William Tyrrell former lead investigator slams police tactics for singling out foster mother

The former top detective in the William Tyrrell investigation has called for a public inquiry into the handling of the case by police.

Gary Jubelin, who was lead detective until he was dumped over a misconduct investigation in 2019, questioned the tactics used by detectives.

He slammed police for singling out the missing boy’s foster mother after she was named last year as a person of interest in the disappearance of the little boy.

William’s foster grandmother was also a person of interest as police renewed their search for the missing boy near her home in Kendall, on the NSW mid north coast. 

Both have denied any wrongdoing and no charges have been laid against them.

Mr Jubelin questioned why the foster mother was being investigated after he had previously ruled out her involvement while he was lead detective. 

‘I’ve worked many homicides and been accused of playing hardball when working those cases, but I understand actions have consequences and there is no way I would have singled out a person with a strategy like that,’ he told Daily Telegraph.

‘Perhaps it is time for a public inquiry into the handling of the investigation from the moment William disappeared, including how certain information has been leaked to the media.’ 

Mr Jubelin shed more light on his investigation in his new book ‘Badness’ – which has been published by Harper Collins and will be released on September 5.

He explained the ‘couple’s grief’ was one of the first signs the foster parents were not involved in William’s disappearance.

He said he was approached by a detective who still had their doubts about the couple so Mr Jubelin asked them to visit him at Parramatta, western Sydney, in 2016.

He said he had made it seem like he was inviting them to the police station to give them an update on the investigation.

Instead he was actually planning to interview them separately.

He said he challenged the foster mother who claimed William was wearing shoes at the time he disappeared on September 12, 2014.

The claim was made even though the last photo of William was taken right before he vanished showing the little boy with bare feet.

Mr Jubelin said the foster mother had explained to him that she had told William to put on his shoes after the photo was taken and before he went running on the grass.

The foster father was then questioned before Mr Jubelin led the pair back to their car – neither of their accounts indicating they were involved in the disappearance. 

Mr Jubelin also questioned the tactics of detectives who took over the investigation after he was taken off the case in 2019.

He wondered why the foster mother was still being targeted and how information was leaked to the public that she was facing unrelated assault charges.

William’s foster parents appeared in court in November where they pleaded not guilty to assaulting a 10-year-old girl. 

His foster mother faced court in June over allegedly hitting the girl with a wooden spoon and kicking her on the floor causing ‘pain and bruising’. 

In April, the foster parents were charged for knowingly giving false or misleading information to a NSW Crime Commission hearing about William’s disappearance. 

In August, NSW Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the couple also face one count each of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

They are accused of getting a person to deliberately make fake bids on a Sydney property last December.

Mr Jubelin also took issue with claims he had ‘messed up the case’ after he was removed as lead detective in 2019.

He was convicted of illegally recording four conversations with a person of interest.