Missing boy William Tyrrell is believed to be the nephew of a 5 Seconds of Summer star in a shock twist to Australia's most baffling missing person cases.
The lost toddler, who went missing almost three years ago, is the nephew of 5SOS guitarist Michael Clifford, according to the Daily Mail Australia.
William Tyrrell is reportedly the nephew of Michael Clifford from 5 Seconds of Summer. Photo / Getty Images
Clifford, 21, and the toddler's biological father Brendan, 36, reportedly share the same father, Daryl Clifford. The family connection was made after a major court decision allowed the fact that William was in foster care at the time of his disappearance to be published.
William's grandmother, Natalie Collins, reportedly told the Mail she was in a relationship with Daryl, from Sydney's west, in the 1980s.
William vanished from his foster grandmother's home in Kendall, on the NSW mid-north Coast, on September 12, 2014.
Recording artists Ashton Irwin, Calum Hood, Michael Clifford, and Luke Hemmings of 5 Seconds of Summer. Photo / Getty Images
Until now William's status as a child in foster care was kept quiet and has only been revealed after the Department of Family and Community Services lost a bid for a permanent injunction to stop an advocacy group from publishing the fact.
The department had previously threatened journalists with criminal convictions if they revealed he was in state care and living with foster parents when he vanished.
In the appeal, the department tried to argue the stigma of being in state care would have a negative impact on William if he were to be found alive.
Despite efforts from the NSW Government to keep his status as a foster child secret, the NSW Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on the fact he disappeared while in the care of the minister was one of legitimate public interest.
The disappearance of William Tyrrell is one of Australia's most baffling missing person cases. Photo / NSW Police
The court cited the need for accountability and scrutiny of the state's out-of-home care system.
As the three-year anniversary of William's disappearance draws near, a group called Walking 4 Warriors had wanted to use the injuncted information to push for a coronial inquest into his disappearance.
It can also be revealed that earlier this year, a Supreme Court judge said "tragically" the probability was that the boy was "no longer alive" as the investigation was now being conducted as a homicide.
MOTHER OF MISSING BOY REVEALED
The suppressed identity of William Tyrrell's biological mother has also been revealed after the Supreme Court found the boy was likely to be dead.
Mother Karlie Tyrrell has been unable to talk publicly about the apparent abduction of her child for years because of child protection laws that prohibit identifying a child in foster care.
While unable to speak publicly about the disappearance of William in September 2014, Ms Tyrrell flooded Facebook with a series of grieving posts and photos throughout the years.
