Two prison guards tasked with sitting by the bedside of notorious Sydney underworld figure Arthur “Neddy” Smith are being investigated after they allegedly failed to notice the 72-year-old leave his hospital room in a suspected escape attempt on Monday.
Smith, who is serving two life sentences for murder at Sydney’s Long Bay jail, was admitted to the cardiac ward of the Prince of Wales hospital at Randwick after suffering heart problems.
He was apparently not handcuffed to the bed when he reportedly took advantage of his distracted guards and walked out.
According to News Corp, one of the guards had fallen asleep and the other was using a laptop.
Smith’s escape attempt was foiled by the hospital’s considerably more alert nurses, who reportedly spotted him standing in the hallway in his hospital gown attempting to pull the IV needle out of his arm.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Corrective Services NSW said it was investigating the allegation that Smith “attempted to get out of his bed”.
“The allegation is being taken seriously and the governance and continuous improvement division will interview the two officers as part of an investigation,” she said. “The officers will be disciplined if the allegation is proven.”
The New South Wales corrective services minister, David Elliot, told News Corp the possibility of Smith escaping “sent a chill down my spine.”
“If it is true, these officers will have let down the thousands of hardworking correctional staff who put their heart and soul into this demanding job,” he said. “I will be kept informed as the investigation progresses and expect a report on its findings.”
According to NSW health department policy on caring for inmates or people who are in the custody of corrective services, the decision on whether to handcuff a patient lies with the superintendent of the jail where they are normally held.
Inmates are routinely shackled or handcuffed to the hospital bed in all Australian jurisdictions. In Western Australia, this has included shackling a prisoner who was in a coma, and another man who was unable to walk.
Smith has been in prison since 1989, when he was jailed for murdering tow-truck driver Ronnie Flavell by running him down in 1987. In 1998 he was given a second life-sentence for the 1983 murder of brothel owner Harvey Jones. Jones’s body was not found until 1995.
He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1981 and is also reported to have Alzheimer’s disease too. A 2010 bid to serve out the remainder of his sentence under house arrest so he could die at home was denied.
Also convicted of dealing in heroin and a series of armed robberies, Smith had been in and out of jail since the 1960s and led a criminal gang that is alleged to have been responsible for $25m worth of crime in the 1980s.
Once arrested, he turned whistleblower for the Independent Commission Against Corruption, outing several dirty cops from the NSW police, including Roger Rogerson, who was himself jailed for life for the 2014 murder of Jamie Gao.
Smith’s role in this particular chapter of Australian crime history was portrayed by actor Tony Martin in a 1995 miniseries titled Blue Murder.
With AAP
