“You’re just a little boy”: Listening device captures disturbing claims in William Tyrrell case
Listening devices captured a person of interest in toddler William Tyrrell’s disappearance telling his dead wife to “make sure you don’t tell anyone … they’re after me”, heard a Sydney court.
Paul Savage was also recorded saying “you’re a little boy” at his home in Kendall three years after the young child went missing.
Mr Savage lived across the road from the mid-north coast property, where the three-year-old disappeared in 2014 and was interrogated by authorities over the case.
Former detective chief inspector Gary Jubelin lodged a dispute over allegations that he went beyond listening device warrants and illegally recorded four conversations with Mr Savage in 2017 and 2018.
According to Jubelin, the recordings were fully legal.
During the court hearing, Jubelin’s barrister read a transcript of audio from the devices planted in Mr Savage’s home in late 2017.
It recorded a conversation the retiree had with his wife Heather, who died of cancer two years earlier in April 2015.
“Make sure you don’t tell anyone, love … they’re after me, love, they’re right after me,” Mr Savage said, Margaret Cunneen SC told Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday.
But the 75-year-old denies being responsible for William’s disappearance.
He said in 2019 he always showed his full cooperation to the police when asked about what he remembered, including taking part in interviews and walk-throughs when detectives arrived unannounced at his home.
The court heard that Mr Savage often spoke to himself at home, including on July 29, 2017 when he was heard saying: “You’re a little boy, you’re nobody, you’re just a little boy, you don’t tell me, I tell you.”
One of Jubelin’s former colleagues told the court on Thursday she didn’t believe Mr Savage was responsible for the disappearance.
“I couldn’t prove it beyond reasonable doubt,” said Detective Sergeant Laura Beacroft.
“There were a few different things that firmed that up for me (but) there was nothing concrete that could put Mr Savage in or out.”