IMO, LE would have had WS on their radar within the first 24 hours of WT disappearing, because of his recent being at grandmas house about her washing machine repair, and organising to return with the required part. That would have been enough to justify LE interviewing him. If after one chat everything seemed totally legit, why would LE want to talk to keep talking to him?. I can't find clarification of how many police interviews took place, it was mentioned up thread that he was spoken to three times before the home and office raid/ before the general public were aware of him. I am getting the feeling that things didn't add up and there were inconsistencies in interviews with LE, and as Belz pointed out, maybe CCTV in Laurieton didn't show WS to be where he said he had been at the times he said. Maybe with all of these inconsistencies WS was being watched by the detectives that continued working on the case and maybe his actions were dodgy.
http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news...aring-family-man/story-fnpn118l-1227193777963
'Mr Spedding took part in a 10-page recorded interview with detectives
soon after little William l went missing on the day the tradesman was due to fix the toddlers grandmothers washing machine.'
'As they checked out everyones statements about where they were on that Friday, detectives allegedly found some inconsistencies in what Mr Spedding told them'
http://m.theaustralian.com.au/news/...rs-disappearance/story-e6frg6z6-1227195227854
'One of the names that popped up early in their inquires was that of Bill Spedding; the tradesman had visited Williams grandmother a few days before the toddlers disappearance to look at her broken washing machine. He was routinely investigated, along with others whod had contact with the family in the lead-up to Williams disappearance.'
This article then goes on to say
'At some point a decision was made to step up the investigation into Spedding, and he was interviewed'.
So I don't think WS's septic tank was drained and his house and business turned upside down just because of a crime stoppers tip off