Man told to stay away from house William Tyrrell disappeared from, court hears

A neighbour of William’s foster nana had an AVO taken out against him, but denied being a pest, according to evidence.

Paul Savage, who lives across the road from the house William Tyrrell disappeared from. Picture: AAP

An elderly man was told to stay away from the house William Tyrrell disappeared from, just months before the boy went missing, according to evidence presented to the Downing Centre Court in Sydney on Wednesday.

Paul Savage, 75, a now-widowed pensioner who lived directly opposite William’s foster nana, was accused of “making a pest” of himself both with William’s foster Nana, and with the local “post lady” who took out an AVO against him.

The post lady told police that Mr Savage seemed to think they were in love and should be together. She was married, and says she knew him only from brief chats when she dropped off the mail.

She asked for the AVO after he followed her from his house, to tearfully tell her that he missed her.

Gary Jubelin at the Downing Centre Court on Wednesday. Picture: Richard Dobson

Mr Savage denied being a neighbourhood pest, and insists that he “never done nothing to hurt the little fella (William.)”

The evidence came from a recorded police interview between former homicide detective, Gary Jubelin, and Mr Savage, conducted lawfully in 2017, three years after William went missing.

It was played not as part of the inquest into William’s disappearance, but as part of Mr Jubelin’s trial. He has been accused of recording four conversations with Mr Savage without the proper warrant.

The interview shows Mr Jubelin asking Mr Savage: “Did you make a pest of yourself around (William’s foster Nana)?” in the months before William disappeared.

“Oh, give me a break,” Mr Savage replied. “I’d see her, I’d ask her if she needed hand.”

He agreed that he’d been told to stay away from the house; and to stay away from the local “post lady.”

Mr Savage was at home on the morning of William’s disappearance. The court heard that his wife, Heather, left home at around 10:30 a.m., to go to Bingo.

William is thought to have gone missing from his foster Nana’s house, across the road, at around the same time.

One police theory, as to Mr Savage’s possible involvement in the crime, was revealed in a second interview, allegedly recorded by Mr Jubelin on his mobile phone after the warrant to bug Mr Savage’s home had expired. Mr Jubelin has denied wrongdoing.

“I raised with you that perhaps it was Heather,” Mr Jubelin said, referring to local rumours that William had been accidentally run over, on Heather’s way to Bingo. “I fully understand you love that woman. You would do anything to protect her.

“People do cover things up. I’m not sitting here in judgment.”

Mr Savage emphatically denied it, saying Heather would “raise the roof” in despair if she hit a child on the road.

Mr Jubelin suggested that perhaps Mr Savage had run William over, when moving his car.

“If it’s an accident, that can be resolved,” Mr Jubelin said.

“Some things that appear horrendous are really not that horrendous when it’s all said and done.

“If he’s been hit, that’s understandable. It’s not something you have to live with for the rest of your life. You’ll be looked after. You will get the treatment to help deal with this.”

Mr Savage repeatedly denied having anything to do with William’s death, or disappearance.

The court heard that NSW Police placed a Spider-Man suit, similar to the one worn by William on the day of his disappearance, on the bush trail where Mr Savage like to walk in the mornings.

Mr Savage insists that he reported the suit immediately he came upon it; Mr Jubelin put to him that he had in fact seen the suit a day earlier, but Mr Savage insists that it is not so. He has never been charged in connection with the case, and there is no evidence to link him to the crime.

The trial is continuing.