The Shark Arm case
Encyclopedia
The Shark Arm case refers to a series of incidents that began in Sydney
, Australia
on 25 April 1935 when a human arm was regurgitated by a captive 3.5-metre tiger shark
. The tiger shark had been caught 3 kilometres from the beach suburb of Coogee
in mid-April and transferred to the Coogee Aquarium Baths, where it was put on public display. Within a week the fish became ill and vomited in front of a small crowd, leaving the left forearm of a man bearing a distinctive tattoo
floating in the pool. Before it was captured, the tiger shark had devoured a smaller shark. It was this smaller shark that had originally swallowed the human arm.
Early inquiries correctly led police to a Sydney businessman named Reginald William Lloyd Holmes (1892-1935). Holmes was a fraudster and smuggler who also ran a successful family boat-building business at Lavender Bay, New South Wales
. Holmes had employed Smith several times to work insurance scams, including one in 1934 in which an over-insured pleasure cruiser named Pathfinder was sunk near Terrigal, New South Wales
. Shortly afterward, the pair began a racket with Patrick John Brady, a convicted forger and ex-serviceman (born Rozelle NSW, 18 October 1893). With specimen signatures from Holmes' friends and clients provided by the boat-builder, Brady would forge cheques for small amounts against their bank accounts that he and Smith would then cash. Police were later able to establish that Jim Smith was blackmailing the wealthy Reginald Holmes.
on 7 April 1935 after telling his wife he was going fishing. Patrick Brady had rented a small cottage in Taloombi Street, Cronulla at the time Jim Smith went missing. Police alleged that Smith was murdered at this cottage.
Port Hacking
and Gunnamatta Bay
were searched by the Navy and the Air Force, but the rest of Smith's body was never found. This caused problems for the prosecution when Brady was eventually brought to trial.
on the day Smith had gone missing, and that "he was dishevelled, he had a hand in a pocket and wouldn't take it out... it was clear that [he] was frightened."
Holmes's statement to police.
Initially, Holmes denied any association with Patrick Brady but four days later, on 20 May 1935, the businessman went into his boatshed and attempted suicide
by shooting himself in the head with a .32 calibre pistol. However, the bullet flattened against the bone of the forehead and he was merely stunned. Revived after falling into the water, he crawled into his speedboat and led two police launches on a chase around Sydney Harbour for several hours until he was finally caught and taken to hospital.
In early June 1935, Reginald Holmes decided to cooperate with the police investigating the murder of Smith. He told Detective Sergeant Frank Matthews that Patrick Brady had killed Jim Smith, dismembered his body and stowed it into a trunk that he had then thrown into Gunnamatta Bay
. He then claimed Patrick Brady had come to his home, showed him the severed arm and threatened Holmes with murder if he did not receive ₤500 immediately. Holmes also admitted that after Brady had left his home, he travelled to the Sydney coastal suburb of Maroubra and discarded Smith's arm into the surf.
. He had been shot three times at close range. The crime scene was made to appear that Holmes had committed suicide, but forensic police had no doubt that he was murdered. Holmes was due to give evidence at Smith's inquest later that morning.
Reginald Holmes was cremated at Northern Suburbs Crematorium on 13 June 1935. He left an estate valued at over ₤34,000 in 1935, which would be worth millions of dollars today.
In his 1995 book The Shark Arm Murders, Professor Alex Castles
claims that Reginald Holmes took out a contract on his own life to spare his family the public disgrace of conviction.
The lawyer serving Brady, Clive Evatt
KC (1900–1984), claimed to the coroner that there was not enough substance to begin the inquest. Evatt argued that an arm "did not constitute a body", and that Jim Smith, minus his arm, could still be alive. The case has remained unsolved to this day.
The inquest's most important witness, Reginald Holmes, was then dead; the case against Patrick Brady fell apart due to lack of evidence. The Shark Arm Murders suggests that Jim Smith was killed by Patrick Brady on the orders of gangland figure Edward Frederick (Eddie) Weyman, who was arrested while attempting to defraud a bank with a forged cheque in 1934 and later during a bank robbery, apparently due to information Jim Smith had given to the police. Smith had been exposed as a police informant, and therefore would have been a target for assassination. .
The police charged Patrick Brady with the murder of Jim Smith, although he was later found not guilty and acquitted. For the next 30 years, Patrick Brady steadfastly maintained that he was in no way connected to the murder of Jim Smith. He died at Concord Repatriation Hospital in Sydney on 11 August 1965.
The investigation into the murder of Jim Smith and his severed arm became legendary in Australia's legal history.
.
Bill Bryson
mentions this case in his book Down Under (known as In a Sunburned Country in the U.S.), but wrongly implies that the arm belonged to a swimmer who was eaten by the shark.
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on 25 April 1935 when a human arm was regurgitated by a captive 3.5-metre tiger shark
Tiger shark
The tiger sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier, is a species of requiem shark and the only member of the genus Galeocerdo. Commonly known as sea tigers, tiger sharks are relatively large macropredators, capable of attaining a length of over . It is found in many tropical and temperate waters, and is...
. The tiger shark had been caught 3 kilometres from the beach suburb of Coogee
Coogee, New South Wales
Coogee is a beachside suburb of local government area City of Randwick. It is located 8 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is also a part of the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney....
in mid-April and transferred to the Coogee Aquarium Baths, where it was put on public display. Within a week the fish became ill and vomited in front of a small crowd, leaving the left forearm of a man bearing a distinctive tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
floating in the pool. Before it was captured, the tiger shark had devoured a smaller shark. It was this smaller shark that had originally swallowed the human arm.
Identification of the limb
Fingerprints lifted from the hand identified the arm as that of former boxer and small-time criminal James (Jim) Smith, (born England 1890), who had been missing since April 7, 1935. Smith's arm and tattoo were also positively identified by his wife Gladys and his brother Edward Smith. Jim Smith led a high-risk lifestyle, as he was also a police informer. Examination revealed that the limb had been severed with a knife, which led to a murder investigation. Three days later, the aquarium owners killed the shark and gutted it, hampering the initial police investigation.Early inquiries correctly led police to a Sydney businessman named Reginald William Lloyd Holmes (1892-1935). Holmes was a fraudster and smuggler who also ran a successful family boat-building business at Lavender Bay, New South Wales
Lavender Bay, New South Wales
Lavender Bay is a harbourside suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Lavender Bay is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council....
. Holmes had employed Smith several times to work insurance scams, including one in 1934 in which an over-insured pleasure cruiser named Pathfinder was sunk near Terrigal, New South Wales
Terrigal, New South Wales
Terrigal is a major coastal suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, located east of Gosford on the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the City of Gosford local government area....
. Shortly afterward, the pair began a racket with Patrick John Brady, a convicted forger and ex-serviceman (born Rozelle NSW, 18 October 1893). With specimen signatures from Holmes' friends and clients provided by the boat-builder, Brady would forge cheques for small amounts against their bank accounts that he and Smith would then cash. Police were later able to establish that Jim Smith was blackmailing the wealthy Reginald Holmes.
Murder of Jim Smith
Jim Smith was last seen drinking and playing cards with Patrick Brady at the Cecil Hotel in the southern Sydney suburb of CronullaCronulla, New South Wales
Cronulla is a beachside suburb, in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cronulla is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Sutherland Shire....
on 7 April 1935 after telling his wife he was going fishing. Patrick Brady had rented a small cottage in Taloombi Street, Cronulla at the time Jim Smith went missing. Police alleged that Smith was murdered at this cottage.
Port Hacking
Port Hacking
Port Hacking is an Australian estuary, located in Southern Sydney, New South Wales and fed by the Hacking River and several smaller creeks, including Bundeena Creek and The Basin. It is a ria, a river basin which has become submerged by the sea...
and Gunnamatta Bay
Gunnamatta Bay
Gunnamatta Bay is a small bay in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.Gunnamatta Bay is located off the Port Hacking estuary, in the Sutherland Shire...
were searched by the Navy and the Air Force, but the rest of Smith's body was never found. This caused problems for the prosecution when Brady was eventually brought to trial.
Arrest of Brady
Patrick Brady was arrested on 16 May and charged with the murder of Smith. A taxi driver testified that he had taken Patrick Brady from Cronulla to Holmes' address at 3 Bay View Street, McMahons Point, New South WalesMcMahons Point, New South Wales
McMahons Point is a harbourside suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. McMahons Point is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council. McMahons Point sits on the peninsula flanked by Berrys...
on the day Smith had gone missing, and that "he was dishevelled, he had a hand in a pocket and wouldn't take it out... it was clear that [he] was frightened."
Holmes's statement to police.
Initially, Holmes denied any association with Patrick Brady but four days later, on 20 May 1935, the businessman went into his boatshed and attempted suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by shooting himself in the head with a .32 calibre pistol. However, the bullet flattened against the bone of the forehead and he was merely stunned. Revived after falling into the water, he crawled into his speedboat and led two police launches on a chase around Sydney Harbour for several hours until he was finally caught and taken to hospital.
In early June 1935, Reginald Holmes decided to cooperate with the police investigating the murder of Smith. He told Detective Sergeant Frank Matthews that Patrick Brady had killed Jim Smith, dismembered his body and stowed it into a trunk that he had then thrown into Gunnamatta Bay
Gunnamatta Bay
Gunnamatta Bay is a small bay in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.Gunnamatta Bay is located off the Port Hacking estuary, in the Sutherland Shire...
. He then claimed Patrick Brady had come to his home, showed him the severed arm and threatened Holmes with murder if he did not receive ₤500 immediately. Holmes also admitted that after Brady had left his home, he travelled to the Sydney coastal suburb of Maroubra and discarded Smith's arm into the surf.
Second murder
On 11 June 1935, Holmes withdrew £500 from his account and late in the evening left home, telling his wife he had to meet someone. He was also very cautious as he left his home, accompanied by his wife to the door of his Nash sedan. Early the next morning, he was found dead in his car at Hickson Road, Dawes PointDawes Point, New South Wales
Dawes Point is a locality of Sydney's city centre, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dawes Point is located on the north-eastern edge of the Sydney central business district, at the southern end of Sydney Harbour Bridge, adjacent to The Rocks. It is part of the local government area of...
. He had been shot three times at close range. The crime scene was made to appear that Holmes had committed suicide, but forensic police had no doubt that he was murdered. Holmes was due to give evidence at Smith's inquest later that morning.
Reginald Holmes was cremated at Northern Suburbs Crematorium on 13 June 1935. He left an estate valued at over ₤34,000 in 1935, which would be worth millions of dollars today.
In his 1995 book The Shark Arm Murders, Professor Alex Castles
Alex Castles
Alexander "Alex" Cuthbert Castles was an Australian historian and author who specialized in Australian legal history. He is the author of a number of published books in Australia as well as the author of numerous articles written for various journals.Castles was born in Melbourne, Australia...
claims that Reginald Holmes took out a contract on his own life to spare his family the public disgrace of conviction.
Coronial inquest
The coronial inquest into Smith's death began on 12 June 1935 at the City Coroner's Court led by Mr. E.T. Oram, the same day Holmes was found dead in his car with gunshot wounds to his chest. Although Holmes was the inquest's star witness, he was never offered police protection before his testimony could be heard.The lawyer serving Brady, Clive Evatt
Clive Evatt
Clive Evatt QC was an Australian politician, barrister and raconteur. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1939 until 1959. At various times he sat as a member of the Industrial Labor Party, ALP and as an independent.-Early life:Evatt was born in Maitland and was the...
KC (1900–1984), claimed to the coroner that there was not enough substance to begin the inquest. Evatt argued that an arm "did not constitute a body", and that Jim Smith, minus his arm, could still be alive. The case has remained unsolved to this day.
The inquest's most important witness, Reginald Holmes, was then dead; the case against Patrick Brady fell apart due to lack of evidence. The Shark Arm Murders suggests that Jim Smith was killed by Patrick Brady on the orders of gangland figure Edward Frederick (Eddie) Weyman, who was arrested while attempting to defraud a bank with a forged cheque in 1934 and later during a bank robbery, apparently due to information Jim Smith had given to the police. Smith had been exposed as a police informant, and therefore would have been a target for assassination. .
The police charged Patrick Brady with the murder of Jim Smith, although he was later found not guilty and acquitted. For the next 30 years, Patrick Brady steadfastly maintained that he was in no way connected to the murder of Jim Smith. He died at Concord Repatriation Hospital in Sydney on 11 August 1965.
The investigation into the murder of Jim Smith and his severed arm became legendary in Australia's legal history.
Cultural references
The Shark Arm Case was the basis of a 2003 episode of CSI: MiamiCSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
.
Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson
William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before moving back to the US in 1995...
mentions this case in his book Down Under (known as In a Sunburned Country in the U.S.), but wrongly implies that the arm belonged to a swimmer who was eaten by the shark.
Further reading
- Vince Kelly. The Shark Arm Case. Angus & Robertson Publishers, Australia. 1963 & 1975. (ISBN 0207132127).
- Peter Luck. A Time To Remember. Mandarin Press, Australia, 1991. pages 274-275, 'The Shark Arm Case'. (ISBN 1 86330 090 2).
- Alex CastlesAlex CastlesAlexander "Alex" Cuthbert Castles was an Australian historian and author who specialized in Australian legal history. He is the author of a number of published books in Australia as well as the author of numerous articles written for various journals.Castles was born in Melbourne, Australia...
. The Shark Arm Murders. Wakefield Press, Australia. 1995. (ISBN 1 86254 335 6).