Wife former cop Ben Smith works to defend him after he was accused of child sex crimes

A devoted wife has revealed how she launched her own investigation to clear her husband’s name after he was accused of historic child sex crimes. 

Former NSW police officer Ben Smith was charged with sexually assaulting a child under the age of 16 in December 2016, over incidents alleged to have happened 20 years ago.

A woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, went to Frenchs Forest Police Station in Sydney three months prior to his arrest and accused him of assaulting her over a five-year period beginning when she was 14 and he was 16. 

But Amy Smith stuck by her husband throughout the entire ordeal and always believed he was an innocent victim of the MeToo Movement – with investigators potentially fearing a backlash if they didn’t act on her unfounded evidence.

When asked if she ever doubted her husband, Mr Smith told 60 Minutes: ‘No. There was times I asked him questions like “Were you ever in some sort of relationship?” to which he said “No”.’

‘I asked him certain questions, definitely. But did I ever doubt that? No.’ 

Mrs Smith conducted her own investigation into her husband’s case by cross-referencing a number of documents and gathering evidence that police had astonishingly overlooked.

Her husband in 1996 had moved to Sydney from the country aged 16 to play rugby league and lived with a local family.

The girl who made the accusations lived at that house.

She claimed she was groomed by Mr Smith and that on 11 occasions over a period of five years he sexually assaulted her.

But Mrs Smith’s detective work presented several inconsistencies in the woman’s claims.

The most notable breakthrough came when she uncovered evidence that disproved allegations her husband had indecently assaulted the woman three times at the house in 1999.

She proved Mr Smith was not living at the property at the time and didn’t visit at any point during that year as he was nursing a broken leg. This evidence was also backed up by the woman’s brother.

‘What they (the police) said happened couldn’t have happened cause he wasn’t there, that’s kind of how we broke it all apart,’ Mrs Smith said.

She said her work ‘discredited’ the timeline of allegations that had been mapped out by police.

‘To be able to provide all of this factual, actual hard evidence, for me, it was empowering,’ Mrs Smith added.

Mr Smith’s wife Amy (pictured with Ben) stuck by her husband throughout the entire ordeal and always believed he was innocent victim of the MeToo Movement

Mrs Smith conducted her own investigative work and discovered several inconsistencies and evidence that disproved a number of the allegations made against her husband

However, it appeared that evidence put forward was ignored as Mr Smith’s case went to trial and he faced decades behind bars.

He fronted two court trials. The first ended with a hung jury.

In the second, he was unanimously found not guilty of all charges.

Further flaws in the investigation were also revealed when it came to light that star witness Aaron Taggart was not interviewed by police for six months after charges were laid.

‘I was the star witness and I knew the truth,’ Mr Taggart said.

He explained to detectives that he was happy to make a statement, but was told it would not be required.

One of the investigators later told the court that Mr Taggart ‘did not want to provide a statement’.

While Mr Smith was eventually proven to be innocent of the charges, the former police officer says the allegations have completely tarnished his reputation and career. 

The couple have now taken the fight to police and demanded accountability for the bungled investigation that cost them $50,000 in legal fees.

While Mr Smith (pictured) was eventually has proven to be innocent of the charges, the former police officer says the allegations have completely tarnished his reputation and career

The couple have taken the fight to police and demanded accountability for the bungled investigation that cost them $50,000 in legal fees

Former homicide detective, Gary Jubelin, told 60 minutes that police had failed to follow up leads and simply accepted the unsubstantiated allegations.

‘Police need to understand this is a responsibility they’ve got. People’s lives are affected,’ Jubelin said.

‘I’m saying let’s not dissuade people from reporting these crimes but as police we’ve got to make sure that we investigate them thoroughly. We can’t lose sight of the fact these allegations are very serious allegations.’

While both Jubelin and the Smiths say they support the MeToo movement empowering genuine victims of sexual assault to come forward, they believe it may have put pressure on investigators to blindly pursue the accusations.

‘We don’t want to come across as people that are anti people making complaints,’ Mr Smith said.

‘There are victims out there, and they should not be afraid to make their complaints,’ Amy added.

‘But when you have people that don’t do their job properly, that’s a hard pill to swallow.’