A man previously considered a “person of interest” in the enduring mystery of missing three-year-old William Tyrrell had a collage of images from the case shrine at the foot of his bed, a podcast has revealed.
The unnamed man, who lives a few hundred meters from where Willman disappeared at his adoptive grandmother’s home in Kendall on the New South Wales north coast, also displayed handwritten poetry and a quote from Senior Detective Gary Jubelin.
Jubelin, who put the man under surveillance and had his property searched, was quoted as saying the investigation would “leave no stone unturned.”
The man, whom the police stopped investigating in 2019, spoke in a podcast Witness: William Tyrrellproduced by News Ltd following the 10th anniversary of the boy’s disappearance on 12 September 2014.
A police search of the man’s bushland property two days after William’s disappearance uncovered small bones in barrels, but they were later determined to be from animals.
At first, the man denied that they were there, but later claimed that they were placed by the police.
He told the podcast that his off-grid lifestyle and rejection of the mainstream had made him a target of police.
“What I don’t like is how slightly different people are singled out here,” he said.
Three-year-old William Tyrrell at his adoptive grandmother’s home in Kendall, on the New South Wales north coast, in September 2014.
‘They harass them, they persecute them because they are strange. I don’t like the way people are presumed guilty until proven innocent.
‘It could have been someone passing by (responsible for William’s disappearance). That’s as likely as anything else, right?
Jubelin, who was removed from the investigation in 2019 and later convicted of unlawfully recording conversations with another person of interest, told the NSW director of investigations in 2020 that the man should be called as a witness for an ongoing investigation.
The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame refused to call the man as a witness despite Jubelin describing his behavior as “concerning”.
This included an allegation that the man put a basketball in his pants near school children and that he turned up in Port M.Acquarie Police Station demanding to speak to Mr Jubelin.
On another occasion he allegedly went to the same police station and put ‘his hands across the service counter and making a gesture (sic) to be handcuffed and arrested for William’s disappearance.’
Former lead investigator Gary Jubelin has urged an investigation to call a former “person of interest” who lived in bushland just a few hundred meters from where William disappeared.
Jubelin said the man “provided what I would consider exculpatory explanations” for these alleged incidents.
The man told the podcast that a detective previously and falsely accused him of being involved in William’s disappearance.
‘Admit it, mate, you took the bastard, didn’t you?’ the man said he was asked by an anonymous detective.
The man said his response was: ‘You’re kidding, right?’
He said the culprit should have known William was at his adoptive grandmother’s house and accused New South Wales police of “botching” the investigation by saying they had little cohesion or organization.
The man, nicknamed “Gorillas in the Mist” by New South Wales Police for his unconventional lifestyle, also He claimed Mr Jubelin made up “nonsensical stories” about William, including that he “had a heart attack and was left in the bush”.
Last year, the investigation into William’s disappearance and presumed death was delayed while prosecutors weighed charges against the boy’s adoptive mother.
Police began investigating the theory that William had died in an accidental fall from a balcony and that the adoptive mother had disposed of the body.
Police are seen supervising bush clearing in the nearby town of Kendall in a search for William in 2021.
William’s adoptive mother and father have continually denied the allegation and any wrongdoing.
The investigation is scheduled to resume with another block of hearings later this year.
During a directions hearing at the NSW Coroner’s Court in Lidcombe on Tuesday, Ms Grahame confirmed the dates for the final block of hearings, in the weeks beginning November 4 and December 16.
The coroner will deliver his findings at a later date.
