Police 'looking for remains' as new William Tyrrell searches launched

Hundreds of police officers will descend on the NSW Mid North Coast, hoping a massive high-intensity search based on new leads and evidence will help find missing boy William Tyrrell.

9News understands specialists in uncovering and examining human bones are on their way to three sites near Kendall, areas which have previously never been searched in the seven-year mystery of what happened to William.

Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett from NSW Police refused to reveal if there had been a tip-off or a human source was involved.

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But he underlined the search would focus on new areas, go underground, involve "specialist assistance" and new technologies.

"It's highly likely that we, if we found something, it would be a body," he said.

"We are looking for the remains of William Tyrrell, no doubt about that."

Chief Superintendent Bennett said the search was being guided by "the holistic nature of a number of pieces of evidence ... and we think it provides us with the best chance of finding him".

William, at the time aged three, disappeared from his foster grandmother's property on Benaroon Drive in Kendall at about 10.30am on September 12, 2014.

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Today police officers were seen returning to the house he vanished from.

About a kilometre down the road, NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) volunteers are clearing undergrowth ahead of a dig tomorrow.

These searches in previously untouched areas could take up to three weeks.

Police dogs were also used to comb the area today.

Chief Superintendent Bennett said the search was "not speculative in any way" and that police were working on behalf of the coroner.

"There is a large amount of work to be undertaken," he said.

"We're using specialist areas and people from outside the police force."

Police and other agencies would "clear ground" and "go subterranean" in a number of locations, he said.

Chief Superintendent Bennett said police were "very hopeful" that the new search would finally bring clarity to a case which has baffled the country for years.

Several times during today's media briefing Chief Superintendent Bennett made clear police were chasing a fresh lead, and that they were dealing with specifics.

"This is in response to evidence we've obtained in the course of the investigation," he said.

"There's no doubt about that."

Despite a massive search for William, who would have turned 10 in June, and the investigation continuing over several phases, the little boy has never been found.

Over the years, police have put pressure on several suspects who have since been ruled out.

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Evidence of boy's 'scream' at coronial inquest

The 18-month coronial inquest into William's disappearance in the NSW Coroners Court is yet to deliver its findings but, according to Chief Superintendent Bennett, it has proven pivotal in driving today's sudden development.

During the inquest, resident Anna Baker gave evidence and said she heard a young boy scream in bushland near the home of a convicted criminal, not long after William vanished.

Ms Baker, who lived at Herons Creek, not far from the Kendall home of William's foster grandmother, told the court she had wandered into her strawberry patch on the afternoon of September 13, 2014, when she heard the noise.

"It didn't go for very long, it sounded like maybe he's hurt."

Another Kendall local, Ron Chapman, told the inquest he was 100 per cent sure he saw William being driven away "at speed" on the morning he vanished.

Mr Chapman claimed he saw an "old box-type four-wheel-drive" being driven by a woman in her late 20s or early 30s and a boy in the back seat wearing a Spider-Man suit.

"A young boy with his hands up against the window. He was standing, he was unrestrained, he wasn't crying," he said.

A previously unseen photograph of William, so often portrayed in his little Spider-Man suit, also emerged during the inquest.

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Other photos taken from CCTV footage inside a McDonald's show William, his foster mum and dad entering the fast food outlet on the evening of September 11, 2014.

At one point, William sits on the shoulders of his foster dad.

They order a meal at the counter and sit to eat for about 10 minutes before leaving.

The family had stopped at the McDonald's at Heatherbraeon on their way up to Kendall, after leaving their Sydney home.

A $1 million reward for information leading to William's recovery remains in place.

In September, on the anniversary of William's disappearance, police returned to the property to conduct fresh examinations.

Detectives inspected the porch, balcony and backyard of the house, pulling out maps as they searched nearby streets.

William's foster grandmother died in March this year.