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Prosecutors will decide by the end of January whether to charge William Tyrrell’s adoptive mother with interfering with the missing toddler’s body and perverting the course of justice, a court has heard.
An inquest into the disappearance of Australia’s most famous missing boy – who vanished from his adoptive grandmother’s home on September 12, 2014, aged three – held a brief public hearing on Friday morning.
The court heard the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions’ office had informed the state coroner he had a deadline to decide whether to charge the 58-year-old foster mother.
The DPP will complete the case ahead of two weeks of hearings into William’s disappearance which will resume in March with as-yet-unnamed witnesses.
It was revealed in June this year that Strike Force Rosann detectives had handed a brief to the DPP recommending the foster mother be charged with two offenses relating to William’s disappearance.
The adoptive mother made an appearance at the inquest into the disappearance of little William Tyrrell which briefly resumed on Friday. Archive photo
The adoptive mother has always maintained that she had nothing to do with William’s disappearance.
Counsel assisting Gerard Craddock SC told Deputy State Coroner Harriet Graham that on Friday lawyers assisting the inquest became aware of an issue for notice sent to the DPP by NSW Police.
“We clarify that the request for an opinion has nothing to do with the investigation. (It is) not a coronary reference, it does not come from the lawyers’ assistance team,” he said. he declares.
Coroner Graham said the case should be finalized before the next inquest focus date, February 23, 2024, well ahead of the final tranche of hearings, between March 4 and 15 next year .
Outside court, a lawyer representing the foster parents, Rylie Hahn of Marsdens Lawyers, read a statement saying they were “calling for the disclosure of evidence which police believe forms the basis of a penal procedure”.
“The foster mother maintains she had nothing to do with his disappearance and is calling on police to find him and continue to search for him and for answers about what happened to him.”
The adoptive parents of William Tyrrell made a fine appearance at the inquest on Friday.
William Tyrrell disappeared in September 2014 and an investigation into his disappearance began in 2019.
Convicted pedophile Frank Abbott, who had previously been a witness at the inquest, watched the hearing from Long Bay Prison. The 80-year-old’s walker was hidden in the back of his prison’s video booth.
The inquest, which initially began in March 2019, held several hearings in Sydney and across country NSW, led by counsel assisting the coroner, Gerard Craddock SC.
On Friday, the head of the task force investigating the case William Tyrrell, Strike Force Commander Rosann, Chief Inspector David Laidlaw, and two members of his team, Detective Sergeants Andrew Lonergan and John Marsh, arrived at the Lidcombe coroners complex early.
Soon after, the adoptive parents arrived and quickly slipped into the building.
Pedophile Frank Abbott (above) watched the hearing from Long Bay Prison.
The inquest resumed in early 2020, and again in October 2020, and heard evidence at hearings in Taree, on the NSW mid north coast.
It was thought to have concluded its investigation in October 2021, but police later named William’s adoptive mother as a “person of interest” after she and the adoptive father were summoned before a secret NSW Crime Commission hearing to give evidence on William’s case.
The inquest is examining how three-year-old William disappeared from his adoptive grandmother’s home in Kendall, on the NSW mid-north coast, in September 2014.
William had traveled from Sydney with his adoptive parents, SD and JS, to stay at home and disappeared the following morning, no trace of him ever being found.
The investigation into the disappearance of William Tyrrell resumed briefly on Friday
Above, the house from which William Tyrrell inexplicably disappeared in 2014 in Kendall
Since late 2021, William’s adoptive parents have been charged with a number of alleged offenses against a child who is not William.
A hearing into charges of assault, stalking and intimidation against the couple is expected to conclude early next year after the adoptive mother pleaded guilty to two charges of common assault against a child .
Both parents have pleaded not guilty to harassment and intimidation, and the adoptive father has pleaded not guilty to simple assault.
The adoptive mother was found not guilty last year of lying to the NSW Crime Commission and the adoptive father will face a two-day court hearing in November on similar charges.