Had another go at this over the weekend. Dash out, cleaned the "rugby balls" again and also all the ribbon connectors with no joy. At omne pont the tacho also went off but after a bit of messing with the connectors thats back.
No amount of messing with connectors seems to fix the speedos though
Checked the connection on the sensor again and it looked OK.
Managed to unscrew the sender and confirmed that the plastic drive spindle is turning OK so its not a mechanical issue.
Problem is I damaged the small circuit board in the head of the sender when removing it - theres a square white electronic component that has broken off - I guess it could have been damaged already but more likley my clumsiness.
Either way, its not going to work now so im going to need a new sensor.
I can only see new ones at £500+

which seems OTT when a similar VW unit is less that £20.
Ive attached a pic of the parts showing the broken component and where it came from.
The black plastic part has what looks like a VDO number on it 214/1/5 12v IMP but I cant fine this on the VDO site
If anyone has any ideas on where to source a replacement feel free to share !