Watson Brass with Philip Smith: Fantasia!

Smith was jailed for life for murdering the father of a young boy he'd been convicted of sexually abusing. Smith, jailed for life for murdering the father of a child he had been convicted of molesting, made international headlines in 2014 when he was released from Spring Hill Prison on a 74-hour temporary release and boarded a flight to Chili. Infamous prison escapee and murderer Phillip John Smith has taken legal action against the Department of Corrections for refusing to allow him to wear a necklace in prison. A New Zealand murderer and child sex offender has won a legal battle that will allow him to wear his toupee in prison so he can boost his confidence. He spent the first 21 years in Stockton where he graduated from Stockton high School and Stockton Junior College as a certified draftsman. His early love was sports with baseball and golf at the top of the list.

Detectives interviewed Smith three times, but he refused to answer their questions, and no further charges were brought. In his subsequent statement Smith admitted to being at the Rainbow with Corcoran and a male friend, but claimed they were later separated when they went to another pub, the Kerryman, and the male friend was ejected. Smith said that he and Corcoran then went to Monte Carlo's, a nightclub in Handsworth, and that when they left some time later, Corcoran was confronted by a man he described as a Teddy Boy, with whom she had argued at the Kerryman. Smith said that the man became aggressive, so he asked Corcoran if she wanted to go home.

On 23 October 2000, while she was employed at the Rainbow pub as a cleaner and to look after the licensee's children, she was found dead in the bedroom of her flat on Maxstoke Street, Bordesley Green. A post mortem failed to establish a cause of death, and her body was returned to Ireland for burial. Smith's first victim was Jodie Hyde, a recovering butane gas addict whom he met at the Rainbow before killing her hours later. He is thought to have strangled her before setting her body on fire near a recreation ground. Three days later, he met mother-of-three Rosemary Corcoran at the same public house and drove her to a rural location, where he bludgeoned her to death and drove over the body. Then, as he drove home, he hit care worker Carol Jordan with his car and, fearing capture, beat her to death.

In the following 10 years he and his growing family lived in 7 different places – Sacramento, San Rafael, San Mateo, Corte Madera, Thousand Oaks, Alamo and Danville. As a rising star in Shell Oil Company, he knew he was scheduled to move to the east coast, probably New York. He also was realizing that large corporate life was not a good fit for him. So, in 1967 he joined a real estate company, Rinker Development Company and moved to Alamo as its Northern California Vice President to develop service stations. About a year later he ended up in the hospital with ruptured discs in his lower back and in traction trying to avoid surgery. Fortunately, a very talented surgeon, Dr. Liu, was able to “fix him”.

His conviction for murder and prolonged sexual abuse did not stop him from tormenting the family. Smith then led the boy’s mother and brother out of the house at gunpoint, refusing to allow the woman to tend to her dying husband. The boy’s parents came to regard Smith as a “big brother” to their children.

Today Herald senior journalist Anna Leask revisits the murder of Arthur Easton and the journey to justice for Alan Hall. The 52-year-old postal worker was stabbed in his liver during the frenzied attack and died of blood loss after emergency services arrived on the scene. For more information and support, talk to your local doctor, hauora, community mental health team, or counselling service. To date, no one has been arrested for her murder and police recently announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the capture of her killer - or killers. The 1998 murder of the Ashburton schoolgirl remains one of New Zealand's most high-profile cold cases.

There were bloodstains on the boots with which he had kicked both Corcoran and Jordan, which he was still wearing at the time of his arrest. Smith had tried to clean his clothes in the bath of his flat along with a pair of trousers belonging to Corcoran, and a bag containing items belonging to Hyde was discovered outside. Detectives matched the tyre marks from his car, which had four different types of tyre, to the Worcestershire murder scene and to Corcoran's body, over which he had driven.