouldn't have tried to cover it up. I would have owned up to it.”

• 1:37:14Speaker 00

  As the hearings started to wrap up, it became clear that the police didn't have any incriminating evidence to present. The coroner rejected their request to reexamine Angela on the stand. Before the final block of hearings could take place, the coroner announced that she was vacating the evidence completely, which meant the upcoming hearings would be cancelled. She called for all parties to provide their written closing submissions and said she would hand down her findings at a later date.

• 1:37:51Speaker 00

  Many have criticised the way the inquest was handled, including the fact that over its five-year duration, not one of the three senior investigators overseeing Strike Force Roseanne were called to give evidence. Criminologist Dr Xanthie Mallett had sat through the inquest and she told the ABC it was time for the police to charge Angela or “leave her alone”. “People have the right to the presumption of innocence and that has been denied in this case via gossip and innuendo for years,” Dr Mallett said. “If there is evidence she was involved, then she should be charged

• 1:38:33Speaker 00

  or police should acknowledge there is insufficient evidence to charge her.”

• 1:38:39Speaker 00

  It was a sentiment shared by many others. Journalist Dan Box had been following the William Tyrrell case since the beginning and had many questions about the way police were handling things. Appearing on Channel 7’s Spotlight programme to discuss the allegations against Angela, Dan said: “If the police want to say that someone is involved in William’s disappearance and if that person is William’s foster mother, they have to be certain that all the other people who might have been involved definitely weren't. They have to actually be able to prove that. And I haven't seen the evidence that they can.”

• 1:39:24Speaker 00

  Former case detective Gary Jubelin agreed. Since the allegations came out against Angela, many have criticised Jubelin’s handling of the case, saying he’d been too close to the Foster family during his time in charge and hadn’t investigated them properly. Jubelin told Spotlight that he stood by everything he did during the four years he ran the investigation. “We ran a covert and overt operation, a fairly intense operation on the Foster mother,” Jubelin said. “There was no evidence of the Foster mother having knowledge of or involvement with William’s disappearance.”

• 1:40:06Speaker 00

  In February 2025, Peter’s conviction for intimidating a child was quashed on appeal, with the judge reasoning that during the court hearing, the child had never actually been asked about the incident or whether they had felt intimidated. He said Peter’s actions were similar to any parent who was, quote, “stressed and using a loud and frustrated tone of voice.” Angela also appealed her intimidation convictions and is scheduled to face an appeal hearing later in 2025.

• 1:40:44Speaker 00

  As of the release of this episode, the inquest findings into William Tyrrell’s disappearance still haven’t been released.

• 1:40:53Speaker 00

  No one has ever been arrested or charged in relation to William’s disappearance, and a case file does not suggest the involvement of anyone mentioned in this episode and acknowledges their presumption of innocence.

• 1:41:07Speaker 00

  Anyone with information about William Tyrrell is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

• 1:41:17Speaker 00

  William's foster mother continues to staunchly maintain her innocence. At the advice of her lawyer, she has not spoken publicly about the case since being named by the police as a suspect. The only statement she has given was to Dan Box for his podcast series on the case titled “Witness: William Tyrrell”. It read: “Just over 10 years ago, my little boy, William Tyrrell, disappeared from my mother’s yard at her house at Kendal. I believe that William was taken. I have no idea who took William or what happened to him.

• 1:41:58Speaker 00

  If he is in fact dead, I have no idea where his little body is. I have no knowledge of or involvement in his disappearance.

• 1:42:10Speaker 00

  Even though William was not my child by birth, I loved William as much as any mother could love her child. I loved him as if he was my child by birth, if not more. 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.

• 1:42:39Speaker 00

  My life with William was happy, fun, and an adventure. Every day was different. Never ever for a moment did I regret becoming a foster mother. We were a family, not the traditional version of a family. It didn’t matter. We were and still are a family, and we connected as one.

• 1:43:03Speaker 00

  For the past five years, the police have done nothing to try to discover who took William and what has happened to him. 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. They have gone to great lengths to blacken my character in the media. 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. It’s challenging to have hope and build plans for the future when our hearts remain shattered and in pieces.

• 1:43:46Speaker 00

  All I can hope for is that some person who knows something comes forward.

• 1:43:53Speaker 00

  Speaking about the allegations against Angela to Spotlight, Dan Bach said: “Part of me actually hopes that the police have got this right. Then that justifies everything they’ve done. That justifies all the attention, all the whispers, the leaks. All of that is justified. But if the police are wrong, and she’s not guilty, and we haven’t seen any evidence that she is, then what damage has been done to that family?”

• 1:44:29Speaker 00

  Whatever the truth, the reality is that when Angela snapped the photographs of William playing on her mother’s deck on the morning of Friday, September 12, 2014, she could never have known how significant they would become. The last photograph ever taken of three-year-old William Tyrrell in his blue-and-red Spider-Man suit roaring at the camera has become etched into Australia’s public psyche.

• 1:44:57Speaker 00

  Even those unfamiliar with the case are likely to recognise the photo. It’s a confronting image as it represents two sides of humanity: the pure innocence of childhood and the potential evil that lurks amongst us.

• 1:45:15Speaker 00

  But William is more than just a missing boy in a superhero costume.

• 1:45:21Speaker 00

  During the coronial inquest into William’s disappearance, an impassioned statement was played to the court from his then-ten-year-old sister, Lindsay.

• 1:45:31Speaker 00

  "In it," she said, "this is my brother we are talking about. In my mind, no one is trying, so I've made the decision to do something about that. I hope this speech today makes you solve the case. If it doesn't, when I'm officially an adult, I will be in the police force, specifically a detective, and I will find my brother and won't give up until he's found."

• 1:46:02Speaker 00

  "Not a day goes past that we don't think about him. He's a loving, kind, sweet boy, who was annoying at times. But the day he disappeared, we lost everything. We lost my innocent brother. He needs to be found. So please help our family, but most of all, me, find our precious William."

• 1:47:03Speaker 03

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