Prosecutors are taking more time to weigh up evidence against William Tyrrell’s foster mother, causing the inquest into the missing toddler further delay.
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 corpse and perverting the course of justice has been pushed back.
This means the NSW Coroner’s probe into Australia’s greatest missing child mystery will be postponed until August before two weeks of hearings in November and December.
William was three when he disappeared on September 12, 2014 from his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall on the NSW Mid North Coast.
His body has never been found, he is presumed dead and his foster parents have persistently and strenuously denied having any involvement.
An inquest ran before Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame for 18 months before it adjourned in October 2020 but is now set to resume with another block of hearings later this year.
Prosecutors are taking more time to weigh up evidence against William Tyrrell ‘s foster mother (above), causing the inquest into the missing toddler further delay
The inquest into Australia’s greatest missing child mystery will now be delayed further
Ms Grahame’s findings were due to be handed down in June 2021, however they were delayed by fresh police investigations which involved an intensive search late that year around Kendall for William’s remains.
Then in mid-2023, Strike Force Rosann detectives handed a brief of evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions, which recommended William’s foster mother be charged with perverting the course of justice and interfering with a corpse.
Last September, the NSW Coroner’s Court heard prosecutors were still deciding whether to recommend laying charges.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Gerard Craddock SC told the court that it was expected that the DPP’s advice would be delivered to police by the end of January this year.
The matter returned to court for a directions hearing on Friday, with Mr Craddock telling the court that he had still not received an update from the DPP after they had not met the January deadline.
‘We were hoping for an update as to where that was at before now, we were told at the end of January we’d be told something,’ Mr Craddock said on Friday.
‘As of today, that seems not to have been resolved and we haven’t got an update and we don’t know when we’ll get one.’
The court heard that the inquest could not proceed until a decision had been made by the DPP about any possible charges.
The matter was set to return to court for a two-week block of hearings next month but that has now been rescheduled to two weeks of hearings in the weeks starting November 4 and December 16.
Last September, the foster parents’ solicitor Rylie Hahn called for police to disclose any evidence.
‘Williams’ foster mother and foster father hold the position of calling for the disclosure of evidence which police suggest forms the basis of criminal proceedings,’ Ms Hahn said at the time.
‘We are midway through the inquest and William remains missing and his case unsolved.
William Tyrrell’s foster parents deny any involvement in the 2014 disappearance of the missing toddler in their care
Tyrrell vanished almost 10 years ago and no trace of the three-year-old toddler has ever been found despite intensive searches
‘William’s foster mother maintains she had nothing to do with his disappearance … and asks the police to continue to look for William and what happened to him.’
In November 2021, police, SES volunteers and Strike Force Rosann detectives dug for evidence along Batar Creek Road, just under a kilometre from the Kendall house where William was last seen.
Teams also scoured the garden of the boy’s foster grandmother’s home and nearby bushland.
Williams’ foster mother was in 2022 found not guilty of lying to the NSW Crime Commission.
William was last seen at the home of the foster mother’s mother at Kendall on the NSW Mid North Coast
William’s foster father was in November last year also acquitted of five counts of lying to the NSW Crime Commission.
The court heard that counsel assisting the coroner was also awaiting a report from the Officer in Charge of the investigation as to the steps taken by detectives following the adjournment of the inquest in October 2020.
Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame on Friday also granted leave to lawyers for the NSW Police Commissioner to appear before the inquest, which is likely to examine police standard operating procedure in relation to missing persons.
The matter will return to court in August for a further directions hearing.
