William Tyrrell’s foster parents accused of rigging property sale

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William Tyrrell’s former foster parents have faced court over allegations they rigged the sale of a property they owned on Sydney’s upper north shore.

Police allege the pair placed a dummy bidder to bump up the auction price of the Killara home, in December 2020.

They were each charged with one count of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage or causing disadvantage by deception.

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During a brief hearing in Parramatta Local Court on Friday, prosecutors said they would introduce a lesser, regulatory charge and dismiss the existing allegations.

Police are awaiting authorisation from the NSW Department of Fair Trading to lay the new charges.

The couple’s lawyer told the court an agreement was reached late on Thursday evening, they would plead guilty to the new charges.

The pair faced court on Friday. Credit: AAP

A next hearing date has been set for September 4.

Mystery surrounds the 2014 disappearance of William Tyrrell, who was three years old when he vanished from a property belonging to his grandmother, in Kendall on NSW’s mid-north coast.

Police have consistently sought answers in the years since his disappearance, including conducting a thorough search of the Kendall property in December 2020.

In June, lawyers for the foster mother called on detectives to respond to reports criminal proceedings were being considered against her over William’s disappearance.

“The foster mother has always, and maintains, she has nothing to do with William’s disappearance,” the lawyers said in a statement.

The woman, aged in her late 50s, was acquitted in 2022 of lying to the NSW Crime Commission about hitting a different child with a wooden spoon.