Reginald James "Reg" Spiers (born 14 December 1941) is an Australian former athlete who competed in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

at the

1962 Commonwealth Games The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North ...

, before his later conviction on

drug smuggling The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types ...

charges. He is best known for successfully posting himself in a box from England to Australia to avoid paying for a plane ticket.

Athletic career

Born in

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, Spiers, who grew to be over two metres tall and strongly built,Rettie, J. "Australian's French connection", ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', p. 1., 13 February 1987 took up javelin and became one of the leading javelin throwers in Australia while still a teenager, placing third in the 1960/61 Australian Track and Field Championships and second in 1961/62. His results led to his qualification for the 1962 Commonwealth Games in

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, where he came fifth with a best throw of 69.70 metres. Spiers continued to compete but his performances during the 1963/64 Australian summer were not enough to gain admission to the 1964 Australian Olympic team so Spiers travelled to England in an attempt to qualify during the English summer. Unsuccessful, desperate to get back home in time for his daughter's birthday and penniless by the end of the season, Spiers enlisted a fellow athlete to help him build a man-sized wooden box, in which he then air-freighted himself back to Australia. Referred to as having "heroic - albeit borderline delusional gumption" for his actions, Spiers eventually made it to Perth, although nearly dehydrating on the runway in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. Spiers's 1964 journey as airfreight from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

was highly publicised after the British javelin thrower who'd built Spiers's box, John McSorley, became concerned about his friend's welfare and contacted sports correspondent James Coote from ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' newspaper in London. Following his six-year disappearance after skipping bail from Adelaide with his girlfriend in 1981, Spiers declined a television interview with Channel 9 in 1988. Scant details had survived about Spiers's sixty-three-hour stowaway flight, and little was known about his time on the run, until he endorsed a book by McSorley's wife and son.McSorley, J. & McSorley, M. (2014). ''Out Of The Box: The Highs and Lows of a Champion Smuggler'', Roaring Forties Press: California. After a brief retirement, Spiers returned to competitive athletics in the 1966/67 season, winning the national javelin championship with a throw of 73.77 metres. The next season, Spiers recorded his best ever throw of 74.45 metres but only finished third nationally. Spiers continued to compete until 1980/81, again winning the national javelin throw in 1976/77 with a throw of 73.68 metres.

Post-athletic career

Following his retirement from athletics, Spiers became involved in drug smuggling and was arrested by the

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the principal Federal police, federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government responsible for investigating Crime in Australia, crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth ...

and charged in the Adelaide Courts for conspiracy to import A$1.2 million of

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

and

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

resin A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds, predominantly terpenes. Commo ...

into Australia in 1980. Spiers pleaded guilty and was sentenced to ten years, but disappeared from Adelaide in October 1981. Spiers next appeared in India, where he was arrested on 5 January 1982 on charges of being a drug courier, which led to questions being asked in the

Australian parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

about his passport. After escaping from India, Spiers was next arrested at Bandaranaike Airport in Sri Lanka on 1 December 1984 while travelling on a French passport under the name Patrick Claude Albert Ledoux. Sri Lankan Customs officials found 41 packets of drugs, including of

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

, hidden in a

cassette recorder A cassette deck is a type of tape machine for playing and recording audio cassettes that does not have a built-in power amplifier or speakers, and serves primarily as a transport. It can be a part of an automotive entertainment system, a part o ...

in Spiers's possession. On 2 June 1987, Spiers was found guilty of four counts of possessing heroin and one count of possessing

hashish Hashish (; ), usually abbreviated as hash, is a Compression (physics), compressed form of resin (trichomes) derived from the cannabis flowers. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, As a Psychoactive drug, psychoactive ...

and sentenced to death. A successful appeal earned Spiers a reprieve, but he was forced to serve a five-year prison term in Adelaide. In 2011, Spiers's daughter Jane was convicted on counts of manufacturing a controlled drug, and one count of doing so for sale. Jane Spiers was jailed for six years, with a three-year non-parole period. In 2014, a book was released ''Out Of The Box: The Highs and Lows of a Champion Smuggler'', published by Roaring Forties Press in the US. The book was endorsed by Spiers and covers details of his journey from England to Australia as airfreight, as well as his years on the run as a fugitive that led to death row.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiers, Reg 1941 births Living people Commonwealth Games athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Australian cannabis traffickers Australian people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of Sri Lanka Prisoners sentenced to death by Sri Lanka Athletes from Adelaide Australian male javelin throwers Australian Athletics Championships winners Australian sportspeople convicted of crimes 20th-century Australian sportsmen