Gary Jubelin claims Homicide boss said ‘no one cared’ about William Tyrrell
Former police detective Gary Jubelin says the ex-boss of the Homicide Squad told him no one cared about missing toddler William Tyrrell in a series of damning claims he made about the investigation in court today.
NSW
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The former head of the William Tyrrell investigation has sensationally accused his ex-boss, the head of the Homicide Squad, of telling him “no one cared about that little kid” and to “get him off the books”.
From the witness box in the Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday, retired detective Gary Jubelin launched a series of blistering allegations at NSW Police top brass.
The allegations about his former commander and now Assistant Commissioner Scott Cook were strenuously denied both in and out of court on Wednesday.
Jubelin, who is facing charges for allegedly illegally recording four conversations with a former suspect, left the police force last year after being controversially taken off the investigation into three-year-old William’s disappearance.
His court case has explored his decision to use his phone to record his interactions with 75-year-old widower Paul Savage and his defence that he had a lawful interest in doing so.
It has equally revealed the under resourcing, internal politics and simmering discontent that shadowed the strike force tasked with investigating William’s disappearance in 2014.
Jubelin yesterday made allegations about a conversation between himself and the then-Homicide Squad commander Scott Cook about William in 2017.
He claimed Mr Cook, who was promoted to Assistant Commissioner late last year, approached his desk — not long after taking over as commander — and pointed to a photo of William.
“Mr Cook pointed at the picture and said ‘no one cares about that little kid, get him off the books and get him to unsolved homicide’,” Jubelin told the court.
“I was shocked by the comment.”
The legal team for the NSW Police Commissioner stressed in court that Mr Cook “categorically denies saying those words”.
In a show of support, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller issued a public statement in defence of Mr Cook.
“I have full confidence in the professionalism of Assistant Commissioner Scott Cook, who has more than 31 years of exemplary service with the NSW Police Force, which includes receiving the Australian Police Medal in 2019,” Mr Fuller said.
Mr Cook “exemplified” the definition of a leader at the Homicide Squad, Mr Fuller said, and changed the way cold cases were reviewed to deliver answers and justice in more cases.
Mr Cook, an accomplished detective who has also led the Organised Crime and Asian Crime Squads, was Jubelin’s boss when the officer of 33 years was taken off the Tyrrell investigation in early 2019.
Not long after, Jubelin was informed he was at the centre of an internal investigation into claims he used a phone to record conversations with Savage without his knowledge or a proper warrant.
Jubelin told the court he was “chased” out of the Homicide Squad office and put in a windowless office on a different level to his colleagues.
In April 2019 he said he met with Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson, who told him “don’t worry, you won’t be charged. There is no public interest in being charged”.
“That gave me confidence that I wouldn’t be charged,” he said.
After stepping off a plane from an overseas holiday in June last year, he learned he was going to be charged with four breaches of the Surveillance Devices Act.
Jubelin had taken over the investigation five months after William disappeared from his foster grandmother’s backyard in Kendall in 2014.
He said he had “concerns about how the investigation was handled from the start”.
“I think it made things more difficult,” he told the packed court. “I don’t think the full ramifications of William’s disappearance was appreciated initially and investigative opportunities were lost …”
Jubelin described the investigation as one of the most trying he has ever been involved in.
Before he took the reins on the investigation in early 2015, Jubelin said the then-Homicide Squad commander Mick Willing described it as “all over the place”.
“It was words to the effect of ‘Jubes I need you to sort this out when you take it over; it is all over the place the investigation’,” Jubelin said.
Around that time the strike force, under the leadership of now retired Detective Inspector Hans Rupp, was investigating former person of interest and washing machine repairman Bill Spedding.
Concerned about how overtly Mr Spedding was being pursued, Jubelin claimed he urged his superiors not to carry out a search warrant on his home near Port Macquarie.
Mr Willing told him it was not his problem at the moment but to “worry about it when you take over”, he said. Neither Mr Willing or Mr Cook have been called to give evidence.
Chasing up Mr Spedding’s alibi was time consuming, Jubelin claimed, and could have been “done more readily if it was in a timely fashion”.
Mr Spedding was cleared of any involvement in William’s disappearance.
In 2017, the focus turned to Savage, who lived across the road from William’s grandmother’s home on Benaroon Drive. He has always denied any involvement and has not been charged in relation to William’s disappearance.
In 2017 and 2018, Jubelin recorded four conversations with Savage, including one phone call, which he asked a junior officer to record with his phone.
Jubelin said he did so because Savage had made complaints about his treatment by police in the past and to protect himself because he was going to a “suspect’s” home alone.