William Tyrrell person of interest Frank Abbott allegedly linked to a second unsolved murder

Mercury

20-05-2025

A convicted child abuser has allegedly been linked to a second unsolved murder victim by evidence tendered to the William Tyrrell inquest – but police have not contacted witnesses to find out more.
News.com.au yesterday revealed NSW Police Force detectives never contacted the family of another murder victim to say new evidence had also come to light at the inquest linking her death to the same sex offender.
The allegations about the second victim are contained in a 2019 witness statement tendered to the inquest and released to the Witness: William Tyrrell podcast by the Coroner's Court of NSW. Its full contents have not been made public before now.
The witness, Iris Northam, said she was told her evidence would be passed on to the Unsolved Homicide Team but five years later she has heard nothing.
'I don't know whether they said anything or just completely forgot about it,' Ms Northam said.
Another witness named in her statement as having allegedly seen this murder victim at the house of the same convicted offender has also not been contacted by the police.
That sex offender, Frank Abbott, was identified as a 'person of interest' by police investigating William's disappearance in September 2014, though he has denied any involvement.
Abbott is currently in prison for sexually assaulting two girls and a boy and was previously found not guilty of murdering 17-year-old Helen Harrison.
He has not responded to written questions about alleged links to the second murder victim, 38-year-old mum-of-three Margaret Cox, and he was never questioned at the William Tyrrell inquest.
We are not suggesting these new allegations are true, just that they were tendered in evidence at the inquest and have not been followed up by the police.
Margaret was last seen in Taree, on the NSW Mid North Coast, on the night of Thursday
19 December 1996. Her body was found two days later in the nearby Manning River. Forensic examination revealed she had been sexually assaulted.
DNA from four people was found on Margaret's underwear, though only three of those people could be identified – none of whom was Abbott.
An inquest later found the cause of Margaret's death 'was blunt force injuries to her head, inflicted on her by person or persons unknown'.
Margaret Cox was last seen on Thursday 19 December 1996 near the Big Oyster service station on the Pacific Hwy about midnight. Ms Cox's body was found the following weekend.
Murdered woman Margaret Cox, whose body was found floating in Manning River, Taree district.
Mrs Northam said she first met Abbott around 1989 when he started work at a scrapyard she ran with her husband Ainsley in Taree. About 18 months later Abbott was arrested for Helen's murder and subsequently acquitted, after which they remained friends.
The morning after Margaret's body was discovered, Mrs Northam and her husband met Abbott who had 'about 7-8 gouge marks on the top part of his lower arm', according to her witness statement.
'They looked to be a couple of days old as they had a kind of festy look that wounds get before they start to heal.'
Abbott said the cuts were caused by oysters, according to Mrs Northam's statement, 'however I remember thinking that the marks on his arm really didn't match what he was telling us.'
Frank Abbott in 1994. Picture: Dean Sewell/SMH
Frank Abbott, then 79, in June of 2014. Abbott is a person of interest in the disappearance of William Tyrrell.
Her statement also names a second potential witness, Noel Sonter, as saying 'that he had seen the Cox woman at Frank's house just prior to her murder.
'Noel said that he remembered the woman as she had a bandage on one arm and when he saw the photo of her in the paper after her murder, he recognised that it was the same person'.
We contacted Noel Sonter and spoke to his wife Ute, who confirmed he claimed to have seen a woman at Abbott's house with a bandage or similar on her arm.
Mr Sonter, who is getting older and no longer up to being interviewed, did not remember who the woman was, his wife said.
We spoke to the former detective who led the initial investigation into Margaret's death and a retired nurse who treated her in hospital shortly before her murder. Both said Margaret was released on the day of her disappearance, or shortly before, with a bandage on her arm.
Mrs Sonter confirmed no one from the police had contacted them about Abbott, Margaret or Mrs Northam's witness statement.
'We've all said all along that the police never investigated Frank (Abbott) enough,' Mrs Sonter told us.
Asked why, she said, 'There was just something about Frank. I didn't like him and I never liked him. It was just creepy … He'd brush up against you.
'I tried to stay away from him.'
Iris Northam has come forward as a witness. Picture: Dan Box/news.com.au
Ms Northam's 2019 witness statement also said her husband and Mr Sonter did try to tell police about Abbott in the days after Margaret was murdered but were told, 'Oh no, we've got someone for that.'
No one was ever charged over Margaret's murder.
Ms Northam's husband Ainsley is also getting older and no longer able to be interviewed.
Abbott himself has declined to answer questions, as has the Coroner's Court of NSW, which is investigating the disappearance of William Tyrrell.
The NSW Police Force also declined to answer questions, other than saying Margaret Cox's murder is 'with the Unsolved Homicide Team who are also aware of the Helen Harrison matter'.
In an emailed statement, the force said, 'any information that is identified relating to a homicide is assessed and relevant inquiries conducted'.
Originally published as William Tyrrell person of interest Frank Abbott allegedly linked to a second unsolved murder