Police did not interview a potential eye-witness in the case against former William Tyrrell suspect Bill Spedding before he was charged with historical child sex offences, a court hears.
Police pursued historical child sex offences against a then-suspect in the William Tyrrell investigation even after being told by a potential eye-witness "the whole thing had been made up", a court has heard.Police didn't initially interview the witness because records showed he was asleep at the time of the incident
He agreed that was despite evidence the complainants had been "coached" to make claims against Mr Spedding, which included reports of screaming inside a small caravan the witness was also in. Mr Spedding was acquitted of the charges in 2018 and is now suing the State of NSW on claims including malicious prosecution and wrongful imprisonment.
His barrister, Adrian Canceri, today pressed Detective Sergeant Brennan on why he didn't interview the witness before charging Mr Spedding with offences he had been cleared of in the 1980s. "[The witness] said words to the effect of, 'I was there, I'm very surprised you haven't spoken to me'," Mr Canceri said.Mr Canceri suggested that during another meeting, in January 2016, the witness said words to the effect of "the whole thing had been made up" to Detective Sergeant Brennan.He said he took care in his discussions with the witness as he had information suggesting they "may have also been a victim".
The barrister accused police of using the Tyrrell case to "strengthen" allegations against Mr Spedding and "make sure [he] was refused bail".
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