Police fear for boy in kidnapping scare: 'Just give him back'

Lost 3-year-old’s parents beg for child to be returned as police investigation turns to paedophile gang.

A 3-year-old boy missing for the past seven months may have been abducted by a paeodophile gang, Australian police said yesterday, as William Tyrrell's parents begged the person who took him to "just give him back".

Wearing his favourite Spiderman costume, William was playing hide and seek with his 4-year-old sister in the front yard of their grandmother's home in Kendall, on the New South Wales mid-north coast, on September 12 at about 10.30am when he vanished. It was first thought he had wandered off into the nearby Kendall State Forest. But a days-long search of the dense bushland by hundreds of police, rescue workers and volunteers failed to turn up a single clue.

In January, police raided the home of a washing machine repairman, Bill Spedding, who was due to visit William's grandmother's home around the time the little boy disappeared.

They seized a computer, emptied Spedding's septic tank and dug up his yard, but did not lay charges.

Yesterday, as William's parents spoke publicly for the first time, detectives revealed that they were "vigorously" pursuing the new line of inquiry.

Detective Superintendent Michael Willing, head of the NSW Homicide Squad, said: "We have recent information about a paedophile ring in in the area." He said police had specific information about the ring, but declined to give details.

"We will pursue every single angle until we work out what has happened to William," he said.

Officers from the Sex Crimes Unit have joined the investigation.

For legal reasons said to relate to a "complicated family history", the boy's parents cannot be identified. Detectives have cleared all family members of involvement, and believe William was abducted by an opportunistic stranger.

In a video interview released by police yesterday, in which the parents appear in silhouette, they appealed for information.

William's mother described life without their son as a "living nightmare".

She spoke of the heartbreak of watching his sister learn to be an only child.

"We wake up," she said. "We just re-live it. I just can't believe it's happening. We just don't have our boy.

"We have no idea where he is. We don't know who's got him. We don't know what's happening to him."

William's mother and grandmother were sitting in the garden that morning while the children played. His mother went inside to make a cup of tea. When she returned a few minutes later, he was gone.

She was immediately alarmed, she said. "He always had us in earshot or eyesight ... He's not a wanderer, not a child to run away."

Spedding has repeatedly denied any part in William's disappearance, and has said he did not go to the house that day because he was unable to contact the grandmother.

Key facts
• William Tyrrell, 3, went missing from his New South Wales home in September.

• A search of nearby dense bushland by hundreds of police, rescue workers and volunteers failed to turn up a single clue.

• For legal reasons said to relate to a "complicated family history", the boy's parents cannot be identified, although his family have been cleared of any involvement.

• Police now fear a paedophile gang may have abducted him.