NSW Police have been ordered to pay almost $1.5 million in damages to a former suspect in the disappearance of 3yo William Tyrrell in 2014. Repairman Bill Spedding was one of the first suspects named by police after the toddler disappeared from his foster grandmother’s house in Kendall on NSW’s Mid North Coast. He had visited the property in the days before William’s disappearance to fix the washing machine. Six months later, a call to Crime Stoppers saw detectives charge Spedding with unrelated historical child sex offences – but he was acquitted when the charges were proven to have been fabricated over an old legal battle. He was also cleared of any involvement in the disappearance. The 71yo has now been awarded $1,484,292 in damages by the state’s Supreme Court after suing police for malicious prosecution. “No amount of money will restore the life I enjoyed before this terrible nightmare,” Spedding said yesterday.

And while we have you, another big story in the NSW courts today is the sentencing of convicted murderer Chris Dawson. Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison will be considering Dawson’s lack of remorse for the murder of his wife Lynette, his “deteriorating” health and the many years of heavy media coverage on the case.