William Spedding to seek stay of trial

A man identified as a person of interest in the disappearance of William Tyrrell will seek a stay of his trial.

A man previously identified as a person of interest in the dis­appearance of three-year-old William Tyrrell will seek a stay of his trial for sex offences in NSW.

William “Bill” Harrie Spedding, 65, is charged in NSW with three counts of sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 10 and two counts of common ­assault.

He is also charged with five counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual penetration with a child under 10 in Victoria.

The Victorian offences allegedly occurred between 1983 and 1987 in Corio, near Geelong, and Clarendon, near Ballarat.

Yesterday, on the first court date for the Victorian charges, Ballarat magistrate Mark Stratmann rejected an application by Mr Spedding’s lawyer for a suppression until after the NSW trial. He said jurors were not prone to prejudice and were willing to follow judges’ directions.

Mr Spedding did not appear at yesterday’s hearing. He is due to stand trial in NSW in February but his lawyer, Peter O’Brien, told the court an application for a permanent stay of proceedings would be made in September.

Mr Spedding has repeatedly denied any involvement in the disappearance of William nearly two years ago.