'They needed someone to blame': Widower, 75, who was interrogated over William Tyrrell's disappearance claims police 'stitched him up' - allowing the real kidnapper 'get away'

  • Paul Savage claims police 'stitched him up' after 'messing up' the investigation
  • The 75-year-old was called to testify in a coronial inquest into the case last year
  • Mr Savage lived across the road from William in Kendall, NSW  when he vanished
  • Court heard Mr Savage, was subject to listening device surveillance at times 

By Karen Ruiz For Daily Mail Australia

Published: | Updated:

An elderly widower who was questioned over the disappearance of William Tyrrell has claimed police tried to pin the crime on him after botching the investigation.

Paul Savage, 75, lived across the street from the three-year-old boy in Kendall, New South Wales, and was among hundreds of persons of interest early in the investigation.  

The elderly man was called to testify at a coronial inquest into William's disappearance last year and has long denied having any involvement in the case. 

Three-year-old William Tyrrell disappeared from a home in Kendall, New South Wales, in September 2014

Three-year-old William Tyrrell disappeared from a home in Kendall, New South Wales, in September 2014

Paul Savage lived across the street from the three-year-old boy in Kendall, NSW in 2014, and was among hundreds of people interrogated in the investigation. Mr Savage has long denied any involvement in the boy's disappearance

Paul Savage lived across the street from the three-year-old boy in Kendall, NSW in 2014, and was among hundreds of people interrogated in the investigation. Mr Savage has long denied any involvement in the boy's disappearance 

Mr Savage told The Australian that investigators accused him of taking the toddler because they needed someone to blame and ultimately let the real perpetrator 'get away.'

'They mucked it up from day one, and had nobody. All I did was help look for him,' he said on Sunday. 

'You've got a little fella missing and they want to get somebody, but I had nothing to do with it.' 

The court heard Mr Savage, who is from Kendall, was subject to listening device surveillance at times during the investigation. 

He accused leading investigator and former homicide detective Gary Jubelin of being the one to point the finger at him. 

'He [Jubelin] made it sound like I was somebody who was hiding the truth. I always told the truth.' 

Former NSW homicide detective Gary Jubelin is facing charges after he allegedly illegally recorded conversations with Mr Savage which the Crown alleges were not covered by surveillance warrants

Former NSW homicide detective Gary Jubelin is facing charges after he allegedly illegally recorded conversations with Mr Savage which the Crown alleges were not covered by surveillance warrants

Members of the NSW Public Order and Riot Squad search bushland in Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast

Members of the NSW Public Order and Riot Squad search bushland in Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast

Jubelin is facing charges after he allegedly recorded conversations with Mr Savage that weren't covered by surveillance warrants. 

But the retired detective told the court he'd been assured by Deputy Commissioner David Hudson that he wouldn't be criminally charged over the recordings following an internal investigation.

'Don't worry, you won't be charged. There's no public interest in you being charged,' Jubelin said Mr Hudson told him when he quit the force in 2019.

Jubelin says he made the recordings to protect himself in the event Mr Savage lodged a complaint or harmed himself.

Mr Savage claimed investigators accused him of taking the toddler because they needed someone to blame and ultimately let the real perpetrator 'get away'

Mr Savage claimed investigators accused him of taking the toddler because they needed someone to blame and ultimately let the real perpetrator 'get away'

'He's a volatile person. I'm pushing buttons. I'm poking him,' he said of one of the occasions a recording was made.

'Everyone was aware I was going there to stir him up. I felt I needed to protect myself.' 

Hundreds of people have been dubbed 'persons of interest' during the investigation and a case detective admitted during the inquest there's 'a very low standard to meet in order to become a person of interest'.  

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Mr Savage was in any way involved in William's disappearance. 

An inquest, which began last March, has been beset with delays and adjournments and will resume in Taree on Monday. 

Mr Savage said he doesn't expect to be called back into the second round of hearings and is 'happy they're finished with me'.  

WHAT THE TYRRELL  INQUEST HAS HEARD ABOUT PAUL SAVAGE 

Flannelette-shirt wearing granddad Paul Savage lived down the road from William Tyrrell's foster grandmother when the little boy vanished. 

Mr Savage and his wife Heather regularly went on walks around the area's leafy surrounds, but she died in 2015.   

Several witnesses at inquest were asked brief questions about Mr Savage in March - although he was certainly not the focus of the hearings.

Counsel assisting the Coroner, Gerard Craddock SC, quizzed witnesses, including Mr Savage's brother-in-law, about their encounters with Paul on the day William vanished.

Subjects included what he was wearing that day, how loud his radio was, whether he went on his morning walk and his joining of the search for William. 

Mr Savage's in-law Gregory Newton described him as 'concerned' and 'very worried'. 'There's a little fella gone missing,' Mr Savage reportedly said.

Another neighbour told Mr Craddock she was the first person to help William's foster mother scour the street for the missing boy.

She described how she 'went to Paul's house and knocked on the door' that morning. 

Ms Sharpley told Mr Savage she was looking for the little boy in a Spiderman costume who had disappeared and he said, 'I'll come out and have a look'. 

'He was home and he came out,' she told the inquest.

In a sign of the level of detail the inquest is seeking, Mr Craddock asked if Ms Sharpley if she recalled if he 'had the radio on playing loud'. She could not remember.

 

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William Tyrrell witness claims police 'stitched him up'

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