Prosecutors are taking more time to weigh evidence against William Tyrrell’s adoptive mother, causing the investigation into the missing boy to be further delayed.
As exclusively revealed by Daily Mail Australia, the initial January 31 deadline for whether or not to charge the woman with interfering with William’s body and perverting the course of justice has been pushed back.
This means the NSW coroner’s inquest into Australia’s biggest missing child mystery will be postponed until August, ahead of two weeks of hearings in November and December.
William was three years old when he disappeared on September 12, 2014 from his adoptive grandmother’s home in Kendall, on the New South Wales Mid North Coast.
His body has never been found, he is presumed dead, and his adoptive parents have persistently and strenuously denied any involvement.
An inquest was held before Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame for 18 months before it was adjourned in October 2020, but will now resume with another block of hearings later this year.
Prosecutors are taking more time to weigh evidence against William Tyrrell’s adoptive mother (above), causing the investigation into the missing boy to be further delayed.
Investigation into Australia’s biggest missing boy mystery will now be further delayed
Ms Grahame’s findings were due to be delivered in June 2021, however they were delayed by further police investigations which involved an intensive search later that year around Kendall for William’s remains.
Then, in mid-2023, Strike Force Rosann detectives delivered a brief of evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions, which recommended that William’s adoptive mother be charged with perverting the course of justice and interfering with a dead body.
Last September, the New South Wales Coroner’s Court heard prosecutors were still deciding whether they would recommend laying charges.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Gerard Craddock SC, told the court that the Crown Prosecution Service’s advice was expected to be handed over to police at the end of January this year.
The matter returned to court for a directions hearing on Friday, with Craddock telling the court he had yet to receive an update from the Crown Prosecution Service after they had missed a January deadline.
“We were hoping for an update on where that was before now, they told us at the end of January that they would tell us something,” Craddock said Friday.
“As of today, that appears to be unresolved and we don’t have an update and we don’t know when we will.”
The court heard the investigation could not continue until the Public Prosecution Service made a decision on possible charges.
The matter was scheduled to return to court for a two-week block of hearings next month, but has now been rescheduled to two weeks of hearings in the weeks beginning November 4 and December 16.
Last September, the adoptive parents’ lawyer, Rylie Hahn, asked police to release any evidence.
“Williams’ adoptive mother and adoptive father maintain the position of seeking the disclosure of evidence that police believe forms the basis of a criminal prosecution,” Ms. Hahn said at the time.
‘We are halfway through the investigation and William is still missing and his case unsolved.
William Tyrrell’s adoptive parents deny any involvement in the 2014 disappearance of the boy missing from their care.
Tyrrell disappeared almost 10 years ago and no trace of the three-year-old has ever been found despite extensive searches.
“William’s adoptive mother maintains that she had nothing to do with his disappearance… and is calling on police to continue searching for William and what happened to him.”
In November 2021, police, SES volunteers and Strike Force Rosann detectives searched for evidence along Batar Creek Road, just under a kilometer from the Kendall home where William was last seen.
The teams also searched the garden of the boy’s adoptive grandmother’s house and the nearby bushes.
Williams’ adoptive mother was found not guilty in 2022 of lying to the New South Wales Crime Commission.
William was last seen at his foster mother’s mother’s home in Kendall, on the mid north coast of New South Wales.
William’s adoptive father was also acquitted in November last year of five charges of lying to the NSW Crime Commission.
The court heard that the lawyer assisting the coroner was also awaiting a report from the officer in charge of the investigation on the steps taken by detectives following the adjournment of the inquest in October 2020.
On Friday, Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame also granted lawyers permission for the NSW Police Commissioner to appear before the inquiry, which is likely to examine police standard operating procedure in relation to missing people.
The matter will return to court in August for a new directions hearing.
