Light Fingers And Dishlickers On The Greyhound Busts

Light Fingers And Dishlickers On The Greyhound Busts

The Sunday Age

Sunday August 17, 2008

Mark Russell

He was a lousy greyhound trainer but a cool and calculating thief, writes Mark Russell.

POLICE called him "the Travelling Man". Before they finally caught up with the one-man crime spree, he'd burgled 44 houses in 33 Victorian towns in six years. His name is Neville John Martin and he was a greyhound trainer - although not a very good one. Other greyhound fanciers sometimes wondered why he bothered dragging slow dogs all over the state, as far afield as Wangaratta in the north and Horsham in the west. The truth dawned when he was arrested in November 2006.

Martin's long run ended when he made the mistake of returning to Orbost in East Gippsland - two hours and almost 200 kilometres from the nearest greyhound track at Sale. A neighbour of a house he had previously burgled recognised him and called police.

The fact was that Martin's dog trailer was often empty - except on return trips, when it was sometimes filled with stolen goods.

As a bemused greyhound official quipped on Friday, "You don't take a slow dog from here to Horsham unless maybe you like driving."

In Martin's case, the attraction was stealing. What he lacked in skill he made up for with effrontery. The grey-haired man would walk into unlocked houses while often elderly householders were in the garden or next door.

If caught out, he would act confused, lost and feeble-minded, and pretend he was looking for a lost animal or a fictitious "Mrs Raymond".

Martin, 63, last week pleaded guilty in the County Court to 110 charges including theft, burglary and obtaining property by deception in burglaries committed in 33 towns between late 2000 and November 2006. He was remanded for sentencing on a date to be set.

Before his arrest, Martin lived at Munro, a sleepy farming hamlet between Stratford and Bairnsdale in East Gippsland. A regular at Sale Greyhound Club, he bet there so regularly that one of the gaming machines is still called after him.

"We call it the Neville Martin machine - no-one else could get a bet on if he was there," Sale greyhound racing manager Des Dooley said. "He talked big but he wasn't much of a punter."

One of Martin's most audacious crimes was to burgle the house of a former policeman at Eildon who was not home because he was carrying the Olympic torch through the north-east Victorian town before the Sydney Games in 2000.

Chris Rigg - a respected country cop given the honour of being a torch bearer after almost dying in a head-on car crash - was devastated when he found his home ransacked.

He was one of dozens of elderly victims Martin targeted. Most were outside gardening while Martin was robbing them.

He would enter through unlocked doors to steal wallets, purses, bank cards, cash and jewellery. His victims included a 91-year-old man and three people who have since died.

Mr Rigg, 61, said Martin rifled his bedroom, where his friends had left their coats and valuables behind while they cheered him on as he carried the Olympic torch through the town. Martin stole about $7000 worth of goods including watches, jewellery, cash, and Mr Rigg's Australian Police Medal.

Mr Rigg, who had been shot at in the line of duty during his almost 20 years as a policeman, believes Martin followed the Olympic torch as it made its way through rural Victoria in 2000, robbing houses all the way.

"He's a low life," Mr Rigg said. "I mean, who would do such a thing?

"It blew my arse off that someone could do this. I was devastated. It was very heartless. They should lock him up and throw away the key."

Mr Rigg said he was ecstatic when investigating officer Senior Constable Ben Kelly told him Martin had finally been caught.

Constable Kelly, who has been praised for his efforts after Martin's arrest in tracking his previous crimes through witness descriptions, bank account records and phone intercepts, later organised a new Australian Police Medal for Mr Rigg.

Another victim, Edna Seccombe, 86, was weeding the garden outside her Lakes Entrance home when Martin broke in and stole her purse.

Mrs Seccombe bumped into Martin as he was leaving.

He calmly asked if she was "Mrs Raymond" and chatted to her before sauntering off.

"I was so close to him I could have kissed him," she said. "Now I think about it, it gives me the shivers."