Edward Smith (criminal)
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Edward Smith was a British criminal involved in illegal gambling and narcotics as one of the ring leaders of a group drugging race horses during the 1950s and early 1960s.
Employed at a pharmaceutical company, he became aquainted with chemist Richard McGhee and later stable boy Darkie Steward who contacted McGhee about obtaining a drug which would effectivly incapacitate horses. After bringing in Joseph Lowry and Edward Dwyer in 1960, Dwyer instructed Smith to get a more powerful drug from McGhee.
However, after two horses had been discovered to have been drugged at a Kelso Racecourse on October 21, 1961. Northumberland police were evetually able to trace reports of suspicious individuals to Micheline Lugeon and bookmaker William Roper.
Following a police investigation, Smith was arrested by police at a Brighton Racecourse after he had told a couple he was delivering drugs to use on the horses. A later search of his Surbiton residence turned up a large amount of narcotics which Smith admitted belonged to a group which had been drugging horses in order to fix horse races for at least a decade. He and his partners were tried at Brighton and found guilty before being sentenced between one and four years imprisonment.
