Repairman tells of ‘devastation’ at being linked to William

Bill Spedding described the ‘devastating impact’ being linked to the Tyrrell disappearance had on his life.

William ‘Bill’ Spedding, centre, arrives at the Inquest into the disappearance of William Tyrrell at Lidcombe Coroners Court in Sydney.

A washing machine repairman whose name became linked to the disappearance of William Tyrrell was at the time of the boy’s dis­appearance sitting proudly in the audience of a local school assembly, according to evidence presented at the Coroner’s Court yesterday.

William Harrie Spedding, known locally as Bill, described his shock at finding his name linked to the case of the missing child in the Spider-Man suit, who is presumed dead.

His lawyer, Peter O’Brien, confirmed Mr Spedding was considering an action for malicious pro­secution, or a civil action against NSW police, as reported in The Australian last week.

Evidence that placed Mr Spedding at least 20 minutes away from the scene of the crime has long been available to police.

Police missteps and miscalcu­lations in the case feature in The Australian’s latest podcast ­series, Nowhere Child.

Mr Spedding said outside the court that the impact of being linked to the case had a “devastating impact on my life, my family’s life, and livelihood”.

He added: “I thank my family and my friends, and my legal team, for getting me through this.

“I’m very relieved to have told the coroner and police everything I can to assist in finding out what happened to young William Tyrrell. I know what I’ve been through is nothing compared to what William’s families are going through.”

Mr Spedding told the court he’d heard about William going missing on the evening news, well after it happened. “It was ears pricked up … I recognised the street (William had disappeared from) at some point over the weekend, but my customer’s name was not Tyrrell.”

William was in the care of his foster parents when he went missing. Their names are suppressed. There is no suggestion they are connected to his disappearance. Mr Spedding’s name became linked to the case after William’s foster mother called his ­answering machine from the house at 48 Benaroon Drive, Kendall, on the morning of William’s disappearance to inquire about missing parts for a broken washing machine.

Mr Spedding has always maintained he did not attend the house that day. Evidence presented yesterday suggested he did not receive the parts he needed to fix the washing machine until after William went missing.

He told the coroner yesterday that one of his grandsons had wanted him to attend a special ­assembly at the local primary school on September 12, 2014 — the day of William’s disappearance. They checked Mr Spedding’s diary together, and his grandson had shown disappointment when they found a few appointments had already been pencilled in.

Mr Spedding said: “It’s OK mate, I’ll rearrange them.”

Mr Spedding told the court he met his wife, Margaret, at the Buzz Cafe, across the road from the school, about 9.30am.

The court was shown a receipt for two mugs of coffee, a ham and cheese croissant and a citrus tart.

The receipt was time-stamped 9.42am.

Mrs Spedding told the court they ate the morning tea before heading across to the school to watch a “spoof of the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, a comedy sketch”.

Mrs Spedding told the court she clearly remembered attending the morning tea and the assembly with her husband.

The Buzz Cafe is a 20-minute drive from Benaroon Drive, in the village of Kendall, where William was staying when he went missing, some time between 10am and 10.30am.

The court was shown a video of the former lead detective, Gary ­Jubelin — who was in January ­removed from the case and did not attend yesterday’s hearing — asking Mrs Spedding: “You’re sure Bill was with you?”

“He was. We came here together. We did,” she insisted.