Unofficial Transcript: DCI Jubelin’s Press Conference on the 3rd Anniversary of the Disappearance of William Tyrrell
7 News
12 September 2017
Source:
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Abbreviations:
Time:
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Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin, Leading Investigator, Strike Force Rosann:
GJ
Reporter:
R
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(06:32) GJ:
'I'm Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin from the New South Wales Homicide Squad. I'm leading the investigation into the disappearance of William Tyrrell.
As you know, William Tyrrell disappeared from his grandmother's yard at Kendall. Despite extensive investigations over three years, at this point in time the matter has remained unsolved.
I'm here today to address the media because we're very mindful of the public's interest in this matter. We're very mindful of the public's expectations that a crime of this nature should be solved.
I can assure you that we haven't given up on the investigation. I can assure you that we will not give up on the investigation. The investigation is currently very active. It's unusual to brief an investigation midway through the investigation but we are mindful of the interest in this matter.
The circumstances in which William disappeared leads us to believe there was human intervention and we're following up the investigation along those lines.
It's been twelve months since I last spoke to the media in relation to the announcement of a million dollar reward. That million dollar reward, which is unprecedented in New South Wales, is still on offer for anyone that has information that leads to the recovery of William Tyrrell.
I'd also like to stress that the type of information that we're looking for — and I want common sense to be used in relation to this — I don't want to get bogged down in pieces of information that are not relevant. It's three years down the track — let's be realistic. We're not interested in sightings of a child running around in a Spider-Man suit, playing in a McDonald's car park.
What we are interested in is people who have genuine information. That information might be in the form of someone that has concerns about someone they know, someone within their family. That the way they react when William Tyrrell's name is mentioned might cause suspicion. We're interested in speaking to these people. If we speak to those people, we can do it with the strictest of confidence and I would encourage those people to come forward.
But, please, don't waste our time. We're not interested in clairvoyants or people that have dreams. We're focussed on this investigation, following up information that's relevant to William's disappearance.
Be mindful that William is now six years of age, if he is still alive. Obviously we have concerns for his welfare but this is a unique investigation and we're keeping all possibilities open in regards to that.
I'm happy to take questions in relation to this. Before I do, I'd just like to address the recent information that's come out in the media about the foster care and biological family. I'd like to say that this has not impacted on the investigation in any way.
The foster care parents that had custody of William at the time of his disappearance were bringing up William in a loving family and the situation between foster care and the biological family played no part in William's disappearance.
I'd also like to reinforce that we're not giving up on this investigation. It doesn't sit well with me personally that three years down the track we haven't solved this investigation. It does not sit well with the members of Strike Force Rosann, that are tasked to investigate this matter, nor the New South Wales police. We know there is an expectation a crime of this nature will be solved and we intend to solve it.'
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(09:58) R:
'Mr Jubelin, on the subject of William's foster care, have you been able to rule out involvement by the foster family or the natural family in his disappearance?'
(10:08) GJ:
'The simple answer to that, yes. I'm standing here saying I have ruled out the foster carer parents and I have ruled out the biological parents as being involved in this investigation.'
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(10:17) R:
'It's been described as Bill Spedding was a person of interest. Is he still a person of interest twelve months on?'
(10:23) GJ:
'This is a current investigation. I won't speak specifically in regards to persons of interest. We keep an open mind to everything until this is solved but I will not discuss specific persons of interest.'
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(10:36) R:
'In twelve months, can you narrow down how many persons of interest — with no names — you may have?'
(10:42) GJ:
'This is a dynamic investigation. I think the last time I spoke to the media we talked about a large number of persons of interest that we have in this matter. A substantial amount of those persons of interest have now been reduced but, because of the dynamic nature of this investigation, that list of persons of interest is constantly being added to so we are reducing the persons of interest.
Without going into methodology, we prioritise our lines of inquiry. We prioritise persons of interest and we target them. And we make no apologies to the vigorous way in which we target persons of interest. This is a serious crime that we're treating with the intensity that it deserves and we target persons of interest until we can thoroughly eliminate them.'
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(11:24) R:
'[Unintelligible] this is to the complexity of the investigation, can you give us, then, a ballpark figure, how many people you're targeting?'
(11:31) GJ:
'I can give you a ballpark figure — it's in the hundreds — but then we break that down from high priority persons of interest to more low risk persons of interest.
And the strike force is comprised of members from Homicide, from Local Area Command and also specialised commands. The Strike Force Rosann concentrate on the high priority persons of interest.'
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(11:53) R:
'Are the majority of those suspects sex offenders?'
(11:58) GJ:
'I think we need to keep an open mind in regards to this. There's an assumption right from the start, that a three year old child's been abducted that may, or may not, be the sexual predator. We're keeping an open mind to that. I can't break down specifically how many persons of interest are on the basis of suspicion attached to their sexual interests in children but I do want to stress this is a unique investigation. I'm very mindful that we've looked at all possibilities and I keep an open mind to it.
I hear stories from overseas of situations where children have disappeared for decades and the turned up in circumstances. I also hear stories of incidents have occurred that are by accident and been covered up and then revealed. So, we are keeping an open mind to it and our focus is not just on sex offenders or, let's break it down; paedophiles. We're not just looking at that aspect of it.
And we're also mindful that our research tells us that the child, at the age of three, doesn't necessarily fit into the parameters of childless couples where young babies have been abducted. It's that unique nature of this investigation that's making this particularly trying.'
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(13:15) R:
'Gary, you haven't got a result yet and so, clearly, it's very frustrating. Just how much progress have you made in three years?'
(13:22) GJ:
'Every day, and to stand here it sounds counterintuitive to say that we're making progress, and here I am saying three years down the track we still haven't solved it. But each day we're learning more about what happened at the time and we're eliminating people. So I'd say we're making progress each day. We've got a body of evidence that now is extreme. This is, in terms of scale of the investigation. We've got over four thousand pieces of information we're following up. Progress is being made.
It doesn't help the family — they've got this unresolved grief — that they're looking for answers for what's happened to William. We're very mindful of that and we don't think this has been a success by any stretch of the imagination.
Three years down the track, I'm not standing here saying, look, we're working hard. I'm saying we're not going to give up. We're going to keep fighting until we find out what's happened to him and help the families bring some form of closure.'
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(14:18) R:
'Is there a trigger point at all for a coronial investigation?'
(14:20) GJ:
'We liaise with the State Coroner. I've met with the State Coroner in relation to this. At the appropriate time for this matter to be referred to the Coroner would be when we've exhausted all our lines of enquiry.
At this point in time, we're far from exhausting all our lines of enquiry so, at this point in time, would be premature for the matter to be referred to the Coroner.'
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(14:42) R:
'Sorry, Gary, could I just get you to say that again for me? At what point is the trigger point?'
(14:48) GJ:
'The trigger point and, I base this on my experience in homicide investigations, is when we've exhausted all lines of enquiry. At this point in time, we haven't.
If this matter was referred to the Coroner basically, and I can't speak on behalf of the Coroner but, from my experience, we will continue on with the investigation.
When you've exhausted that, then may be the time for a coronial investigation.
I'm personally hoping it doesn't get to a coronial investigation because that would be indicative of us finding out what's happened to William.'
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(15:16) R:
'You mentioned those(?) overseas cases. Have you been in touch with investigators in other cases around the world, for example, Madeline McCann?'
(15:24) GJ:
'I won't go into the specifics of the people that I've spoken to but, yes, we have spoken to identified experts overseas in relation to this. Anyone that we believe could value add to the investigation, we're open to speaking to them.
One thing that has done speaking to the experts overseas, is that it's reinforced to us that we're on the right track in the way that we're approaching this investigation.'
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(15:50) R:
'You've got a million dollar reward, which you yourself said is unprecedented. Does that give you the idea that, when you've heard nothing, noone's rattled the cage on that, do you think you are dealing with one person alone here and that there is no one else who knows anything about it?'
(16:02) GJ:
'I certainly think that's a reasonable assumption that could be made, that the fact that one million dollars is here on offer for someone to come forward and claim, so we do look at that aspect of it.
What I'm appealing to and this is why, and I go back to what I said a few moments ago, that anyone who's got suspicions about some close to them; come forward. That's the type of information we're interested in now and the million dollars is there on offer so, if you're proved correct well, then, you've got a legitimate claim to that information.
But someone out there — even if they've operated alone, would be acting strange in relation to this investigation. When they see this, when they see it in the media on the front page of the paper, there's going to be a strange reaction by the person responsible for this.
I want that person to feel the pressure. I want that person to feel that everyone's looking at them, and let's see where that takes us.'
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(16:59) R:
'So, that is a line of inquiry that it is one person, working alone. The only person who knows about it.'
(17:05) GJ:
'Yes, one of the many lines of inquiry. As I've stressed, we're keeping an open mind.'
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(17:13) R:
'We saw the statement put out by the foster family and you're obviously in regular touch with them. How are they doing three years on?'
(17:20) GJ:
'Look, I've got nothing but admiration for them, the way that they're handling this situation. I don't think — it's basically a living nightmare. This unresolved grief that they've got. It's difficult for them to get on with life. They're decent people and they're suffering; as you would imagine. I think anyone with an ounce of empathy would understand what they're going through and that's why we're, we're feeling the pressure. As the investigators and the people responsible for helping find out what's happened to him. We're feeling that pressure and we all want to help them in solving this matter.'
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(17:55) R:
'You've had people contacting you saying they've had dreams — they've had visions of what's happened to William. I mean, how frustrating is that for you, when you're trying run a professional investigation and chase up concrete leads?'
(18:07) GJ:
'Very annoying. Very annoying and I think quite often they prey on vulnerable people. I've seen it, not just in this investigation, in other investigations where they involve themselves in the investigation based on a dream or, you know, that claim to be clairvoyants.
I've never seen a clairvoyant solve an investigation and it's just a distraction. It’s a distraction that takes up our time and we'd like to focus on the facts and information, proper information, to follow up on.'
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(18:35) R:
'When you announced the reward last year, you said that any, that that the person who came forward with information would be absolved from any charges themselves of concealing a criminal offence. Does that offer still stand?'
(18:48) GJ:
'That offer does still stand. If someone's concealed a serious offence — and I won't go into the nitty gritty of the legalities of it. But, if someone's been sitting on this information and then come forward, the concealment of that offence ends there. So, what I'm saying, if you've got information, you've got concerns, come forward and we can deal with it.
Our main focus is finding out what's happened to William and, when I speak to the family, that's all they want to find out. It's not about vengeance or revenge here. They want to find out what's happened to William. And this is what we need to bring the closure for them and finding out what's happened.'
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(19:25) R:
'You got a result for Matthew Leveson that was, just on a personal note for you. That you drove that almost, some say, like an obsession but you got the result, and that was obviously gratifying for you. The important thing with this one, how are you and you've been around a long time, is this the one that just gets to you?'
(19:48) GJ:
'Look, I think it would be unfair to me for me to talk about how it impacts on me personally when I also see how it impacts on the team that I'm working with.
Everyone working on this investigation is impacted by this. This is a crime that, it's once in a generation type crime, it's once in a career type investigation that you work on and I can assure you, it's weighing very heavily on all of us. That we want to solve this and that translates into the way we approach it, the effort we put in.'
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(20:20) R:
'The Walk for William advocates have been talking today about a potential bush track escape route from the bush to the highway. Is something about that coming up here?'
(20:35) GJ:
'Look, there's a lot of people who make commentary on this. I'd say, I'd say, we're the ones investigating the matter, we're fully aware of the circumstances. We know what happened in Kendall and around Kendall and all the bush tracks. That's pure speculation on their behalf.'
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(20:50) R:
'What about, are the cars still of interest?'
(20:55) GJ:
'We're still looking at the cars. From the last time we put the appeals out for the cars, we received a lot of information and that's a line of inquiry that we're following up. As I said, it is unusual for an active investigation to go into how we're approaching it but, because of the uniqueness of the investigation and the public’s interest, we prioritise our lines of inquiry.
So we'll have a person of interest and we'll focus on that person of interest, we'll focus on the cars and we've got lines of inquiry going all over the place. We've got our dedicated Strike Force but we've also got access to all other investigators across the state if we need them.'
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(21:31) R:
'There was a car seized, at one point, matching the description of the graphics that were put out there. Can you say that [unintelligible] been ruled out?'
(21:42) GJ:
'I can only say it's been eliminated.'
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(21:45) R:
'How many suspects have you ruled out in the past twelve months? Are they dozens or hundreds?'
(21:48) GJ:
'Hundreds. Hundreds, and look it sounds like a very strong term when I say suspect or person of interest. Basically, these are people that we feel need further inquiries to be carried out to eliminate them but, in terms of persons of interest, we've eliminated hundreds in the past twelve months, since I spoke.'
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(22:11) R:
'The so-called revelations about William's background. Obviously they're not unknown to the investigation team. How would you describe them? Are they a distraction?'
(22:22) GJ:
'Look, they're peripheral distractions. We focus on what's important. We knew the background to William so it's just a peripheral distraction. But, one thing I could say, knowing the biological family and the foster family that, you know, if you could respect their privacy it would be appreciated. As I've said, I've eliminated them from the investigation and it is just a distraction.'
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(22:48) R:
'Right. Good luck.'
(22:49) GJ:
'Thankyou.'
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