Gary Jubelin found guilty of illegally recording conversations in William Tyrrell case
More than a year after being removed from the investigation into missing toddler William Tyrrell, former detective Gary Jubelin has been found guilty of illegally recording four conversations on his phone with a person of interest.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- ‘Why police want you to think I’m a rogue cop gone bad’
- How Tyrrell case exposed Homicide Squad infighting
Former detective Gary Jubelin has been found guilty of illegally recording four conversations with a person of interest in the disappearance of toddler William Tyrrell.
Jubelin didn’t flinch and stared straight ahead as Magistrate Ross Hudson delivered his lengthy verdict in the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday following a two week hearing earlier this year.
Jubelin, a 34-year veteran of the NSW Police Force, had pleaded not guilty to illegally recording four conversations with pensioner Paul Savage in 2017 and 2018.
Savage lived across the road from where three-year-old William disappeared while playing in his grandmother’s backyard in Kendall on the Mid North Coast in September, 2014.
Mr Hudson said Jubelin, who led the investigation into William’s disappearance from 2015, picked and “pursued Savage at all costs”.
At times during his evidence, Mr Hudson said, Jubelin struck him as a person “playing a role and telling a story”, designed and manufactured to fit his defence.
However, the court could not find Jubelin recorded the conversations to protect his lawful interest, Mr Hudson said.
Jubelin resigned from the police force last year after he was sidelined from the investigation.
A few months later in June he was charged with three breaches of the Surveillance Devices Act.
The offence has a maximum penalty of five years’ jail or a fine but the law provides exceptions including if a recording is needed to protect the lawful interests of a person involved.
MORE FROM AVA BENNY-MORRISON:
‘Designated survivors’: NSW cops split to avoid COVID-19
Top cop Fuller to lead NSW war on coronavirus
Jubelin’s court appearances usually draw a large crowd, with supporters, murder victims families and relatives, but it was media and lawyers only today due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Savage, a 75-year-old widower, initially helped search for William when he disappeared from Benaroon Drive in Kendall on the Mid North Coast on September 14, 2014.
He was later identified as a ‘person of interest’.
Savage has never been charged in connection to William’s disappearance and was one of hundreds of persons of interest.
Jubelin recorded a phone conversation with Savage in November, 2017.
The court previously heard Jubelin asked another detective to record the call while he put his own phone on loudspeaker.
Then, on May 2 and 3, 2018, Jubelin physically visited Savage’s home and recorded their interactions, without Savage’s knowledge.
During the interactions, Jubelin quizzed Savage over whether he knew more about William’s disappearance.
“Now with this little guy (William) … if it's the case that it was an accident, I could understand how I would panic. I want you to just think about what I’m saying,” Jubelin said during one conversation with Savage.
But Savage told him there was “no way in the world” he would’ve done it.
After receiving a call from Savage in December, 2018, Jubelin, who was on holiday at the time, went to his house and recorded their conversation.
While police had a warrant to tap Savage’s mobile and landline phones and place listening devices in his home, the prosecution argued the warrant didn’t cover Jubelin using his phone to record.
Jubelin claimed he recorded the conversations to protect his lawful interest.
Savage had a track record of making complaints against police and Jubelin argued he wanted to protect himself.
Listening devices inside Savage’s home were also flawed, the court heard.
Mr Hudson said Jubelin showed an “inability to make concessions” about the treatment of Savage, including “belittling him”, raising the question of him loving a woman other than his dead wife and repetitive questioning during an interview.
It rendered Jubelin’s evidence “untenable and unbelieveable”, Mr Hudson said.
Savage was pursued in the face of no DNA evidence, traces or witnesses in the hope he would “crack”.
“However in the pursuit of Mr Savage, in my view, and in the mode of operating at all costs Mr Jubelin has acted illegally,” Mr Hudson said.
The case has been adjourned to Wednesday when Mr Jubelin will be sentenced.
Outside court Mr Jubelin reiterated that he thought he had a lawful reason to record the conversations.
"Obviously I am disappointed by the decision of the court," he said.
"But given the fact I have been bringing people before the court for 32 years it is important I respect the decision of the court."
William’s disappearance remains unsolved and has been at the centre of an ongoing coronial inquest.
Originally published as Gary Jubelin found guilty of illegally recording conversations in William Tyrrell case
Why super-fast Australian crew still underdogs in Youth America’s Cup
They are sailing faster than they have ever done but a quartet of Australian sailing rising stars still enter the Youth Americas Cup as rank underdogs thanks to a strange rule.
Would-be thieves in a flutter after tourist attraction break-in thwarted
A popular northern NSW tourist attraction filled with exotic butterfly species has been broken into, with owners saying the alleged would-be burglars fled the scene after “freaking out”.