A CONVICTED killer on the run has significantly changed his appearance and is living under a false name, Tasmania Police believe. Twenty-one years ago Jamie Leigh Smith ‘‘brutally’’ killed a 17-year-old in Hobart with accomplice Troy Matthew Philpott, who is still in Risdon Prison. In 2009 Smith was released from prison and placed on parole for the rest of his life but disappeared less than two years later. ‘‘Jamie Leigh Smith is understood to be living under a pseudonym, possibly John White, and significantly changed his appearance,’’ Southern Commander Glenn Frame told The Examiner. ‘‘Information continues to be provided to police on a regular basis regarding where he is staying and living and, as with other such warrants, police actively follow up any avenues of inquiry as they emerge.’’ Police assert Smith, who is from the North-West, is not wanted for a criminal offence, only a breach of his parole. However, if court testimony is anything to go by, Smith’s behaviour as a parolee is troubling. Smith’s name recently surfaced in the Ravenswood double murder trial of Marco Daniel Rusterholz, who on Friday was jailed for killing Angela Hallam and Joshua Newman in 2012. During preliminary proceedings a Crown witness alleged Smith offered to kill Ms Hallam but only if he could kill Rusterholz’s then-girlfriend Sally Anne Maher as well. Rusterholz, who ended up killing Hallam himself, rebuffed Smith. According to the witness, Smith believed Ms Hallam had tried to give him a ‘‘hotshot’’ drug injection in order to kill him. The murder that Smith was convicted of was a brutal crime on an unsuspecting teenage victim. In 1994, Smith, then 18, and Philpott, 24, murdered 17-year-old Wayne Hodgen, who they knew from a homeless shelter, because they found him irritating. Smith first tried to cut Mr Hodgen’s throat with a blunt knife but when this failed he clubbed him to death with a piece of wood while Philpott held him down. The victim, suffering a fractured skull and a severe brain injury, was left to die in St Andrews park. The murderers fled Hobart, hitch-hiked to Launceston, then travelled to Burnie before being caught camping in bushland near Rocky Cape four days after the murder. Chief Justice William Cox labelled the killing ‘‘a brutal, senseless, unprovoked, premeditated beating to death of a defenceless 17-year-old victim’’. Smith was handed a life sentence but was resentenced in 1998 to 15 years non-parole. Disturbingly Justice Cox said Smith’s ‘‘irrationality immediately raises concern for others in the community who might cross him upon his release’’. ‘‘In my opinion, the protection of society requires that if such an offender is released on parole, it should be a conditional release revocable for the rest of his life should he not observe the conditions of his parole.’’ Smith was paroled on his first attempt. Offenders paroled for life are considered to be serving a sentence. Smith has numerous tattoos: ●Left fingers – image of a bug and the word ‘‘love’’. ●Left forearm – two crosses and the word ‘‘luv’’. ●Left hand – image of a spider. ●Left upper arm –image of a knife, and ‘‘ACDC’’. Anyone with information on Smith’s whereabouts is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800333000.
Jamie Leigh Smith, pictured here in 2001, has significantly changed his appearance
A CONVICTED killer on the run has significantly changed his appearance and is living under a false name, Tasmania Police believe.
Twenty-one years ago Jamie Leigh Smith ‘‘brutally’’ killed a 17-year-old in Hobart with accomplice Troy Matthew Philpott, who is still in Risdon Prison.
In 2009 Smith was released from prison and placed on parole for the rest of his life but disappeared less than two years later.
‘‘Jamie Leigh Smith is understood to be living under a pseudonym, possibly John White, and significantly changed his appearance,’’ Southern Commander Glenn Frame told The Examiner.
‘‘Information continues to be provided to police on a regular basis regarding where he is staying and living and, as with other such warrants, police actively follow up any avenues of inquiry as they emerge.’’
Police assert Smith, who is from the North-West, is not wanted for a criminal offence, only a breach of his parole.
However, if court testimony is anything to go by, Smith’s behaviour as a parolee is troubling.
Smith’s name recently surfaced in the Ravenswood double murder trial of Marco Daniel Rusterholz, who on Friday was jailed for killing Angela Hallam and Joshua Newman in 2012.
During preliminary proceedings a Crown witness alleged Smith offered to kill Ms Hallam but only if he could kill Rusterholz’s then-girlfriend Sally Anne Maher as well.
Rusterholz, who ended up killing Hallam himself, rebuffed Smith.
According to the witness, Smith believed Ms Hallam had tried to give him a ‘‘hotshot’’ drug injection in order to kill him.
The murder that Smith was convicted of was a brutal crime on an unsuspecting teenage victim.
In 1994, Smith, then 18, and Philpott, 24, murdered 17-year-old Wayne Hodgen, who they knew from a homeless shelter, because they found him irritating.
Smith first tried to cut Mr Hodgen’s throat with a blunt knife but when this failed he clubbed him to death with a piece of wood while Philpott held him down.
The victim, suffering a fractured skull and a severe brain injury, was left to die in St Andrews park.
The murderers fled Hobart, hitch-hiked to Launceston, then travelled to Burnie before being caught camping in bushland near Rocky Cape four days after the murder.
Chief Justice William Cox labelled the killing ‘‘a brutal, senseless, unprovoked, premeditated beating to death of a defenceless 17-year-old victim’’.
Smith was handed a life sentence but was resentenced in 1998 to 15 years non-parole.
Disturbingly Justice Cox said Smith’s ‘‘irrationality immediately raises concern for others in the community who might cross him upon his release’’.
‘‘In my opinion, the protection of society requires that if such an offender is released on parole, it should be a conditional release revocable for the rest of his life should he not observe the conditions of his parole.’’
Smith was paroled on his first attempt. Offenders paroled for life are considered to be serving a sentence.
Smith has numerous tattoos:
●Left fingers – image of a bug and the word ‘‘love’’.
●Left forearm – two crosses and the word ‘‘luv’’.
●Left hand – image of a spider.
●Left upper arm –image of a knife, and ‘‘ACDC’’.
Anyone with information on Smith’s whereabouts is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800333000.
