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A convicted paedophile has lashed out at the media after he was unable to say where he was on the day William Tyrrell disappeared on the NSW mid-north coast.
- Tony Jones was jailed for child sex offences weeks after William Tyrrell's disappearance in 2014
- He denied he was parked at Henry Kendall Reserve on the day the toddler went missing
- His son told the inquest he hadn't seen Mr Jones on the day of the disappearance
Tony Jones missed his flight from Sydney this morning before he got a flat tyre as detectives drove him to Taree to give evidence at the inquest into the toddler's suspected murder.
The small town of Kendall descended into chaos on September 12, 2014, when William Tyrrell vanished while playing outside his foster grandmother's home.
On that morning, Tony Jones told his now ex-wife Debbie Jones he was heading out into the Bago State Forest to collect scrap metal with his son, Duane Gardoll.
"Mum asked me where he was and I told her I hadn't seen him all day," Mr Gardoll told the inquest this morning.
His now estranged father raised his voice when Counsel Assisting Gerard Craddock grilled him about where he was that day.
"I have no recollections, none whatsoever, and I'll be honest, if I wasn't scrapping I was probably sleeping with Debbie's friend next door," Tony Jones said.
Max Jones, who is not a relative, gave evidence at Taree Courthouse yesterday, and said he saw Tony Jones parked in a white Camry at Henry Kendall Reserve on the day the toddler went missing.
"That person who recognised me needs to go to an optometrist," Tony Jones told the inquest.
The car had belonged to Debbie Jones.
"She's a control freak … I was never allowed to drive Debbie's cars," he said.
The court heard Mr Gardoll stopped speaking to his father when he found out he drugged his mother and was jailed for child sex offences weeks after William Tyrrell's disappearance.
Tony Jones covered his face with his black hooded jumper when he stormed down the stairs of Taree Courthouse and into an unmarked car driven by detectives.
"Get out of my way!" he yelled while knocking the camera out of the hands of a photographer and pushing through a media scrum.
The convicted sex offender made no comment when reporters asked him if he knew what happened to William Tyrrell.
He will resume giving evidence on Wednesday.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, crime, missing-person, police, kendall-2439, nsw
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