Former William Tyrrell suspect built ‘shrine’ to the missing boy. But he’s never been called to give evidence

A man once considered a “person of interest” in the disappearance of William Tyrrell built a “shrine” to the missing toddler in his home.

The display was discovered years after William went missing and reportedly featured images — including photographs of the boy from media reports — and handwritten poetry about the police investigation.

It also reportedly included a quote from the case’s former lead detective Gary Jubelin about leaving “no stone unturned”.

The shrine was plastered on the wall at the foot of the man’s bed in his home, located in bushland a few hundred metres away from the Benaroon Drive home in Kendall on the NSW Mid-North Coast home where William was reported missing in September 2014.

And, yet, the man has never been called to give evidence at the inquest into the three-year-old’s disappearance, which is due to close within months.

This is despite the insistence of former lead detective Gary Jubelin, who wrote to the NSW director of inquests about the man’s “concerning” behaviour — the “shrine” to William being the “most concerning” of all — and insisted the man be called as a witness.

But a new podcast has raised questions about why authorities left the man — who has not been named — out of the witness box given the flags raised about him.

The man — known by detectives as ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ for his off-the-grid lifestyle — told news.com.au his property was not searched until two days after William’s disappearance. He said he was home alone at the time the boy was reported missing and he had no alibi for that fateful morning, but denied any involvement.

There is no suggestion he was involved in William’s disappearance, and he has never been charged with any related offence in the matter.

Years later, while Mr Jubelin led the investigation, the man was placed under surveillance and his property was searched. Small bones, later found to be animal, were uncovered. The man at first denied they were there then said they were planted by police.

Writing to coronial officials in 2020, a year after he was removed from the case (he was convicted of illicitly recording conversations with a person of interest), Mr Jubelin said he did not question the man in detail and expected “at the very least” he be called into the inquest as a witness.

“There were a number things about [the man] that I consider concerning,” Mr Jubelin wrote.

The man reportedly visited Port Macquarie police station multiple times — once he allegedly demanded to speak to Mr Jubelin, another time he allegedly put “his hands across the service counter and motioning (sic) for himself to be handcuffed and arrested for William’s disappearance”.

“What was not put to him and is most concerning is he had what could best be described as a shrine to William Tyrrell at the end of his bed,” Mr Jubelin wrote.

When questioned at his Kendall property by news.com.au, the man said a detective had previously falsely accused him of being involved in William’s disappearance.

He said: “I told Jubelin it’s somebody who knew he [William] was there [at home]. It had to be somebody who knew he was there.”

Mr Jubelin was replaced by Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw, who is currently leading the investigation into William’s disappearance, which has reached its 10th year.

Focus has shifted to William’s foster mother in recent years, and authorities have sent a brief of evidence to the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions seeking advice on whether she should be charged. The woman, who cannot be named, denies any involvement in William’s disappearance.

The inquest into William’s disappearance is due to resume in November.