Top cop taken off Tyrrell case for alleged misconduct
THE state's most high-profile detective has been taken off the investigation into missing little boy William Tyrrell for alleged misconduct including illegally using his phone as a listening device.
It can be revealed Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin has been interviewed by the Professional Standards Command over a number of allegations about his conduct on Strike Force Rosann, which is looking into William's 2014 disappearance.
The allegations included that Insp Jubelin used a mobile phone, without a warrant, to record someone and a number of other allegations relating to staff management.
Sources confirmed Insp Jubelin, a veteran Homicide Squad detective portrayed in the 2012 TV show Underbelly: Badness, was no longer working on the case.
When contacted today Insp Jubelin would make no comment.
NSW Police confirmed in a statement "an internal investigation is currently under way".
"The acting state coroner and counsel assisting have been briefed and the William Tyrrell inquest will proceed as planned."
Tensions within the strike force were publicly exposed in August when reports surfaced of a heated verbal argument between Insp Jubelin and another Rosann member, Detective Sergeant Craig Lambert.
A statement from police at the time said: "A passion for the job is an imperative trait for a detective, robust workplace disagreements are not uncommon."
The Telegraph does not suggest any complaint made about Insp Jubelin was from Sergeant Lambert.
In early 2015, Insp Jubelin took charge of the search for three-year-old William - the happy little boy who vanished wearing his Spider-Man suit from the front lawn of his foster grandmother's home in Kendall near Port Macquarie, on September 12, 2014.
The prominent Insp Jubelin led a major new bushland search and publicity drive in June to try to flush out whoever took William.
"I dare say that with the intense interest in William's disappearance that someone watching this now might be feeling very uncomfortable … I'd suggest you come to us before we come to you," he told a sea of cameras on Benaroon Dr almost four years after William went missing there.
His removal from the case has seen another senior homicide investigator, Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw, take the helm on Strike Force Rosann.
Insp Jubelin has become renowned for relentless pursuit of cold-case murders and support for stricken families of victims.
He led the 20-year investigation into the Bowraville murders of three indigenous children in the 1990s and the successful probe into the death of Michelle Leng, brutally murdered and dumped in a blowhole by her uncle in 2016.
He rose to be the state's most celebrated detective with the help of the Underbelly program, in which former footballer Matt Nable portrayed him on the case of renowned murderer and drug kingpin Anthony Perish.
Insp Jubelin also refused to give up on the search for 20-year-old Matthew Leveson, whose remains were found in the Royal National Park a decade after Leveson was last seen leaving a Sydney nightclub in 2007.
Leveson's former boyfriend Michael Atkins led police to the burial site after doing a deal with the Attorney-General for immunity on contempt and perjury charges.
In September, police announced an inquest into William's disappearance before deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame, due to start on March 25. The inquest is expected to hear from persons of interest, witnesses and about evidence police have kept quiet for years.
The investigation has so-far covered a local whitegoods repair man, suspicious cars parked in the street that day, a local paedophile ring and thousands of tips from the public.
But none have led police to William, despite a $1 million reward for information on his whereabouts, announced in 2016 on the second anniversary of his suspected abduction.
