James Edward "Jockey" Smith

Born in 1942, Smith was a notorious bank robber.

Raised in the Colac district and the second of eight children, Smith became an apprentice jockey.

But he got too heavy and offers of race wides were few and far between.

By the age of 19, Smith had begun his long criminal career and was serving his first jail sentence for breaking into shops.

He was soon to team up with a petty criminal named Ronald Ryan - the man who later became the last man hanged in Australia.

Smith and Ryan tried to burgle a shop and it was Smith who tried to shoot his way to freedom but, according to police, his old pistol jammed and he was caught.

In 1973, it was again a faulty firearm that stopped him from becoming a killer.

This time St Kilda policeman Russell Cook was searching a car when Smith came from behind and tried to shoot him.

Again the gun failed to discharge.

Smith moved to Sydney for a change of luck.

But he was soon charged with armed robbery offences.

In what was to become part of a pattern for nearly twenty years, when he was in trouble he ran.

This time he skipped bail but was re-arrested nearly two months later, sunbaking on a Melbourne beach.

Taken to Pentridge, he was there less than 48 hours before he used a visitor's pass to walk out of Victoria's then maximum security prison.

Most escapees take a low profile but Smith found that living a semi-normal life gave him the ideal camouflage.

He wanted to be a racehorse trainer so he borrowed a couple of names from the top men in the field - Tommy Smith and Bart Cummings.

Somehow he forged a new identity and became a country racehorse trainer, 'Tom Cummings'.

For three years he lived in Nowra, racing his horses at country meetings and occasionally venturing to Sydney.

In 1976 he shot Constable Jerry Ambrose in Sydney.

Smith's motive was to avoid arrest.

Melbourne bookmakers had met at the Victorian Club's former premises at 141 Queen Street to settle up on the first business day after a major metropolitan race meeting for almost a century.

Huge amounts of money would arrive by armoured car.

Once inside the club there was almost no security. It all worked on trust.

The millions of dollars in cash present each settling day had attracted the attention of criminals.

Several gangs, including one led by Jockey Smith, had conducted preliminary checks on the feasibility of committing the robbery but the job had always appeared too daunting.

The club was robbed on April 20, 1976, when one of Melbourne's most notorious crime, the Great Bookie Robbery took place 

The gang is believed to have been led by Raymond "Chuck" Bennett.

In 1977 police alleged Smith broke into bookmaker Lloyd Tidmarsh's home and, during the robbery, shot him dead.

He was later arrested at a phone box in Nowra.

Again, according to police, he tried to shoot the arresting officer, this time Detective Bob Godden.

Smith stuck the revolver in the policeman's midriff but the quick thinking policeman managed to stick his thumb between the breech and the hammer.

He was originally sentenced to life for the murder of Tidmarsh and shooting Constable Ambrose but the convictions were thrown out on appeal when it was alleged police fabricated his confessions.

He was sentenced to 14 years for trying to kill Godden.

But someone knew his movements and was waiting when he got out.

The day after he was released in February, 1992, Smith was walking with his wife in Bondi when he was shot in the chest, stomach and leg with shotgun blasts.

He was close to death but spent a month in hospital and survived.

According to celebrity gangster Mark 'Chopper' Read, Smith was one of the best bank robbers in the country and should have been wealthy.

But 'he had a reputation as a tightwad...a man who would have a hundred grand under his bed and go out and pinch a rubbish bin instead of pay for it.'

Which is perhaps why, at a time when he was making good money from selling cannabis and amphetamines, Smith courted trouble by shoplifting a steam iron, kitchen knives and a plastic tray from Grace Brothers in November 1992.

He was caught. To escape he threatened the store detective with a gun, then forced a terrified couple to drive him away from the Erina shopping centre.

Police lost track of him for a few days.

Meanwhile, members of the Melbourne armed robbery squad had their own problems.

Career criminal Christopher Binse (left) was running hot.

He had escaped from Parramatta jail on October 24 and, a month later, had robbed the Commonwealth bank at Doncaster of $160,000.

Detective Sergeant Steve Curnow learned that Binse and two others planned to rob an Armaguard truck in Melbourne.

The squad launched a top priority operation, code-named Farnsy.

They found Binse hiding on a farm near Daylesford.

Listening devices picked up that one of the men at the farm was known as 'Tom'.

They didn't know at the time that Tom was Tom Cummings, alias Jockey Smith.

Just after 8pm on December 5, 1992, Smith drove from the farm in a white Ford panel van.

Police decided to let him go.

They knew he would be back and their main target, Binse, was still inside.

Local policeman Senior Constable Ian Harris was on a routine afternoon shift and was unaware of the armed robbery squad operation in the area when he spotted a van on the Midland Highway.

He saw the driver was travelling at about 80kmh, 20 below the speed limit.

He checked on the radio for the 'usuals'.

He was told the car had been reported stolen.

He followed the van until it turned into the Farmer's Arms Hotel in Creswick.

Drinkers in the bar stood to watch the show.

Jockey got out of the van and approached the policeman, still sitting in his marked car.

After a brief discussion, Harris asked the driver for proof of ownership.

Smith went back, grabbed the car manual and used it to conceal a five-shot hand gun.

In the left pocket of his jeans was a can of mace.

Harris got out of the car and Smith shoved the revolver in the policeman's stomach. 

He ordered the policeman to hand over his gun but the policeman kept it just out of reach of the smaller man.

Smith fired a shot into the ground and said, "I'll give you 10 seconds to get your gun out of your pocket and get on the bonnet or I'll blow you away."

Harris called on the drinkers to ring the police.

He knew back-up was only minutes away.

But would it be too late?

He was not to know that just up the road half the armed robbery squad and special operations group were watching a quiet farmhouse while he was fighting for his life.

A local called Darren Neil was on his way to the Farmer's Arms but when he saw the police car he decided to keep driving.

Then he looked in his rear-view mirror and saw a man pointing a gun at the policeman, who was trying to back away.

Later, Neil could not explain his reaction.

He went back to the pub, got out of his car, walked over to the gunman and pushed his in the chest.

Smith responded by firing a warning shot into the ground. Neil knew this was no game.

He ran back to his car, drove to the entrance of the pub and pushed his two kids, who had been travelling with him, to safety.

He then drove back at the gunman.

Smith fired another shot and then pointed his gun at Neil.

It was the split second Harris needed.

He grabbed his service revolver and fired three times, hitting Smith in the chest and stomach.

The shots were fatal.

Senior police believe many escapes from Australian jails are more organised than is publicly acknowledged.

The Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence completed an investigation code-named Operation GAP, which found that a nationwide network existed to help prisoners on the run.

It found escapers could be provided with safe houses around Australia and fake documents from the group.

The theory seemed to be confirmed by the fact that Christopher Binse and Jockey Smith were using the same house in Daylesford.