A mother’s plea: ‘If you have William Tyrrell, please love him’

William Tyrrell’s parents have broken their silence in a desperate video plea for help in finding their three-year-old son.

William Tyrrell’s parents have made a desperate plea for help tracking down the person they fear abducted and possibly killed their three-year-old son, who disappeared from his grandmother’s home seven months ago.

Able to speak publicly for the first time since William dis­appeared, his mother wept as she said: “If somebody has him and if he is alive, I want him to be safe. I want him to be feeling loved and I want someone to be looking after him.

“To imagine that something else is going on — we can’t live a life like that,” she said.

William was last seen wearing his favourite Spider-Man costume and playing with his four-year-old sister on the morning of September 12 last year. His father had left the house, in Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast, earlier that morning to run an errand, while his mother and grandmother were sitting in the garden while the children played.

About 10.30am, William’s mother — who, along with his father, cannot be identified — went inside to make a cup of tea before realising she could no longer hear her son. In a taped interview, released yesterday by NSW police, she said she immediately feared William had been taken.

“I had a vision in my head … that somebody reached over and I sort of feel like they’ve gone ‘clump’ on his shoulders, picked him up and moved him on. That’s the only way for me to explain for him not to be there,” she said.

Authorities initially thought William could be lost in the dense forest surrounding the property on Benaroon Drive and hundreds of people spent several days searching for him, without success. Today, the investigation into what took place is being led by the NSW Police Homicide Squad, with assistance from the Sex Crimes Squad, and detectives are focusing on the possibility that William was abducted.

“You can’t take children, you just can’t take children. He’s three!” William’s mother said. “He’s three years old, he’s only lived for three years, it’s ­ridiculous.

“He hasn’t gone to school. He can sort of count. He’s reached none of those milestones that we all take for granted,” she said.

During the interview, William’s mother also spoke of the toll on their family.

“We need to know where he is and we need to know what happened to him. Because we can’t live forever like this. His sister can’t grow up never knowing what happened to her brother,” William’s mother said.

William’s father also spoke about his son.

“(William loved) anything that related to Spiderman and superheroes,” he said.

“He’s a cheeky, vibrant little boy ... full of energy. “I mean he’s my little boy.”

“He loved planes and we’d even taken him to the airport and watch the planes take off and land.”

The police investigation of William’s disappearance is among the most far-reaching ever attempted in the state.

His details have been sent to authorities across the country and worldwide, while detectives are also tracking the movements of hundreds of people who were within a 1km radius of ­Benaroon Drive when William disappeared.

In January this year, the home and business premises of a local whitegoods repairman, Bill Spedding, were raided by police and the 63-year-old was subsequently identified as a “person of interest” in the investigation.

Mr Spedding, who visited William’s grandmother’s home to discuss some repair work a few days before the boy disappeared, has consistently said he is innocent and no charges have been laid by police.

In March, dozens of police spent two days searching forest on either side of a bush track near Kendall. Mr Spedding, who lives in nearby Bonny Hills, was seen driving past the search. He has subsequently declined to speak to the media.

Homicide Squad commander Mick Willing thanked William’s parents for their “tremendous courage” in making their public appeal. “They have laid bare their feelings in a heart-wrenching plea for the community’s help and are doing everything in their power to seek the safe return of their little boy,” Detective Superintendent Willing said.

“We are urging anyone who might know what has happened to William to listen to his mother’s plea and come forward to police. Do the right thing,” he said.