A man who murdered a respected police officer in a premeditated ambush as he tried to serve a home repossession order will spend up to 40 years in jail.

Leigh Geoffrey Sushames was sentenced on Friday for fatally shooting veteran constable Keith Smith, 57, on his rural property in Tasmania on June 16, 2025.

Smith went to the door of Sushames’ home with Sergeant Gavin Rigby to deliver the order while specialist police waited further away.

The pair encountered Sushames, who was crouched behind a blue Ford Falcon in the carport holding a rifle.

Smith asked Sushames how he was going.

He replied “not good” before standing up and shooting the officer in the back and then in the head from less than two metres away while he lay prone on the ground.

Sushames pleaded guilty in January to murder as well as aggravated assault for pointing the gun at Rigby’s head.

Body-worn camera footage from Rigby showed Sushames unequivocally intended to kill Smith, Justice Tamara Jago said during sentencing in the Supreme Court of Tasmania in Burnie.

“He stood no chance against your murderous intent,” she said.

“He would not have had time to arm himself or take evasive action. This was a premeditated ambush.”

Sushames knew Smith and Rigby would be returning to his North Motton home on June 16 to deliver the order after the pair visited a month earlier.

The job was assessed as low risk, with Sushames previously showing no hostility towards police.

“(It was) a deadly attack for reasons not clear, but carried out for feelings of misplaced resentment,” Jago said.

Sushames had fallen behind on mortgage repayments and had previously told a friend he would kill anyone who tried to take his house off him.

He believed God would intervene and sort out his mortgage problems

Since the crime, Sushames has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of a difficult upbringing including witnessing the death of his brother as a child.

However, this didn’t reduce his moral culpability, Jago said.

She said Sushames had shown remorse but the crime was a grave case of murder.

The 47-year-old was jailed for 40 years with a non-parole period of 25 years.

The impact of Smith’s death while undertaking a routine duty had reverberated throughout the police force, Jago said.

Smith, who served for 25 years, was farewelled with a police funeral and full ceremonial honours.

A community policing award has been named in his honour, while a laneway near the station where he worked is now “Keith Smith Lane”.

A ceremony was held to mark the first anniversary of his death, with his love of cycling and a catch-up over a hot brew fondly remembered.

“Now that the court process is complete, we hope that Keith can be remembered for the man he was, not the way he was lost,” his wife Janaha Smith said.

“Keith’s legacy is that policing works best when it is grounded in community, trust and human connection.

“He carried these values into every part of his life.”

Tasmania Police Commissioner Donna Adams said Smith’s loss would forever be felt.

“No sentence will ever make up for the fact that Keith was so cruelly taken from those who love him,” she said.

“I want to acknowledge Keith’s family who have become important members of our blue family.

“We continue to stand beside them, just as we stand beside each other.”

–AAP