Cops Probed Disgraced Tasmanian Ex-priest

By Patrick Billings
Mercury
February 26, 2016

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/scales-of-justice/cops-probed-disgraced-tasmanian-expriest/news-story/6d92824741419afda73880618064b03d

Derek Nichols has been questioned over possible involvement in the disappearance of William Tyrrell.

A FORMER Tasmanian priest has been linked to one of Australia’s most notorious and heart-wrenching missing persons cases — the disappearance of toddler William Tyrrell.

Convicted paedophile Derek Edward Nichols, 82, has emerged as another person NSW police have interviewed in the case that continues to baffle investigators and shock the nation.

William, often pictured in his beloved Spider-Man suit, vanished from his grandmother’s home in Kendall, NSW, in September 2014 when he was three.

Nichols, a former Anglican priest, who previously lived near William’s grandmother, was convicted of indecently assaulting a boy in Tasmania in 1987.

He was visited by NSW police who searched his home in 2015 due to his status as a registered sex offender living in the area.

Nichols has told News Corp he was not involved in William’s disappearance.