James "Jimmy" Patrick TAYLOR

   Missing boy s case linked to Tassie child killer

DESCRIPTION: (at time of disappearance):
AGE:  12 years
BUILD:  Medium (nuggety)
EYES:  Brown
HAIR:  Short brown
COMPLEXION:  Tanned
OTHER:  Prominent/bucked teeth
 
James Patrick TAYLOR; known as Jimmy to friends and family, was only 12 years of age when he vanished without a trace after leaving his home in Derby WA to attend a nearby shop.
 
James was born on the 1st of November, 1961 and lived with his father at 126 Knowsley Street, Derby. He was mature for his age and was helpful and responsible; so much so he was entrusted to do the family’s grocery shopping.
 
On the 29th of August, 1974 James left his home to buy a soft drink from the nearby Lwoys store. He failed to return home but this did not raise any immediate alarm bells with his family as they assumed he had followed through on a request he made earlier to attend Myroodah Cattle Station with a friend.
 
Upon realisation that James wasn’t at the cattle station, his family lodged a missing persons report with Police on the 16th of September, 1974. He has not been seen or heard of since.
 
To this day, James’ family are still haunted by his sudden disappearance in 1974.
 
If you can help and have any information about James’ disappearance, make a report online or call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, where all calls are strictly confidential, and rewards are offered. Please quote Reference Number 5309.

Missing boy's case linked to Tassie child killer

Flip Prior and Sean Cowan, The West Australian Updated November 26, 2011, 3:00 am

 

The family of a Kimberley boy who went missing almost 40 years ago believe one of Australia's most notorious child killers is responsible for his abduction and murder.

Jimmy Taylor was last seen leaving a shop in Derby on August 29, 1974, and was reported to have climbed into a car with a white man.

His family reported him missing one week later.

The mystery has baffled police but the family's recent discovery of a documentary covering the life of Tasmanian child killer James Ryan O'Neill has convinced them he is responsible for Jimmy's disappearance.

O'Neill, who was born Leigh Anthony Bridgart, left a trail of sexual assault allegations in his wake as he moved across Australia in the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1971, he was arrested and charged with 12 counts of abducting and indecently assaulting four boys in separate incidents in Melbourne.

He was released on bail and fled to the Kimberley, where he called himself O'Neill.

In late 1974, he moved to Tasmania with his new wife and within months he was arrested over the murders of two young boys. Police believe he tried to abduct at least two other children in the weeks between the separate disappearances.

O'Neill was convicted of murdering the first boy and was not tried for the second after being given a life sentence.

In a statement given to police after O'Neill's arrest, his wife Carol said they had lived in Derby for just a few months from June to November in 1974.

The revelation prompted Jimmy's sister Lynette Henderson-Yates, now deputy vice-chancellor at the Broome campus of the University of Notre Dame, to contact police. She claims they have told her the case is too old to investigate.

"I don't believe he ran away," she said. "The fact that O'Neill arrived in Derby and Jimmy went missing in August is too coincidental.

"The police told Mum that Jimmy had just gone walkabout and they weren't too concerned. That was the attitude in 1974.

"I spoke to the special crime squad about three years ago because they had just been formed to look at special cases.

"They said it was too long ago, but a month later in the newspaper there was a story about them investigating a 19-year-old girl who went missing from Nanutarra Roadhouse the year after Jimmy disappeared.

"I thought, 'Why is that case OK to investigate and Jimmy's case is too old?' There was never even a coronial inquiry. That should have at least been done."

Det-Insp. Casey Prinns, from the special crime squad, said the case had been reviewed and was an ongoing investigation.

He asked anyone with information to contact police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

'The police told Mum that Jimmy had just gone walkabout and they weren't too concerned.' "Sister *Lynette Henderson-Yates *

WA boy seen getting in man's car: inquest

  • By Angie Raphael
  • AAP
  • October 09, 2014 5:39PM
A 12-YEAR-OLD boy "seemed worried" when he got into a vehicle with a man on the day he disappeared 40 years ago, an inquest has heard.

THE West Australian coroner is examining the disappearance and suspected death of James "Jimmy" Patrick Taylor who went missing from Derby, in the Kimberley region, in 1974.

Jimmy's disappearance has remained a mystery, but when a television documentary revealed child killer James Ryan O'Neill had been living in Derby at the time, police looked at the case again.

 

Michael Gary Griffin told the court on Thursday that he did not know the Taylor family but knew their faces and was sure he had seen a worried Jimmy outside a shop on the day he disappeared.

 

"He told me he was going somewhere with a white guy," Mr Griffin said.

 

Jimmy wanted him to look at the man and Mr Griffin warned him not to go if he was concerned.

 

Mr Griffin said Jimmy insisted he see the man, so he walked to the vehicle.

 

The man told Jimmy "quite assertively" to get in the car, Mr Griffin said.

 

"I thought that his tone of voice was unusual," he said.

 

Mr Griffin declined an invitation to join them and left in his own car before them.

 

He later heard Jimmy was missing and might have "gone walkabout", Mr Griffin said.

 

At the time of Jimmy's disappearance, it was suggested he might have run away due to his violent father, who the court heard had a drinking problem.

 

But Jimmy's brother, David John Taylor, testified he did not think Jimmy was unfairly treated by their father and didn't recall any domestic violence, although his father did use a strap on him.

 

Jimmy's sister, Sharon Taylor, testified on Thursday that her father taught the family about the importance of education.

 

"He taught us love of learning, he used to always use phrases like 'listen and learn, pay attention to detail'," Ms Taylor said.

 

Ms Taylor said they were a close family and she didn't believe her brother had run away.

 

"I don't see how he could leave us and not return. I don't believe that," she said.

 

Lionel Gordon Parremore testified via video link from Tasmania that he was 10 years old in 1975 when he got into a car with O'Neill in Tasmania, in between O'Neill abducting and killing two other boys.

 

Mr Parremore said he reported the incident to police about one-and-a-half weeks later because he could not keep the secret once he learned about one of the other boys.

 

"I just couldn't live with it anymore," he said.

 

Mr Parremore said he had to pick O'Neill out of a line-up and touch him.

 

"You just don't forget that," he said.

 

O'Neill was never charged over the alleged incident and Mr Parremore did not testify against him.

 

O'Neill, who was born Leigh Anthony Bridgart, was interviewed by WA detectives in a Tasmanian prison in February 2012, but denied any involvement in Jimmy's disappearance.

 

The inquest continues.