Former Tyrrell suspect has big court win against state of malicious prosecution

A one-time William Tyrrell suspect has had a big court win against the state after it was found he was the subject of malicious prosecution.

A one-time William Tyrrell suspect will be paid nearly $1.8m after the state failed in its bid to overturn a judgment which found he was subject of a malicious prosecution during the police investigation into the missing toddler.

Bill Spedding last year successfully sued the State of NSW after police attempted to prosecute him for an unrelated historical sexual assault matter at a time he was the prime suspect in William’s disappearance.

He was subsequently acquitted of the sexual assault charges in 2018, with another court previously finding the allegations were the result of “coaching” and “programming”.

Mr Spedding has also been cleared of having any involvement in William’s disappearance and the court found that his attempted prosecution was an attempt to put pressure on him during the Tyrrell investigation.

He was last year awarded nearly $1.5m in damages, as well as a further $300,000 in interest.

The State of NSW filed an appeal against that judgment, handed down by Justice Ian Harrison last year, however it was dismissed on Wednesday.

The Court of Appeal on Wednesday found that the attempted prosecution of Mr Spedding for the historical matters was the “worst case” of malicious prosecution ever seen in the state.

“The egregiousness of the conduct for which the State is vicariously liable is also ‘beyond compare’,” a panel of three justices found.

“The highhanded, self-serving, grandstanding undermining of the criminal justice system by the relevant police officers in arresting, charging, opposing bail and maintaining the prosecution against Mr Spedding has no relevant comparator in the reported cases in New South Wales.

“One can only hope that its standing as the worst case is never repeated and is never superseded by conduct that is even worse.”

Bill Spedding. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw.

Mr Spedding was formerly a person of interest identified by detectives handling the initial investigation into William’s disappearance after the young boy vanished from the home of his foster grandmother in Kendall on the NSW north coast in September 2014.

He had visited the toddler’s foster grandmother’s house to fix her washing machine in the days prior to William’s disappearance.

Bill Spedding sued the state for malicious prosecution. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

William has never been found and no one has ever been charged over his disappearance.

Police publicly arrested Mr Spedding, searched his home and office in January 2015 before was charged with unrelated historic sexual assault matters, for which he was later completely cleared of.

During the malicious prosecution case, his lawyers argued police were aware the allegations – relating to two girls in the 1980s – had previously been investigated and that the girls were pressured by adults to make up the claims.

They further claimed Mr Spedding was verbally abused by officers during the Tyrrell investigation.

He sued the state claiming that the historical charges were laid for an improper purpose to further the William Tyrrell investigation, which included having him refused bail and police installing a listening device in his cell.

William Tyrrell disappeared from his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall. Picture: Police Media.

Justice Harrison found Mr Spedding was subject to a “long and painful ordeal” which “never should have occurred”.

Justice Harrison also described the allegations as “old and discredited”.

Earlier this year, the state appealed the decision, arguing that Justice Harrison made erroneous findings and did not identify anyone within the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions who oversaw Spedding’s prosecution.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal dismissed the state’s appeal, saying that police continued to have carriage of the case well after the DPP began the prosecution.

The state was also ordered to pay Mr Spedding’s legal costs for the appeal.

“NSW police destroyed my livelihood and my family,” Mr Spedding said outside court on Wednesday.

“But today, for me, justice is done, and I’m very relieved.”

Originally published as Former Tyrrell suspect has big court win against state of malicious prosecution