William Tyrrell disappearance: Ronald Chapman waited for a knock on the door

Ron Chapman is the only person to emerge as a possible witness to William Tyrrell’s disappearance.

Ron Chapman, left, is the only person to emerge as a possible witness to William Tyrrell's, right, likely abduction. Pictures: Supplied

The only person to come forward as a possible witness to the likely abduction of William Tyrrell has previously been credited with helping police solve a vexing crime, according to new documents.

Ronald Chapman, 80, made headlines in August when he told an inquest into William’s disappearance that he was “100 per cent certain” that he had seen the boy standing in the back of a car being driven erratically down his street in the village of Kendall, on the day of William’s disappearance.

Mr Chapman told friends and family members, but did not immediately report the matter to police.

When police did eventually interview him, around 1000 days after William went missing, Mr Chapman, when prompted, told detective sergeant Laura Beacroft that he had previously helped police “nab” a criminal in Wollongong.

“Have you heard of Ruth Styles? She was the first lady detective in NSW, plain clothes,” he said (she was in fact one of a handful of female recruits to the NSW police force in the 1950s, and the first female detective inspector in a country station, Warilla, known now as Oak Flats. She died in 1998.)

“Anyway, they were looking for a person, and I knew the person that they were looking for,” Mr Chapman said.

“I used to work on the counter in the post office at Wollongong, and I saw this codger walk past so I just got on the phone and rang the police station, and I just said, is Ruth Styles on duty?

“(They said) yes, I’ll put her on. So anyway. I said, Ruth, that fella you’re looking for has just walked down going east past the post office. (She said) thanks, Ron, we’ll be up there in no time. And so anyway, she rang back and said, we’ve nabbed him.

“And she’d say: I owe you a schooner. So when we’d meet at The Copper Grill (an old Wollongong watering hole) she’d say, l owe you one, and we’d have a drink.”

The incident turned Mr Chapman into a friend of local police.

“It wasn’t only Ruth,” he said. “I used to drink with some of the detectives and the uniformed, the young police.”

Ronald Chapman is seen in a Police video where he recounts seeing a car pass his home with a boy resembling missing child William Tyrrell. Chapman testified at a Coroner's Court inquest regarding the sighting. Picture: Supplied

Detective Sergeant Beacroft said: “On a social basis?”

“Yes, but it was as you’ve pointed out, a long, long time ago.”

The friendship with local coppers occasionally came in handy, he said, including once when he was denied entry to The Copper Grill because of the lateness of the hour.

“As I walked out, there was quite a few of the boys (young police) that had knocked off work and were coming to have a bit of relaxation after a busy day,” he said.

“And they said, where are you going, Ron? And I said, ‘oh, they told me to get out’. And they said, ‘well you’re coming in with us’.”

Mr Chapman retired to Kendall, where he raises chooks and judges flower shows. On morning of William’s disappearance was awaiting the delivery of some plant cuttings for his garden.

Detective Sergeant Beacroft asked him about the delay in coming forward with information about William, saying: “You heard on the news that police were going to talk to everyone within a one kilometre radius, and you thought you’d wait?”

“I was waiting for a knock on the door,” he replied.

“And was it always your intention to let the police know what you had seen?”

“Yes.”

He said he decided after several weeks or months — he couldn’t quite remember — to approach Kendall’s local police officer, Wendy Hudson, because he’s known her for decades, and “because the investigation sort of wasn’t going anywhere and I thought I might have seen something.” He left a message with her sister-in-law at the local club but it apparently wasn’t passed on.

The statement also reveals an acrimonious relationship between Mr Chapman and William’s foster nana, with whom he was staying when he went missing, with Mr Chapman describing her as a “boss cocky” in the village, and her husband as “henpecked.”

Mr Chapman said he had never been in trouble with police.

“I’ve been driving for fifty-seven years, I think. From 1960, what’s that? Fifty-seven years? And I haven’t had a ticket. I haven’t lost a point,” he said.

The fifth anniversary of William’s disappearance passed last Thursday. A million dollar reward for his return remains uncollected.