In 19 he was tried twice for the rape and murder of 17-year-old Helen Harrison, the first trial ending with a hung jury and the second with his acquittal. She told the inquest he and his brother had seen a suitcase they believed William was in, but were warned if they told anyone “their mum’s neck would get snapped”.Ībbott allegedly has prior form for bragging and then threatening in relation to murder. Picture: David Moir.Ĭhumley writes this description could apply to several locals, but one person of interest, convicted child sex offender Frank Abbott is a former redhead with a ruddy complexion.Ī photo of Abbott taken in the same year William disappeared shows him sporting a large belly, and with a ruddy complexion which Chumley says means he could resemble a man in a car who the foster mother described as sighting on the morning in question.īut Abbott is among hundreds of persons of interest in the William Tyrrell case, in which police have as yet to make any arrests.Ĭurrently serving 16 years in prison for the sexual abuse of three children, 79-year-old Abbott has told neighbours or locals many times he knows where William is, the inquest heard.Įvidence was also given that he had confessed he disposed of William’s remains then threatened the persons – in this case children – if they ever revealed this.Ī woman who had babysat two boys in 2018 testified the younger one “Jeffrey” told her he knew “who killed William” and indicated it was Frank Abbott. The toddler vanished from number 48 (above) and no trace of him or his remains has to date been found. Her evidence he was “a big man” in his late 50s, caucasian with “sandy, reddy-coloured hair”, a “thick neck” had some observers in the court that day doubting the sighting. William’s foster mother said she could still picture a man she had seen on the morning behind the wheel of three cars she had spotted in Benaroon Drive.
Here’s just a few of Chumley’s observations. Interestingly, the two old men police did have heavily in their sights – washing machine repairman Bill Spedding and neighbour Paul Savage – are not in Chumley’s plot.īoth men have since been ruled out by NSW Police as persons of interest.Īll other persons of interest who faced the inquest into Tyrrell have denied any connection with William’s abduction and death or murder.Ĭounsel assisting the coroner, Gerard Craddock, has stated that describing people as “persons of interest” in the inquiry does not make them suspects. The inquest into William Tyrrell’s disappearance was due to conclude earlier this year, but is on hold because of coronavirus and may not resume as scheduled in October.Ĭhumley points readers in the direction of not only who most likely abducted William, but other bit players who have given evidence and clearly know more than they’re letting on. Using her local knowledge and informants, keen observation during the inquest and access to police information, Chumley paints a believable scenario.Īpart from joining the dots with some new facts and a bit of a special insight, it involves much of the evidence which emerged at an inquest.Īnd she reveals in the book which pieces of evidence appeared to give William’s foster mother a kind of acceptance or “closure”, that she finally had an explanation.
William Tyrrell on his foster grandmother’s deck on the morning of his abduction. In the book Searching for Spiderman, The Disappearance of Three-year-old William Tyrrell, available from Hardie Grant Books, Chumley leads readers to the most likely of the old, male named persons of interest to have done the crime.Īnd she says “there were a few people involved”, all of whom gave evidence at the inquest. The house overlooks 48 Benaroon Drive, Kendall on the NSW Mid North Coast where William was staying with his foster parents before he vanished on the morning of September 12, 2014. Writing that William may have been taken with by a trio of “a driver, a snatcher and a lookout”, Chumley suggests the latter may have holed up in an empty house owned by neighbours who were away at the time.
On private property behind a local school and screened by bushland, the outbuilding is nevertheless accessible by anyone turning off a main road. She has also photographed a farm machinery shed where the three-year-old may have been hidden behind after his abduction and claims the toddler’s remains will soon be found. The NSW North Coast teacher, who lived next door to one person of interest in the case and had access to confidential police files, has concluded up to three people abducted William. Stunning claims about William Tyrrell’s abduction have emerged in a new book by local writer and investigator, Ally Chumley.