Current Disappearance of 3yo William Tyrrell * The foster mother has been recommended for charges of pervert the course of justice & interfere with a corpse

[Kurve]

Criminal charges the former foster parents currently face as at 15 April 2022 include:

• Apprehended Violence Orders on both (AVOs)
• Lying to the NSW Crime Commission on former foster mother *Not Guilty
• Lying to the NSW Crime Commission on former foster father *Not Guilty
• 2 x charges of assault against a child on former foster mother *Guilty
• 1 x charge of assault against a child on former foster father
• Stalking &/or Intimidation on both
• Dummy bidding real estate fraud *Guilty

TIMELINE

Where's William Tyrrell? - The Ch 10 podcast (under Coroner's subpoena)

Operation Arkstone

 

[Awakening]

The alleged trips were up on Saturday, back on Sunday. According to Overington, (Ch7 Doco):

"CCTV images were obtained after Ray's death of his white station wagon driving North on the highway one day after William went missing, and then coming back again the following day. You can't see from the photographs who is driving, we don't know whether there is a child in the back seat, or anywhere else in the car. But years later, just hours before he died, Ray remembered this exact trip, on this exact highway, on those exact dates. The problem is, Ray Porter didn't use names in his confession. He said 'my best fishing mate and that little boy from the television'... And there's still nothing to prove those people were Frank Abbot and William Tyrrell".

Overington is saying that the CCTV evidence is consistent with Porter's deathbed confession that he actually did make a trip North on the Saturday and back on the Sunday. The doco shows still pics of the CCTV evidence so it is probably real.

If CCTV images were sought and obtained by police, they would presumably have looked further than just these dates and locations and looked at possible other explanations for the trip. If the trips were for dialysis (unlikely), or any other 'routine' purpose, he would have returned on the same day. If he was hospitalised overnight, there would be hospital records proving this.

But the CCTV evidence suggests Porter (or at least his car) went North on the Saturday (the day after William vanished) and returned on the very next day (Sunday). And this is consistent with Porter's recollection of events, years later. So I think the trip most likely did happen. The only doubt is about the purpose and nature of the trip, and who was actually in the car.

He was an old sick man recalling this years (?) later. He was presumably making this trip 3 times per week. Its possible he got his dates mixed up.

 

[31550]

He was an old sick man recalling this years (?) later. He was presumably making this trip 3 times per week. Its possible he got his dates mixed up.

Yes he was old and sick and it was years later, but he speaks of only one trip of 300km North with (supposedly) Frank Abbott and William in the car. And the CCTV evidence supports this trip being made on the exact day and location.

His regular dialysis trips were indeed 3 times a week, but this was on weekdays and between Wauchope and Port Macquarie via the Oxley Highway, and not past any of those CCTV cameras, and not with a fishing mate and a little boy in the car.

If these were just delirious ravings of an old sick man then it's an incredible coincidence that his car was actually seen on CCTV on the exact day he said it happened.

Of course the trip itself may not have involved Abbott or William, or have anything to do with the case.

 

[NRL Fan]

The alleged trips were up on Saturday, back on Sunday. According to Overington, (Ch7 Doco):

"CCTV images were obtained after Ray's death of his white station wagon driving North on the highway one day after William went missing, and then coming back again the following day. You can't see from the photographs who is driving, we don't know whether there is a child in the back seat, or anywhere else in the car. But years later, just hours before he died, Ray remembered this exact trip, on this exact highway, on those exact dates. The problem is, Ray Porter didn't use names in his confession. He said 'my best fishing mate and that little boy from the television'... And there's still nothing to prove those people were Frank Abbot and William Tyrrell".

Overington is saying that the CCTV evidence is consistent with Porter's deathbed confession that he actually did make a trip North on the Saturday and back on the Sunday. The doco shows still pics of the CCTV evidence so it is probably real.

If CCTV images were sought and obtained by police, they would presumably have looked further than just these dates and locations and looked at possible other explanations for the trip. If the trips were for dialysis (unlikely), or any other 'routine' purpose, he would have returned on the same day. If he was hospitalised overnight, there would be hospital records proving this.

But the CCTV evidence suggests Porter (or at least his car) went North on the Saturday (the day after William vanished) and returned on the very next day (Sunday). And this is consistent with Porter's recollection of events, years later. So I think the trip most likely did happen. The only doubt is about the purpose and nature of the trip, and who was actually in the car.

There is an inconsistency between Overington's documentary notes and the media reports, such as the daily mail, which quoted: "A recent document says in the two days after William vanished, Porter's car was recorded passing the Kew southbound camera on the morning of September 13, 2014, and the north- and south-bound cameras at Port Macquarie, the next day."

Rather than a trip being made heading north on Saturday, returning on Sunday, the media reports a trip heading south towards Kew on Saturday and another trip heading north from Port Macquarie and and returning south on Sunday (same day). I'm not sure if you read my earlier posts, but there were at least 3 cameras north of Port Macquarie and south of Coffs Harbour, two of which could not be avoided if the drive was further north than Valla, which is 130km from Kew. Considering no further images were captured north of Port Mac, the trip becomes less likely, unless they turned off at Kempsey, before the second camera, making for a much shorter distance, but possibly 300km round trip.

 

[31550]

There is an inconsistency between Overington's documentary notes and the media reports, such as the daily mail, which quoted: "A recent document says in the two days after William vanished, Porter's car was recorded passing the Kew southbound camera on the morning of September 13, 2014, and the north- and south-bound cameras at Port Macquarie, the next day."

Rather than a trip being made heading north on Saturday, returning on Sunday, the media reports a trip heading south towards Kew on Saturday and another trip heading north from Port Macquarie and and returning south on Sunday (same day). I'm not sure if you read my earlier posts, but there were at least 3 cameras north of Port Macquarie and south of Coffs Harbour, two of which could not be avoided if the drive was further north than Valla, which is 130km from Kew. Considering no further images were captured north of Port Mac, the trip becomes less likely, unless they turned off at Kempsey, before the second camera, making for a much shorter distance, but possibly 300km round trip.

Agree that is a big inconsistency. Would Overington have gone to air without fact-checking this part of the story? Still shots of the CCTV photos were used in the documentary. It would be sloppy journalism if she had North and South the wrong way round.

Unfortunately, we don't have ALL the CCTV evidence so we don't know for sure, and it seems police are no longer pursuing this line of investigation. (Or any line at all?)

 

[Angry Red Bull]

Agree that is a big inconsistency. Would Overington have gone to air without fact-checking this part of the story? Still shots of the CCTV photos were used in the documentary. It would be sloppy journalism if she had North and South the wrong way round.

Unfortunately, we don't have ALL the CCTV evidence so we don't know for sure, and it seems police are no longer pursuing this line of investigation. (Or any line at all?)

Well yes someone has been sloppy with fact checking. At this stage we can't say who. Assuming one journalist over another is probably dangerous.

The truth has a significant bearing on likelihood of the purpose and nature of trip and ultimately culpability.

If it's as you say up one day and back the next i feel that is more likely to be involvement of an associate somewhere north west where they stayed.

Unless the trip was directly north to meet a pedophile associate (then allowing RP to return) and less than 140klm.

 

[stormbird]

Re this statement from the documentary as quoted in 31550's post 8153:

"... years later, just hours before he died, Ray remembered this exact trip, on this exact highway, on those exact dates."

If Overington actually was referring to information given by Ray "just hours before he died", then there are reasons to be sceptical about what he said, in my opinion. His sister-in-law Irma's evidence at the inquest hearing on 18 March 2020 was that when she saw Ray a few days before he died (which I'm guessing happened in late July or early August 2019) he was "very confused and muddled and very ill" (tweet by @LiaJHarris, 18 Mar 2020 - I hope this tweet will be attached in a thread to all the others Lia posted that day; if not, you might have to click something to open it?)

And Ray's brother Tom, also testifying at the inquest hearing on 18 March 2020, said that police had been "badgering" Ray (tweet by @LiaJHarris), which if true raises a question for me about whether Ray might have produced false memories in response to prompts from police.

"The court heard police repeatedly visited Ray in the nursing home to interview him about William Tyrrell. Mr Porter told the court he told Ray to tell police to speak to him instead because he was worried the stress of it was affecting his health." (tweet by @LiaJHarris)

'Mr Porter told the court he asked Ray what it was all about and he told him it was “about the children” and said “my mate and I were fishing and children walked across the road and he told them to get back because it was too dangerous and the children went back across the road”.' (tweet by @LiaJHarris)

'Mr Porter said he asked him “are you sure that’s what happened?” and he said he was.' (tweet by @LiaJHarris)

I think the testimony in those last two tweets raises questions about whether Ray actually was talking about William at all.

But re the documentary: maybe Overington was wrong about the timing of Ray's memory or statement about the 300km trip. If she was referring to his conversation with the aged care nurse Kirston, then that was months before Ray died, not hours.

Kirston appeared at the inquest on 17 March 2020 (tweet by @LiaJHarris).

Daily Mail, 18 March 2020, has an extract from her statement about the conversation with Ray in April 2019 (which was about 3 months before he died).

 

[NRL Fan]

Well yes someone has been sloppy with fact checking. At this stage we can't say who. Assuming one journalist over another is probably dangerous.

The truth has a significant bearing on likelihood of the purpose and nature of trip and ultimately culpability.

If it's as you say up one day and back the next i feel that is more likely to be involvement of an associate somewhere north west where they stayed.

Unless the trip was directly north to meet a pedophile associate (then allowing RP to return) and less than 140klm.

If we knew the exact times of those images we might be able to come up with a few possible scenarios. Travelling north up the highway would have other risks, such as WT being spotted by other drivers on the freeway or at toilet stops, and in this age of mobile phone and dash cams it's not easy to run and hide. We also don't have much to go on, other than a vague second hand account of RP's confession. For example, the school mentioned could be the public school, pre-school or riding school. The latter two have sheds behind them and the former has a shed some distance away. There is also the issue of hiding a boy dressed in a red costume for any length of time with the entire town on red alert. Given the escalating police and search teams presence, it would be more likely that WT was moved on the 13th when RP's car was spotted heading south (on route to the pick up ?) and the two images taken the following day might have been captured after they returned. Personally, I think this theory is the only one remaining that has legs after the FPs were dragged to hell and back and coughed up nothing.

 

[Angry Red Bull]

If we knew the exact times of those images we might be able to come up with a few possible scenarios. Travelling north up the highway would have other risks, such as WT being spotted by other drivers on the freeway or at toilet stops, and in this age of mobile phone and dash cams it's not easy to run and hide. We also don't have much to go on, other than a vague second hand account of RP's confession. For example, the school mentioned could be the public school, pre-school or riding school. The latter two have sheds behind them and the former has a shed some distance away. There is also the issue of hiding a boy dressed in a red costume for any length of time with the entire town on red alert. Given the escalating police and search teams presence, it would be more likely that WT was moved on the 13th when RP's car was spotted heading south (on route to the pick up ?) and the two images taken the following day might have been captured after they returned. Personally, I think this theory is the only one remaining that has legs after the FPs were dragged to hell and back and coughed up nothing.

Saw in one article (with picture) the shed was a green machinery shed seemingly always open. The one you posted before seemed to be like a garage and seemingly locked. If he went there it must be both open, or had access and remote.

I've never considered pedophile opportunistic abduction as serious contender UNTIL you pointed out how FA may have been there waiting for work. Now I agree it's easily the most likely scenario further enhanced by RP confession. They don't happen unless there is serious attention seeking (which I dismiss) OR truth involved. I consider there is truth. Sure there might be elements of embellishment but I believe there mostly truth. Why the police went cold on FA i personally think was because they had no further evidence and had a last throw of dice (before cold case) and chose FM. Pretty terrible to terrorise their lives on a hunch but I think that's what they did.

The two things that turn me away from them are:

• The Jubelin trick with listening device
• The fact they limited their own time with early police report. They simply wouldn't do that. They weren't involved imo

I think we are on right track. I also have an inkling that disposal probably involved the case. There was no need to mention that and I think there was truth in it as an unnecessary detail.

 

[Angry Red Bull]

if the trip was overnight I'm thinking a pedophile associate was where they stayed northwest

If it was 140 Klm and back same day then probably just disposal of body. In which case somewhere up to Valla Beach bushland

I think associates involvement becomes possible after FA took him. Was Jones involved? Did they know each other before? It was suggested that he came to know Jones after incarceration not before. Who knows if that's true.

 

[NRL Fan]

Saw in one article (with picture) the shed was a green machinery shed seemingly always open. The one you posted before seemed to be like a garage and seemingly locked. If he went there it must be both open, or had access and remote.

I've never considered pedophile opportunistic abduction as serious contender UNTIL you pointed out how FA may have been there waiting for work. Now I agree it's easily the most likely scenario further enhanced by RP confession. They don't happen unless there is serious attention seeking (which I dismiss) OR truth involved. I consider there is truth. Sure there might be elements of embellishment but I believe there mostly truth. Why the police went cold on FA i personally think was because they had no further evidence and had a last throw of dice (before cold case) and chose FM. Pretty terrible to terrorise their lives on a hunch but I think that's what they did.

The two things that turn me away from them are:

• The Jubelin trick with listening device
• The fact they limited their own time with early police report. They simply wouldn't do that. They weren't involved imo

I think we are on right track. I also have an inkling that disposal probably involved the case. There was no need to mention that and I think there was truth in it as an unnecessary detail.

There is one possible clue that FA was involved in GO's statement, that he didn't use FA in his repairs business because his workmanship was too poor. Why would he say that, when all he needed to say was that he didn't use him and how would he know he had poor workmanship if he didn't use him ???. When you put all of the small clues into this theory this one does seem the most plausible, but we need to make everything fit. For example, GO phoned the land line early in the morning, with no answer. FA was already there waiting, (in RP's vehicle ???), expecting the job to go ahead. FA sees WT outside alone and can't resist the opportunity and snatches WT, taking him to an unknown location nearby where he can't be heard or seen, possibly drugged, gagged and bound. He drives back to the hospital and picks up RP and RP drives FA back to where WT is being held near the shed behind the school, using back roads to avoid being spotted. The next day RP gives them a lift from the shed, etc.

The one thing that doesn't fit is the lack of camera images from RP's vehicle on the 12th. If FA used RP's vehicle after dropping him at the hospital then he would have driven down the main highway to Kendall (at this point he had nothing to hide) and would have been captured twice. So, the vehicle used by FA must have belonged to someone else, but who ???. Was TJ also involved ???. Also, if FA and GO were working together on that morning, why would FA go around after the disappearance hinting GO was his main suspect ?. RP also mentioned to the nurse that he had another friend called Phil. Who was Phil ???

 

[Awakening]

I can’t remember, but were there road blocks set up in the days and weeks after WT’s disappearance?

Would FA and RP not be detected in their vehicles?

Did no one see FA hanging around outside FGM’s house?

 

[NRL Fan]

I can’t remember, but were there road blocks set up in the days and weeks after WT’s disappearance?

Would FA and RP not be detected in their vehicles?

Did no one see FA hanging around outside FGM’s house?

The FM reported two vehicles out the front on 12th, before WT's abduction and gave a description of one man that resembled FA, so there is some weak evidence. Regarding roadblocks, I seem to recall they took a few days due to the assumption that WT had simply wandered off into the bush, which was possibly the biggest mistake made by the police in the entire investigation, and there were many significant blunders.

 

[Angry Red Bull]

Re this statement from the documentary as quoted in 31550's post 8153:

"... years later, just hours before he died, Ray remembered this exact trip, on this exact highway, on those exact dates."

If Overington actually was referring to information given by Ray "just hours before he died", then there are reasons to be sceptical about what he said, in my opinion. His sister-in-law Irma's evidence at the inquest hearing on 18 March 2020 was that when she saw Ray a few days before he died (which I'm guessing happened in late July or early August 2019) he was "very confused and muddled and very ill" (tweet by @LiaJHarris, 18 Mar 2020 - I hope this tweet will be attached in a thread to all the others Lia posted that day; if not, you might have to click something to open it?)

And Ray's brother Tom, also testifying at the inquest hearing on 18 March 2020, said that police had been "badgering" Ray (tweet by @LiaJHarris), which if true raises a question for me about whether Ray might have produced false memories in response to prompts from police.

"The court heard police repeatedly visited Ray in the nursing home to interview him about William Tyrrell. Mr Porter told the court he told Ray to tell police to speak to him instead because he was worried the stress of it was affecting his health." (tweet by @LiaJHarris)

'Mr Porter told the court he asked Ray what it was all about and he told him it was “about the children” and said “my mate and I were fishing and children walked across the road and he told them to get back because it was too dangerous and the children went back across the road”.' (tweet by @LiaJHarris)

'Mr Porter said he asked him “are you sure that’s what happened?” and he said he was.' (tweet by @LiaJHarris)

I think the testimony in those last two tweets raises questions about whether Ray actually was talking about William at all.

But re the documentary: maybe Overington was wrong about the timing of Ray's memory or statement about the 300km trip. If she was referring to his conversation with the aged care nurse Kirston, then that was months before Ray died, not hours.

Kirston appeared at the inquest on 17 March 2020 (tweet by @LiaJHarris).

Daily Mail, 18 March 2020, has an extract from her statement about the conversation with Ray in April 2019 (which was about 3 months before he died).

Police were regularly visiting him to try to get a deathbed confession even before nurse advised of the confession. That is clearly stated by the nurse who says she'd see if she could restrict visits. But he had sufficient cognitive capacity to identify the trip and WT and only the once.

It's one thing to suggest through ageism that RC may have mis remembered the wrong day of what he saw. Perhaps though I'm unconvinced given his detail.

It's another thing to say RP made up that he went to a shed to pick up his mate and a boy he then identified as WT and take them 300 Klm.by car. The car then picked up on CCTV heading north.

The case isn't solved so it's up to each of us to decide what weight can be given to various clues. By all means you can dismiss RC or RP because you don't have certainty. I don't.

Last Nov I nearly died. Caught double pneumonia and was in ICU for 10 days on life support both lungs filled with muck. Heavily drugged in and out of a coma. When I occasionally came too and saw my visitors I recognised them knew I was tied down (but didn't know it was to prevent me taking the tubes out) and that was in an hospital that had me captive but couldn't understand why they had me captive. My mind concluded it was some scam. Wasn't of course. The point is though that I didn't make stuff up just took on board all senses of what WAS happening that were real. I don't believe RP made the trip up at all.

 

[31550]

The FM reported two vehicles out the front on 12th, before WT's abduction and gave a description of one man that resembled FA, so there is some weak evidence. Regarding roadblocks, I seem to recall they took a few days due to the assumption that WT had simply wandered off into the bush, which was possibly the biggest mistake made by the police in the entire investigation, and there were many significant blunders.

There were no road blocks at all in the days after William disappeared. People and vehicles were coming and going from all directions. It was a 'little boy lost' scenario, not an abduction scenario.
The report of vehicles outside the house was not made public until about a year later, around September 2015.

 

[stormbird]

The FM reported two vehicles out the front on 12th, before WT's abduction and gave a description of one man that resembled FA, so there is some weak evidence. Regarding roadblocks, I seem to recall they took a few days due to the assumption that WT had simply wandered off into the bush, which was possibly the biggest mistake made by the police in the entire investigation, and there were many significant blunders.

NRL Fan, if you can find a link between FA and Benaroon Drive, well done.

But he was likely not there in either of the two parked cars, IMO, because it's likely they weren't there. Detective Sergeant Laura Beacroft (in Strike Force Rosann from 2015 to 2018) said at the inquest on 19 August 2019 that she had been "unable to provide any corroborating evidence to support” the sightings of the cars by the female foster carer. (tweet by @LiaJHarris)

Det Beacroft said she had spoken to everyone she could possibly speak to about them. (tweet by @LiaJHarris)

FM had reported seeing the cars parked on the bitumen and the 60 Minutes artist impression of the scenario showed them near the front of neighbour AMS's house (31 Benaroon). FM thought she had seen them when she first got up (6:30 am? 7:30 am?) and again when lifting William into and out of the climbing tree after they'd played on the bikes (so, 9:20 am? She said they must have been riding bikes when GO called at 9:10 am, which is why she didn't hear the landline phone ringing in the house - I think this might have been reported in the Chumley book?).

None of the neighbours saw the parked cars. That includes the neighbours who drove or walked past the spot where the cars should have been:

• AMS from No.31, the nearest house, who was "adamant" there were no cars parked on the street
• JW and RW, the couple at No.30, directly across the street, who both drove out that morning, presumably looking into the street as they went
• FF, on his drive to Lakewood
• PC and SC, the couple at No.51, driving to and from their daily walk at North Haven
• PS at No.43, returning on his daily walk along Batar Creek Road and Benaroon Drive, walking right past No.31

Dr Helen Paterson, an expert witness who appeared at the inquest on 07 Oct 2020, said that FM might have created a false memory.
The Guardian, 07 Oct 2020

That still leaves the third car as a possibility, possibly - the green/grey sedan that FM said drove past when the kids were riding their bikes on the driveway. I can't remember any reports saying whether police had been able to corroborate any of FM's changing accounts about that vehicle and driver.

 

[stormbird]

Police were regularly visiting him to try to get a deathbed confession even before nurse advised of the confession. That is clearly stated by the nurse who says she'd see if she could restrict visits. But he had sufficient cognitive capacity to identify the trip and WT and only the once.

It's one thing to suggest through ageism that RC may have mis remembered the wrong day of what he saw. Perhaps though I'm unconvinced given his detail.

It's another thing to say RP made up that he went to a shed to pick up his mate and a boy he then identified as WT and take them 300 Klm.by car. The car then picked up on CCTV heading north.

The case isn't solved so it's up to each of us to decide what weight can be given to various clues. By all means you can dismiss RC or RP because you don't have certainty. I don't.

Last Nov I nearly died. Caught double pneumonia and was in ICU for 10 days on life support both lungs filled with muck. Heavily drugged in and out of a coma. When I occasionally came too and saw my visitors I recognised them knew I was tied down (but didn't know it was to prevent me taking the tubes out) and that was in an hospital that had me captive but couldn't understand why they had me captive. My mind concluded it was some scam. Wasn't of course. The point is though that I didn't make stuff up just took on board all senses of what WAS happening that were real. I don't believe RP made the trip up at all.

It's a good thing you didn't die, Angry Red Bull. Welcome back to life

My guess is that police were initially seeking information from RP about FA, and they might have needed to do that for FA's earlier court case(s) too, including the one for which he's now serving 16 years involving three young children and FA's first court appearance in that matter before a registrar on a Saturday(? I think) in Grafton. (I posted something along these lines way back somewhere but don't have time to check at the moment.) My opinion and guessing only, and I just wonder if there was some cross-over in RP's memories.

Late edit: Adding a link to my post 5,974 last year, which mentioned FA's police mention at Grafton Local Court (June 2017) in a case number which went through a trial at Port Macquarie (October 2018) and ended up with sentencing in February 2019 (two months before RP's conversation with nurse Kirston).

 

[31550]

I am skeptical that FM ever saw the two cars, and I think it's possible she was 'encouraged' to have this memory well after the disappearance, perhaps as part of a police strategy targetting FA and/or his associates.

IMO If FA did the deed, he would not have lingered long in Benaroon Drive - he would have snatched William and left very quickly. If he had been parked out in the open for an hour or so, he would have been too smart to risk grabbing William then and there, and being seen by neighbours etc.

Police will always look for 3 things: motive, opportunity and means.
FA had motive as a known and convicted paedophile. His character has been shown to be very 'dodgy' at best.
He had opportunity as a known associate of GO, and a strong possibility that he was engaged to work on the deck, and therefore could be associated with the property at that time. Geoff Owen's denials, as suggested earlier, are not convincing. He is obviously connected to FA, and they seem to have had some falling out.
FA had the means - he had access to Ray Porters car on the day and has no corroborated alibi for the date and time.

According to witnesses, FA frequently drove, even though he had no licence. According to 'Steve', FA had intimate knowledge of the entry and exit points from Benaroon Drive, (even though he claimed to have never been there). FA is also described as having 'rat cunning', and a history of deflecting blame and disseminating misinformation about crimes - in the murder he was tried twice for, he accused his 'mates'. Re William he said, "Why don't you have a look at Geoff Owen's place?" He also said, "they are looking in the wrong place". He allegedly told young boys he put William in a suitcase. The list goes on.

Of course, none of this is enough to secure any sort of conviction against FA. But plenty to make him a POI.

It's hard to understand why police seem no longer to be pursuing FA. But maybe they have some evidence exonerating him, or leading them in another direction, which has not been publicly released?

 

[NRL Fan]

I am skeptical that FM ever saw the two cars, and I think it's possible she was 'encouraged' to have this memory well after the disappearance, perhaps as part of a police strategy targetting FA and/or his associates.

IMO If FA did the deed, he would not have lingered long in Benaroon Drive - he would have snatched William and left very quickly. If he had been parked out in the open for an hour or so, he would have been too smart to risk grabbing William then and there, and being seen by neighbours etc.

Police will always look for 3 things: motive, opportunity and means.
FA had motive as a known and convicted paedophile. His character has been shown to be very 'dodgy' at best.
He had opportunity as a known associate of GO, and a strong possibility that he was engaged to work on the deck, and therefore could be associated with the property at that time. Geoff Owen's denials, as suggested earlier, are not convincing. He is obviously connected to FA, and they seem to have had some falling out.
FA had the means - he had access to Ray Porters car on the day and has no corroborated alibi for the date and time.

According to witnesses, FA frequently drove, even though he had no licence. According to 'Steve', FA had intimate knowledge of the entry and exit points from Benaroon Drive, (even though he claimed to have never been there). FA is also described as having 'rat cunning', and a history of deflecting blame and disseminating misinformation about crimes - in the murder he was tried twice for, he accused his 'mates'. Re William he said, "Why don't you have a look at Geoff Owen's place?" He also said, "they are looking in the wrong place". He allegedly told young boys he put William in a suitcase. The list goes on.

Of course, none of this is enough to secure any sort of conviction against FA. But plenty to make him a POI.

It's hard to understand why police seem no longer to be pursuing FA. But maybe they have some evidence exonerating him, or leading them in another direction, which has not been publicly released?

You might have solved one of the issues I had with FA using RP's vehicle on the Friday 12th Sep. My thought was that he would drive down the highway from Port towards Kew and get snapped by the two cameras, after all he had nothing to hide on the forward trip, which was to assist GO on the repair job. However, if he didn't have a license he would possibly avoid the cameras and drive the back road, which could explain the lack of images on that day.

 

[NRL Fan]

NRL Fan, if you can find a link between FA and Benaroon Drive, well done.

But he was likely not there in either of the two parked cars, IMO, because it's likely they weren't there. Detective Sergeant Laura Beacroft (in Strike Force Rosann from 2015 to 2018) said at the inquest on 19 August 2019 that she had been "unable to provide any corroborating evidence to support” the sightings of the cars by the female foster carer. (tweet by @LiaJHarris)

Det Beacroft said she had spoken to everyone she could possibly speak to about them. (tweet by @LiaJHarris)

FM had reported seeing the cars parked on the bitumen and the 60 Minutes artist impression of the scenario showed them near the front of neighbour AMS's house (31 Benaroon). FM thought she had seen them when she first got up (6:30 am? 7:30 am?) and again when lifting William into and out of the climbing tree after they'd played on the bikes (so, 9:20 am? She said they must have been riding bikes when GO called at 9:10 am, which is why she didn't hear the landline phone ringing in the house - I think this might have been reported in the Chumley book?).

None of the neighbours saw the parked cars. That includes the neighbours who drove or walked past the spot where the cars should have been:

• AMS from No.31, the nearest house, who was "adamant" there were no cars parked on the street
• JW and RW, the couple at No.30, directly across the street, who both drove out that morning, presumably looking into the street as they went
• FF, on his drive to Lakewood
• PC and SC, the couple at No.51, driving to and from their daily walk at North Haven
• PS at No.43, returning on his daily walk along Batar Creek Road and Benaroon Drive, walking right past No.31

Dr Helen Paterson, an expert witness who appeared at the inquest on 07 Oct 2020, said that FM might have created a false memory.
The Guardian, 07 Oct 2020

That still leaves the third car as a possibility, possibly - the green/grey sedan that FM said drove past when the kids were riding their bikes on the driveway. I can't remember any reports saying whether police had been able to corroborate any of FM's changing accounts about that vehicle and driver.

The link is RP'S confession, the unanswered phone call from GO early on the morning of the disappearance and the connection between GO and FA. It's not much of a link, but it's all we have and it's probably the most likely scenario remaining. We know that WT was most likely taken and that means a vehicle would have been involved, even if it was never seen in that quiet area. My problem is trying to put together a scenario as to how FA could have made the snatch using RP's vehicle, hid the boy from sight at an unknown location, returned RP's vehicle back to the hospital for RP to drive home after dialysis, travelled back to the boy's hideout and then to the pick up place the following day to meet RP at the shed behind the school for the 300km lift. IMO, the only way FA could have managed this schedule is if he had help from an unknown 3rd party who might have hidden the boy overnight and provided transport for FA.

 

[31550]

The link is RP'S confession, the unanswered phone call from GO early on the morning of the disappearance and the connection between GO and FA. It's not much of a link, but it's all we have and it's probably the most likely scenario remaining. We know that WT was most likely taken and that means a vehicle would have been involved, even if it was never seen in that quiet area. My problem is trying to put together a scenario as to how FA could have made the snatch using RP's vehicle, hid the boy from sight at an unknown location, returned RP's vehicle back to the hospital for RP to drive home after dialysis, travelled back to the boy's hideout and then to the pick up place the following day to meet RP at the shed behind the school for the 300km lift. IMO, the only way FA could have managed this schedule is if he had help from an unknown 3rd party who might have hidden the boy overnight and provided transport for FA.

The other evidence which would either support or discredit this theory is the exact time William disappeared, and how long exactly he was out of sight from FM and FGM, as well as the timing and exact purpose and nature of FM's drive to the riding school and back. According to FM's testimony, William was not out of sight for long enough, and she didn't report hearing any cars. But we do have evidence from the Crabbes that they heard a car turn around in the driveway (exact time is unclear). There's also some discrepancies in FGM and FM's testimony around the timing - did William disappear before or after tea was made? How long elapsed before she took FGMs car for a drive? Why did she think William could have been as far away as the riding school? Why did nobody answer or return GOs phone call in the morning? How did GO "know about the situation" when FGM called him back in the afternoon, and why did he call in the morning anyway?

 

[Awakening]

Could FA have hidden the car in scrub and walked a few hundred meters to number 36?

 

[31550]

Could FA have hidden the car in scrub and walked a few hundred meters to number 36?

Do you mean 38?

It's possible, but why? He likely wouldn't have known William was there, so if FA abducted William, it was likely opportunistic not planned.

Unless he drove there and saw William running around the property, so hid the car further up Benaroon Drive, and returned on foot to grab William?

And sniffer dogs did not find William's scent beyond the boundaries of the property. So it seems he must have been removed by vehicle.

 

[stormbird]

Here's an extract from Searching for Spiderman (2020, page 168) which shows FM's explanation for not having heard the phone call from handyman GO at 9:10 am.

FM was on the stand at the inquest and answering questions from BS's lawyer. The book doesn't give the date but I think it would have been 26 March 2019.

I've replaced names with initials and replaced foster family pseudonyms with "FM" and "FGM".

---

"'On these [telephone] records I can see that following the call to [BS], a call from a [GO] was made to my mother's landline. I have no recollection of this phone call. I know that [GO] is my mother's handyman, but I do not know anything else about him.' The mystery of the forgotten call was cleared up when [FM] explained that the two adults were out in the driveway with the children at the time [GO] had telephoned.

'I think we went out to ride the bikes shortly after the phone call I made to [BS]. The phone cannot be heard from where we were riding the bikes,' she said.

[GO] was a qualified electrician and electronic technician who lived in Logans Crossing in 2014. The sixty-six-year-old kept a diary of all his work appointments. [GO] had done some plumbing for [FGM] back in June. On 8 September [2014], [FGM] asked [GO] to quote on replacing some rotting boards on her deck. He came to the house, looked at the job and rang through a quote. [FGM] gave him the go-ahead to repair the deck on Tuesday 16 September. Then, on 12 September, he received a call from [FGM].

'Can we put off the job to a later date. It is my grandson that is missing. Young William is my grandson.'"

---

 

[31550]

Here's an extract from Searching for Spiderman (2020, page 168) which shows FM's explanation for not having heard the phone call from handyman GO at 9:10 am.

FM was on the stand at the inquest and answering questions from BS's lawyer. The book doesn't give the date but I think it would have been 26 March 2019.

I've replaced names with initials and replaced foster family pseudonyms with "FM" and "FGM".

---

"'On these [telephone] records I can see that following the call to [BS], a call from a [GO] was made to my mother's landline. I have no recollection of this phone call. I know that [GO] is my mother's handyman, but I do not know anything else about him.' The mystery of the forgotten call was cleared up when [FM] explained that the two adults were out in the driveway with the children at the time [GO] had telephoned.

'I think we went out to ride the bikes shortly after the phone call I made to [BS]. The phone cannot be heard from where we were riding the bikes,' she said.

[GO] was a qualified electrician and electronic technician who lived in Logans Crossing in 2014. The sixty-six-year-old kept a diary of all his work appointments. [GO] had done some plumbing for [FGM] back in June. On 8 September [2014], [FGM] asked [GO] to quote on replacing some rotting boards on her deck. He came to the house, looked at the job and rang through a quote. [FGM] gave him the go-ahead to repair the deck on Tuesday 16 September. Then, on 12 September, he received a call from [FGM].

'Can we put off the job to a later date. It is my grandson that is missing. Young William is my grandson.'"

---

Chumley is reporting what was said at the inquest (several years later).
But this is not consistent with the FGM walkthrough video taken several days after William disappeared. She does not remember any phone calls in the morning, and says she rang GO in the afternoon and he indicated he was 'aware of the situation'.

What concerns me about this is, why ring GO to put him off coming?. It was the Friday, and he wasn't due until the following Tuesday. Why was FGM so sure William wouldn't simply be found on that Friday afternoon? Still doesn't explain why GO rang the house in the morning, if he was booked for Tuesday. Maybe he was also expected on Friday to do some preliminary work, or maybe he was wanting to start earlier.

The explanation given by GO at the inquest does not align with the FGM walkthrough, and does not explain the phone call in the morning.

 

[Awakening]

Do you mean 38?

It's possible, but why? He likely wouldn't have known William was there, so if FA abducted William, it was likely opportunistic not planned.

Unless he drove there and saw William running around the property, so hid the car further up Benaroon Drive, and returned on foot to grab William?

And sniffer dogs did not find William's scent beyond the boundaries of the property. So it seems he must have been removed by vehicle.

Yes whatever the house number is of FGM.

I’m wondering if FA hid his car, and lurked around with the intention of casing the houses for future thefts or stealing from cars or stuff left in the yards.

Im thinking of the Cleo case where the offender went to the camping grounds with the intention of stealing as he’d done before but this time stole a child.

If FA was lurking he could have seen FF leave and seen that WT wasn’t well supervised.

Perhaps he saw him regularly running out to the edge of the property, got his car, and seized the opportunity.