Shark Arm case
Channel: the aleatoric learning channel
Date: 2021-12-08

Fingerprints lifted from the hand identified the arm as that of former boxer and small-time criminal James "Jim" Smith, who had been missing since 7 April 1935. 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. 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 then cashed. Police were later able to establish that Smith had been blackmailing Holmes. Brady had rented a small cottage in Taloombi Street, Cronulla at the time Smith went missing. A taxi driver testified that he had taken Brady from Cronulla to Holmes' address at 3 Bay View Street, McMahons Point, New South Wales 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."Initially, Holmes denied any association with 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. In early June 1935, Holmes decided to cooperate with the police in investigating the murder of Smith. Holmes had been due to give evidence at Smith's inquest later that morning. The Coroner's 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. The Shark Arm Murders suggests that Smith was killed by Brady on the orders of gangland figure Edward Frederick 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 Smith had given to the police. The police charged Brady with the murder of Smith, although he was later acquitted. The investigation into the murder of Smith and his severed arm became legendary in Australia's legal history.