William Spedding faces court

Mr Spedding has been questioned over the disappearance of  toddler William Tyrrell and named as a person of interest.

But the charges are unrelated.

In court on Thursday Mr Spedding was refused bail after police charged him overnight.

The  63 year old man, was arrested at his Bonny Hills home and charged on Wednesday with five counts of sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 10 and two counts of common assault.

Police will allege Mr Spedding sexually assaulted two girls, aged three and six, in Sydney in 1987

His lawyer, Robert Hoyles, told the court his client was charged with matters that were brought up and dealt with 30 years ago.

"One might say Mr Spedding will deny these allegations until his final breath," Mr Hoyles said.

"For a man who has no prior criminal record Mr Spedding had been caught up in a whirlwind of a criminal investigation."

Mr Spedding sat in court wearing a grey jumper and blue shirt. He tried to smile at his wife Margaret and the pair put their hands against both sides of the glass around the court dock after he learned he was refused bail.

Mr Spedding will next appear in court on June 18.

It has emerged Police made several inquiries into Mr Spedding’s history in Wellington and spoke to authorities in the town. The former owner of Speddo’s visited the town recently and completed some financial affairs.  

Mr Spedding’s day of high drama began when Police went to his to home, arrested him and are now alleging the Whitegoods repairman Bill Spedding sexually assaulted two girls, aged three and six, in Sydney 1987.

The accused yelled "no" when he was arrested by homicide detectives at his Bonny Hills home on Wednesday, about seven months after William vanished from the yard of his grandmother's home in Kendall, wearing his favourite Spider-Man outfit.

The 63-year-old was taken to Port Macquarie police station where he was charged with seven historical offences dating back to 1987.

He was refused bail at Port Macquarie police station and appeared before Port Macquarie Local Court on Thursday.

Son Rodney Spedding and his wife Aimy told Fairfax Media they would fully support Mr Spedding after hearing the news of his arrest on Wednesday.

"These are fresh allegations and we don't believe them to be true," the pair said.

Police have confirmed that the charges are unrelated to the disappearance of William Tyrrell.

The local businessman has repeatedly denied any involvement in the toddler's disappearance and police have maintained he is not a suspect, but was a "person of interest" and only one line of inquiry they are pursuing.

Mr Spedding visited the home of William's grandmother four days before the boy's disappearance after a request to repair a washing machine.

A close friend, Colin, said Mr Spedding did not return to the grandmother's house with a spare part for the washing machine on the day William went missing because he could not get in contact with her.

Police dug up the front lawn and drained a septic on Mr Spedding's Wandoo Place property in January and have spoken with him a number of times.

Officers also seized a mattress and computer from his Laurieton office for forensic testing.

The head of the homicide investigation Gary Jubelin visited Mr Spedding's home on Monday and in March when police conducted a three-day bush search between a Lake Cathie and Bonny Hills.

Last week William's parents made a stomach-churning plea for anyone who knew anything about his disappearance to come forward.

The toddler's parents say they cannot live not knowing where he is or what has happened to him since he vanished on September 12 last year.

"We need to know where he is and we need to know what happened to him .... 'cause we can't live forever... like this," his mother said.  "His sister can't grow up never knowing what happened to her brother."

William's parents say they always suspected their three-year-old was abducted and had not simply wandered off from the yard where he was playing with his sister.

"If somebody has him and if he is alive ... I want him to be safe, I want him to be feeling loved and I want someone to be looking after him ... because to imagine that something else is going on ... we can't live a life like that," his mother said.

Anyone with information was urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.