Podcast companion: Australia’s best armed robber, who spent more time in prison that out

Some say James Edward ‘Jockey’ Smith was Australia’s best armed robber. The only problem was when confronted or cornered, he almost always lost his head, which meant he spent more time in prison than out of it. NEW LIFE & CRIMES PODCAST — LISTEN NOW.

James Edward ‘Jockey’ Smith was dubbed by some as Australia’s best armed robber.

Constable Ian Harris noticed something suspicious about a panel van on the Midland Highway heading toward Creswick, Victoria.

The van was being driven 20km under the speed limit, as if the driver was trying not to attract the attention of police.

Harris radioed in to Ballarat police to run a check on the licence plate and received word that it was indeed a stolen vehicle. Calling for backup, Harris followed the van until it stopped outside the Farmers Arms Hotel at Creswick.

Harris had no idea who the driver was, but when he asked the man for identification he suddenly found himself with a revolver pointed at him.
Fortunately the nearby pub was packed and a patron came over to intervene.

The distraction gave Harris a chance to draw his gun and shoot the panel van driver in the chest, killing him.

Harris soon discovered the man he shot dead was the notorious criminal, James “Jockey” Smith, who was on the run after an armed robbery went wrong in Sydney.

Smith’s demise was brought about by his tendency to turn what could have been a minor incident into a major crime.

Ian Harris at the scene of the shooting of James ‘Jockey’ Smith.

Born James Edward Smith in Colac, Victoria, October 3, 1942, he was one of eight children who grew up in a rural area and came to love horses.

He left school in Year 8 to become an apprentice jockey.

But apparently horse racing was not making him enough money. At 18, he was caught stealing and given a tough sentence of nine months in prison. Despite picking up the nickname “Jockey” inside, Smith’s racing career was over.

Instead, in prison he picked up a new profession as a thief, serving a virtual apprenticeship with Ronald Ryan, best known as the last man hanged in Australia.

Through the ’60s he honed his craft, robbing banks, running drugs and a number of other nefarious activities.

James Edward "Jockey" Smith (left) in his early days as a young jockey.

Although some called him one of Australia’s best armed robbers, he was often caught, spending more time in prison than out.

Part of his problem was that when he was confronted and cornered he almost always lost his head and responded with violence, pointing guns at people, threatening to shoot or abducting bystanders to get away.

Smith didn’t care if he took aim at civilians or police, but the police seemed to bring out the worst in him.

In the ’60s while burgling a shop, he took aim at a police officer and fired. If not for the gun jamming Smith would have been up for murder rather than just burglary.

In 1973 he tried to shoot another police officer as the officer searched Smith’s car but, again, the gun jammed.

In 1974 he was nabbed for conspiracy to commit armed robbery and was released on bail, but made matters worse by skipping bail.

Smith, 33, escaped from Pentridge by stealing a visitors pass and walking out past the guards.

Police brought him in again after a tip-off, but while he was on remand at Pentridge prison he jumped a fence, stole a visitor’s pass and walked out past the guards.

He spent three years on the run living in the area around Nowra and Kangaroo Valley. He even trained horses under the pseudonym Tommy Cummings, training a couple of wining horses at country race meetings, before he returned to robbery.

In 1976 he shot someone during a robbery, fortunately they were only injured.

But in 1977 he shot dead Sydney bookmaker Lloyd Tidmarsh when he refused to open a safe. He was later arrested by detective Bob Godden who said Smith tried to shoot him but he jammed his thumb behind the trigger stopping the criminal from committing murder.

At trial Smith claimed that much of the evidence against him was fabricated. He spent 15 years in prison appealing his sentence.

Smith being arrested by detectives in the 1970s.

When he was released in February 1992, Smith was shot outside his apartment in Bondi. Whether it was the police who resented his attempts to smear them or someone from the underworld who had it in for him, has never been determined.

He left town to lay low in Terrigal.

But it was his hothead that got him into trouble again.

On a visit to a local shopping centre Smith decided to do a bit of shoplifting, but was caught by store security.

He tried to bribe his way out of it, but the woman refused his money so he drew a small pistol, which she dismissed as a toy until an angry Smith threatened to shoot.

He ran to a nearby car and forced a couple to drive him away, before he jumped into another car and headed to his home. Finding his house had been bugged by the police he skipped town and headed for Victoria.

In Daylesford he acquired a white panel van and even drove past police staking out a property for another criminal. The police let him go because it wasn’t their man.

But when Smith met Constable Harris at the Farmers Arms on December 5, 1992, it proved to be his last stand.