Troy Smith: Bali drug accused calls in ‘prison whisperer’ John McLeod to the stars as Aussie dad faces Indonesian jail hell

A high-profile ‘fixer’ who worked to help free Schapelle Corby from prison has been spotted visiting an Australian father-of-two held in Bali on drug trafficking charges.

Troy Smith, who faces a lengthy prison sentence for alleged possession of methamphetamine, reportedly tried to flee police but was arrested after warning shots were fired.

Smith’s family has hired ‘prison whisperer’ John McLeod, who runs consultancy Tora Solutions, which helps Australians with legal problems abroad.

On Thursday, 49-year-old Smith arrived at the Denpasar District Court in a prison van, exited backwards and then tried to hide his face from waiting local media.

Mr McLeod arrived shortly afterwards and was seen speaking to Smith from a courtyard through steel prison bars.

“Do you want me, Troy?” Mr McLeod shouted through the bars before Smith, wearing a white business shirt and tan trousers, approached him.

Wearing a red prison vest over his white business shirt, Smith later learned he will likely avoid prison time and instead serve his sentence at a rehabilitation center.

Smith, a father-of-two originally from Port Lincoln in South Australia, was allegedly caught with 3.19 grams of methamphetamine in a Colgate toothpaste container at the Champlung Mas Hotel in Legian on April 30.

He and his new wife Tracy Ijusa were vacationing on the island when Indonesian police raided their resort room.

Mr McLeod, a former police officer, helped get Corby out of Bali’s infamous Kerobokan prison, where Smith could spend a lot of time if convicted.

Hiring the fixer is a major escalation in Smith’s defensive strategy.

In 2016, he came to the aid of ex-soldier Adam Whittington – an ‘expert’ in child retrieval who spent four months in a Beirut prison after a controversial 60 Minutes child rescue operation went wrong.

In January 2022, Mr McLeod helped Jeffrey Welton, a surfing instructor from Perth, avoid the firing squad after convincing judges to treat him as an addict rather than a drug trafficker.

After meeting with Smith, Mr McLeod told reporters: “We just hope we get a fair shake, and I think we will.”

‘We have presented a very strong case. So it is a legal system. So we just have to go through the process and see what happens.’

He also revealed that Smith thanked him for coming and told him, “I’m glad you’re here.”

Later in court, the prosecutor requested that Smith be sentenced to eight months of rehabilitation at Anargya Dober House.

He originally served 12 years behind bars.

“We have come to the conclusion that the suspect has been found guilty of violating Article 127 of the Drug Law and that the suspect must be punished,” the prosecutor told the court.

The court took into account several mitigating factors, including that Smith admitted what he had done and that he had behaved polite during the trial, that he had never been convicted of a crime before and that he is the backbone of his family.

An emotional Smith told the court he regretted the allegations and ‘loved Bali’.

The court is expected to make a final ruling next week.

Smith’s wife Tracy did not attend Thursday’s court hearing, just days after the couple’s six-month wedding anniversary.

Outside court, Mr McLeod said Smith had shown ‘honesty’. “I think it’s a fair outcome.”

Mr McLeod said he hoped Smith can now ‘move on with his life, put this bad episode behind him and continue his rehabilitation and become a better person’.