A loner with a criminal past was arrested over the disappearance of William Tyrrell in one of the biggest developments in the case in more than five years.
Frank Abbott, 78, lived in a rundown caravan at a remote sawmill 8km north of where Tyrrell vanished from his grandmother’s home in Kendall, on the NSW mid-north coast, in September 2014.
Detectives have conducted at least two searches of that bush area – most recently on Tuesday this week.
Daily Mail Australia can exclusively reveal Abbott was arrested over the boy’s disappearance and taken into police custody for questioning by detectives in late November.
He was in prison at Cessnock’s Shortland Correctional Centre for an unrelated conviction at the time and was returned to his cell without charge – where he still remains behind bars.
William Tyrrell person of interest: Frank Abbott, was previously tried, and acquitted, over the 1968 murder of Helen Mary Harrison in 1994 (above, outside the Darlinghurst Supreme Court)
This is a caravan Abbott lived at on the mid-north coast of New South Wales following William’s disappearance
Abbott was living at Herons Creek – about 8km north of Kendall – when William vanished from his foster grandmother’s home on September 12, 2014. He later moved to Logan’s Crossing
William Tyrrell, three, vanished from his foster-grandmother’s home in Kendall, on the NSW mid-north coast, on September 12, 2014. He has not been seen since
Abbott was transferred into police custody from Corrective Services’ under a section 25 order – which multiple criminal defence lawyers confirmed amounted to an arrest.
Such an order permits an inmate to be taken out of his cell ‘to be interviewed by law enforcement officers or to assist in the administration of justice.’
This week, north coast locals said police used cadaver dogs and 4WD to scour grounds near the sawmill where Abbott lived.
Police confirmed the new search had taken place, and was related to the Tyrrell investigation, but did not provide further information.
Officers previously searched the same area last August, turning over a woodpile.
Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Abbott was involved in the disappearance of William Tyrrell, only that he is a person of interest.
Abbott has previously been accused of playing a role in the mysterious disappearance of a 17-year-old schoolgirl.
In the 1990s, Abbott was acquitted at trial of the 1968 murder of a 17-year-old schoolgirl Helen Mary Harrison.
Miss Harrison disappeared while riding her bike from her job in Pitt Town to her home in Maralya on March 16 that year.
Her body was found in a shallow grave at East Kurrajong on March 23, 1968, police records said.
The Australian has reported that Abbott was tried twice over the allegations. A first jury reportedly failed to reach a verdict, and a second acquitted him, in 1994.
The trial reportedly heard he had an extensive criminal record.
A NSW Police Force spokeswoman this week declined to comment on the revelation Abbott had been taken into custody ‘as the matter is subject to a coronial inquest and an ongoing investigation’.
In a separate statement to media this week, the new head of the Homicide Squad, Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty, said the investigation remains open and police are ‘exploring lines of inquiry and persons of interest’.
A Corrective Services NSW representative said the agency doesn’t comment on ‘individuals or police matters’.
First search: Police scour a sawmill at Herons Creek NSW during the search for William Tyrrell on August 20, 2019
An officer supervises as a dog sniffs a woodpile at the site last year, at the same time an inquest was hearing evidence about William’s disappearance
One of the final photographs of William Tyrrell, as released by an inquest
Abbott’s name was first floated as a person of interest in the Tyrrell case late last year, when he reportedly gave evidence from his cell at the ongoing inquest into the boy’s disappearance.
The police investigation into William’s disappearance has gone on for more than five years and involved ‘hundreds’ of persons of interest, the inquest has heard.
William is suspected of being abducted from his foster grandmother’s home after 9.30am on September 12, 2014.
William’s foster grandmother told the inquest the little boy, three, was ‘roaring’ around the yard pretending to be a lion the morning he vanished.
A detective involved in the search for William previously told the inquest that it was a ‘low bar’ to be considered a person of interest.
Counsel assisting the inquest, Gerard Craddock SC, said it would be ‘wrong’ to suggest witnesses called before the inquest were guilty of abduction or homicide.
‘Characterising a person as a ‘person of interest’ does not signify that a person committed a crime,’ Mr Craddock said last year.
Former person of interest, washing machine repairman Bill Spedding is suing NSW Police, claiming he was the subject of malicious prosecution.
The inquest heard last year that Spedding had an alibi – a cafe receipt and witness evidence – that he was not anywhere near William’s foster grandmother’s house at the time the toddler vanished.
Meanwhile, former investigation head Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin is fighting allegations he illegally recorded another person of interest, neighbour Paul Savage.
Jubelin denies the charges, telling a court he had a reasonable lawful excuse for making the recordings.
There is a $1 million reward for information leading to missing boy’s recovery. If William is still alive, he would turn nine this year.
The inquest into his disappearance is expected to resume in March.