‘Knows too much': Inmate of William Tyrrell person of interest reveals bombshell claims

News.com.au

03-06-2025

A 'person of interest' in the William Tyrrell investigation gave a detailed account of the three-year-old's death to another prisoner, who says he tried to tell police but has 'just been brushed to the side'.
Simon Sutherland shared an accommodation block with the person of interest, Frank Abbott, in Sydney's Long Bay prison between late March and early April this year.
'He just starts talking about it, like it's nothing,' Sutherland said. 'Like, 'Hey, you know about that William Tyrrell? … I'll tell you the truth'.'
The details of Abbott's alleged account are disturbing and unproven, although several parts seem to refer to people, places or things heard in evidence before an inquest investigating William's disappearance.
Sutherland said Abbott claimed William was abducted, kept in a wood yard and that his death was an accident, after which the three-year-old's body was disposed of in a suitcase.
'He tells the same story, apparently, to everybody. Like he just starts saying 'Oh, I was the main suspect in the William Tyrrell investigation,' Sutherland continued. 'It's his 15 minutes of fame.'
Abbott, himself a convicted child abuser, insisted that he was not responsible for what happened, Sutherland said, 'but when he is telling you, he knows more. It's just he knows too much.'
Sutherland, who was in prison for a stalk/intimidate offence before his release in April, said he is speaking out after attempting to report what Abbott told him to police, including in a phone call with the lead detective on the case, David Laidlaw.
Sutherland said Detective Chief Inspector Laidlaw told him he was busy, that police continued to believe William's foster mother was involved in the three-year-old's disappearance and he would follow up by phone or email – but this never happened.
He also said Abbott described sitting in a four-wheel-drive or station wagon 'in a cul-de-sac (with) a walking trail at the end'. That car had 'all the windows fogged up and somebody went past him and … he thought he was caught out then.'
The description of a cul-de-sac with a walking trail at the end matches that of Benaroon Drive, where William was reported missing on 12 September 2014.
William's foster mother has previously given evidence saying she saw a white station wagon outside the house where they were staying that morning and a separate witness has told us she saw a station wagon with fogged up windows on the road that day.
Police and the inquest investigating William's disappearance have found no evidence Abbott was on Benaroon Drive the day he was reported missing. We are not saying these new allegations are true, just that they have been made and not been followed up by police.
William's foster mother, who has been publicly identified by police and media as the 'chief suspect' has not been charged in relation to his suspected death and has repeatedly denied any involvement.
DCI Laidlaw's final witness statement to the inquest was heavily redacted with the senior lawyer saying it reflected 'one person's opinions' and that police had found no forensic or eyewitness evidence of what happened to William.
Abbott does identify two men as being allegedly involved in William's disappearance, according to Sutherland, although we are not naming them as there is no evidence to support this.
Evidence before the inquest shows Abbott has a history of suggesting other people may have been involved in what happened.
There are also other unsubstantiated claims in Abbott's version, according to Sutherland, including that he drove to a nearby airport to pick up a green car soon after William went missing.
Abbott also claimed to have been in a different town on the day itself 'to go to this guy's house to check his mail', said Sutherland.
This contrasts an account given by Abbott on recorded prison phone calls, tendered to the inquest, where he claimed a bank transaction proved he was somewhere else at the time.
Witness: William Tyrrell.
'Like I explained to the copper, I said 'Look mate, if it was a drug dealer on drug dealer (murder), I wouldn't give two sh*ts'. I said, 'It's a little boy. … It's a different story when it's a bloody kid.'
The NSW Police Force and Abbott have declined to answer questions.