Several witnesses at the inquest into missing boy William Tyrrell were asked questions about an elderly widower who lives on the street the child vanished from five years ago.
Paul Savage, 74, was one of just five parties with high-powered legal representation at this week’s inquest, which investigated William’s disappearance from his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall, on the New South Wales north coast in 2014.
Mr Savage, reportedly one of the first people to join the search for William, did not appear as a witness. He has not been named as a person of interest in William’s disappearance and Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting he is.
Gerard Craddock SC, counsel assisting the Coroner, quizzed several witnesses, including Mr Savage’s brother-in-law, about their encounters with Paul on the day William vanished.
Paul Savage was neighbours of William Tyrrell’s foster grandmother in the bush village of Kendall, on the NSW north coast, and was reportedly one of the first people to join the search
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.
Gregory Newton, the brother of Paul’s now-late wife, stepped into the witness box on Thursday.
He was planning to stay at Paul and his wife Heather’s house and arrived that day to find a massive search operation underway.
Mr Savage was standing on a hill next to his property when Mr Newton arrived.
He was described as ‘concerned’ and ‘very worried’. ‘There’s a little fella gone missing’.
I’ve been putting up with it on and off for four years
Paul Savage, speaking to a reporter this week
Counsel assisting Mr Craddock asked if the grandfather was ‘in his usual sartorial splendour’.
Mr Newton confirmed Paul was decked out in black track pants and a flannelette shirt at the time.
The pair soon joined the search for William, the court was told.
Witness Gregory Newton (above) declined to answer further questions about his relative outside court
William Tyrrell, three, has been missing since September 12, 2014, and is presumed to have been abducted
Another neighbour, Peter Crabb, and his wife, Sharelle, told the inquest they were in the habit of going for a walk at nearby North Haven in the morning.
When they returned home, Mr Crabb said they found had come ‘out of the woodwork’ searching for William.
‘Did you see Paul Savage at the time?’ Counsel Assisting asked.
Mr Crabb said: ‘There were too many people in any case … no, I couldn’t tell you’.
Mrs Crabb was asked if she could ‘recall seeing Paul that day walking up that part of (the street) that goes toward the fire trail.’
Mrs Crabb said: ‘I can’t really. I remember talking to him outside our house later on in the afternoon.
‘But I can’t remember seeing him going up for a walk that day.’
Questions about Mr Savage only made up a brief part of the hearings. Much of the inquest was dedicated to evidence from William Tyrrell’s foster parents, and his biological mother and father, who were in Sydney at the time the boy vanished
A neighbour from a third property, Anne Maree Sharpley, 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 him 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’ that day. She couldn’t.
William Tyrrell’s female foster carer gave tearful evidence about the moment the boy disappeared earlier this week
William’s foster father pictured in a police walkthrough video of the premises where William vanished from, six days after he went missing
James Opdam, a local SES volunteer, told the inquest he saw Mr Savage among the people gathering to do a search with the SES and police that day.
When Counsel Assisting asked if he had seen his wife Heather, Mr Opdam said: ‘No, she’d passed away’.
Mr Savage’s wife Heather died of illness in April 2015, months after William vanished.
There was a long pause in court at Mr Opdam’s apparent mistake, but he was not corrected by counsel.
Questions about Mr Savage only made up a brief – but consistent – part of the hearings, which were focused on the background of William’s biological and foster families, before and after he disappeared, and what action was taken after he went missing.
Members of William’s family were questioned at length about their movements the day the three-year-old went missing. Both his foster and birth mothers cried giving evidence.
As for Mr Savage, he was at home when he was visited by a reporter this week.
He said through the crack of his front screen door he’d had enough.
‘I’ve been putting up with it on and off for four years,’ he said.
The inquest will hold further hearings in August.
Mr Savage was doorknocked by a reporter this week and said he had been putting up with it ‘on and off’ for four years
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