William Tyrrell’s disappearance may never be solved: Reality of search for little boy is laid bare

The absence of eyewitnesses and forensic evidence makes the investigation into William Tyrrell’s suspected abduction among the hardest cases in the world to solve, a Sydney inquest has been told.

William was three years old when he vanished from his foster grandmother’s property at Kendall on NSW’s mid north coast in September 2014. 

An inquest into his disappearance, which resumed on Wednesday for almost four weeks of hearings, was told the boy may have been murdered but what happened simply wasn’t known.

Police believed the case could be solved but they still lacked any eyewitnesses or forensic evidence, counsel assisting the coroner Gerard Craddock SC told the NSW Coroners Court at Lidcombe.

‘Worldwide, these cases have proven the most difficult to solve,’ he said in his opening address.

‘The offender is a sneaky, complex offender who has hidden their desires for some time and has chosen to act on those desires.’ 

Jailed people, the elderly and police detectives will be among about 54 witnesses to give evidence during the second tranche of the inquest, which runs until August 30, Mr Craddock said.

The inquest will examine police tactics, including their creation of a register of every known vehicle to pass through the area William was last seen and their assessment of hundreds of claimed sightings of the boy.

Mr Craddock stressed any suggestion that those called to give evidence were suspects is ‘simply wrong’.

‘This is an inquest and not a criminal trial,’ he said.  

Police remain hopeful they can solve the case but there are no eyewitnesses and no forensic evidence, counsel assisting the coroner Gerard Craddock SC told a Sydney inquest on Wednesday (pictured: missing William Tyrrell) 

‘There has not yet been a conclusive breakthrough (in the police investigation), otherwise someone would have been charged and we wouldn’t be here.’    

Mr Craddock suggested the three-year-old was concealed ‘by a stranger or somebody he knew’ when he was taken from the home almost five years ago, news.com.au reported.  

‘William did not simply run away or meet with accidental misadventure,’ he said. 

Mr Craddock referred to statistics about child abduction across the globe and that 97 per cent of perpetrators were ‘family members of acquaintances’.

‘(But) there are very few family members who had access to William on … 12 September 2014,’ he said. 

Charged former NSW Detective Gary Jubelin was seen arriving at the inquest in Sydney on Wednesday, despite being sidelined months ago.  

Former NSW Detective Gary Jubelin arrives at the NSW Coroners Court in Sydney on Wednesday

Jubelin was charged with four offences under the Surveillance Devices Act in June, allegedly related to recording someone amid the search for the little boy. 

A statement issued by Jubelin’s lawyer Margaret Cunneen SC said it was understood the charges related to ‘recordings made during the execution of Inspector Jubelin’s duties’.

According to a police statement, the recordings were allegedly made at locations in Parramatta and Kendall – where William vanished.    

Jubelin sat in the back of the court room, on the same side as detectives in charge of the case, according to The Daily Telegraph.  

The Sydney inquest in March heard from the first people on the scene and William’s biological and foster families.

‘My immediate thought was someone has taken him,’ his foster mother tearfully told the inquest earlier in the year. 

NSW Police search bushland at Batar Creek in NSW on Wednesday, June 27, 2018 – about four kilometres from where William was last seen