The coroner overseeing the inquest into William Tyrrell’s disappearance in 2014 has issued a warning after the toddler’s foster mother was abused outside court.
Counsel assisting Gerard Craddock SC told the deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame that someone had yelled at the foster mother at Lidcombe coroners court on Monday as the inquest resumed for two further weeks of evidence.
Craddock said on Tuesday someone had “mentioned her name” as she was leaving court the previous day. He noted there was “no place for that in civil society”.
“Fairness is deserved by all who come here for whatever reason,” Craddock said.
“That sort of conduct is something that could, if established, amount to a punishable contempt of court.”
Grahame said such behaviour would not be tolerated. “I do issue a stern warning, please behave in an appropriate manner,” the coroner said.
The foster mother cannot be identified due to a non-publication order. Any breach of that order could represent contempt of court.
The inquest is this week hearing evidence about a 2021 police search for William at Kendall and a police theory the foster mother disposed of the three-year-old’s body after his accidental death.
William went missing while playing at his foster grandmother’s home on the mid-north coast of New South Wales on 12 September 2014.
The foster mother has always denied having anything to do with William’s disappearance.
Craddock on Monday opened the fifth round of the inquest by stating police now believed the boy’s foster mother found him deceased after a fall from the balcony of the grandmother’s Kendall property.
Police suspect the foster mother might have then loaded his body into her mother’s Mazda, the court has heard.
Police believe she then alerted a neighbour to William’s disappearance before driving down the road to dispose of his remains in some undergrowth. It was only then that she called triple zero, according to investigators’ theory.
No trace of the toddler has been found despite intense searches. The decade-long investigation has involved hundreds of persons of interest but no one has ever been charged. A $1m reward for information stands.
The court heard on Tuesday that the initial search in September 2014 included dog handlers looking for a decomposing body.
Snr Const Adam Aitken said the cadaver dog Digger was used for days during the initial search across a number of private properties.
Aitken said the initial search did not cover the area examined intensively in 2021.
Snr Const Jost Preis told the court on Tuesday he used data from GPS trackers worn by police and others during the 2018 and 2021 searches to create a colour-coded map of the entire search area.
The inquest into William’s disappearance started in March 2019 and was adjourned in October 2020.
The current hearings will examine the 2021 search of the Kendall property and surrounds – the third by police into William’s whereabouts.
In looking for William, police followed through on tip-offs from prison inmates and clairvoyants claiming to have information.
One lead involved a car that was heard doing a U-turn in the street outside the foster grandmother’s home about the time of the disappearance, Craddock said on Monday.
But police had been unable to verify that information or track down the vehicle. The inquest continues.
