William Tyrrell disappearance: Grandmother reveals she ‘hid’ toddler and parents from authorities

William Tyrrell’s biological grandmother has made a stunning admission that she “arranged” for the boy to be hidden from authorities years before his fateful disappearance.

William was last seen alive at his foster grandmother’s house in Kendall on September 12, 2014. An immediate, desperate search for the boy in the Spider-Man suit ensued. Police quickly suspected the three-year-old was kidnapped.

Ten years later, despite a $1 million reward for information to find the missing boy, William has not been found. Authorities are set to resume an inquest into his suspected death in November.

But that fateful disappearance was not the first time William was reported missing.

Natalie Collins, the toddler’s biological grandmother, revealed to news.com.au that she “arranged” for the toddler to be taken into hiding two years earlier after a court ordered he be taken from his parents.

Speaking to the Witness: William Tyrrell podcast, Ms Collins said she “hid them for three months” after she learned state government officials were “going to take William”.

“I arranged it all,” she said.

That first disappearance caused police to set up a dedicated strike force to find William, who was seven months old at the time.

“I should have taken him myself … Then no one would have been able to take him off me. That’s what I should have done,” Ms Collins told the podcast.

The court ordered William to be taken from his biological parents, Brendan Collins and Karlie Tyrrell, in February 2012.

According to news.com.au, the court heard that the NSW government Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) raised concerns about domestic violence and substance abuse within William’s family.

The court ordered William to be placed under the responsibility of a state government minister. Ms Tyrrell was reportedly in court to hear the ruling.

The court ordered government officials to collect William from her home that afternoon but when they arrived, news.com.au reports, the family had gone into hiding.

A police strike force (Duncraig) was established to find William but over the following weeks to no avail.

William was found and taken by authorities in 2012. He was placed with his foster parents — who cannot be named — who reported him missing in 2014.

A second strike force (Rosann) was established to find him in 2014. Police have identified several persons of interest in the search for William but he has not been found.

No one has been charged over his disappearance.

Ms Collins said that state officials “failed” in their responsibility to William. She said the government made the wrong decision to take her grandson in 2012.

“They [FaCs] failed to do their job properly,” she said.

“Because this shouldn’t happen these days with foster care children.”

She said the government’s decision to take William into state care has “stuffed all of us [her family] up”.

As part of the podcast, news.com.au spoke to an official — who asked not to be named — present when William was taken from his mother and placed into foster care. He also questioned whether removing William was the right choice, given his subsequent disappearance in 2014.

He told the podcast no other case he has “squared away” in his career affects him the way William’s does.

An inquest into William’s suspected death is set to resume in November.