William Tyrrell’s foster mother ‘knows where his body is’, detective claims

A senior detective has dropped a bomb in a Sydney courthouse, claiming he believes William Tyrrell’s foster mother knows where the missing toddler’s body is.

“I formed the idea (the foster mother) knows where William Tyrrell is,” Detective Sergeant Andrew Lonergan told Downing Center local court on Thursday afternoon.

Det Sgt Lonergan made the comments under cross-examination by the foster mother’s attorney, John Stratton.

William disappeared from his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall, on the north coast of NSW, in September 2014 and has not been seen since.

His foster mother, a 57-year-old from the north of the city who cannot be named for legal reasons, faces a two-day trial on charges of giving false or misleading evidence to the top secret NSW Crime Commission.

She has pleaded not guilty.

When Mr Stratton Det asked Sgt Lonergan if he was prosecuting the foster mother on charges of ‘breaking her mind’, the police officer said the purpose of her appearance before the Crime Commission was to ‘find William Tyrrell’s location’.

William Tyrrell’s foster mother (above in June) will spend two days in a hearing on allegations of lying to the top-secret NSW Crime Commission just days before an intensive dig for her missing foster son

The Crime Commission hearings, which police alleged the foster mother lied to, were held up just days before investigators launched a surprising, intensive dig in Kendall for William Tyrrell’s remains (above)

It comes just as the court learned that the police had bugged the foster parents’ homes with nine listening devices and eight hidden cameras.

Dramatic audio was also played in court audio of a ten-year-old child – who is not William – crying and screaming ‘no, no, noeeee’ as she was allegedly disciplined with a wooden spoon.

The court learned that the foster mother had denied hitting the girl – who cannot be identified – before the Crime Commission. The incident is said to have taken place in January 2021.

Police Prosecutor senior sergeant Amin Asaad told the court that “accusations regarding the child … have been submitted to the accused” at the Crime Commission.

Sen. Sergeant Asaad said the foster mother “rejected those proposals when seconds or minutes after the event contacted her husband and added certain things that revealed the crime and certain observations related to the event.”

Police are playing back covert recordings of recorded conversations between the couple.

The foster mother arrived at the court on Thursday in black pants and a black-and-white checked jacket and in the company of two marketing consultants, Clare and Alice Collins, who are leading the Where’s William PR campaign.

Ex-detective Gary Jubelin, the former boss of the task force investigating William’s disappearance, also listened to the hearing. The hearing continues.

William Tyrrell’s foster mother faces a two-day hearing on charges of lying to the Crime Commission. The foster father will appear in court next year for allegedly making a false statement to the top-secret crime-fighting body

Detective Andrew Lonergan (second from right) with Professor Jon Olley, who found the remains of murdered Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morecombe late last year in 2011, at William Tyrrell’s dig in Kendall

The woman and William’s 55-year-old foster father testified before the crime-fighting agency last November after being secretly summoned to appear at NSWCC Surry Hills headquarters.

The foster father testified for a maximum of two hours and the foster mother was interrogated for longer.

The foster parents’ appearance at the Crime Commission came as the NSW Police hierarchy planned the launch of their surprising new ‘high intensity’ search for bushland and a home for William Tyrrell’s remains.

Late last year, police searched bushland near Kendall for weeks in an attempt to locate William.