Inside former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith’s plan to LEAVE Australia before he was arrested in front of his teenage daughters at Sydney Airport

Ben Roberts-Smith was planning to leave Australia soon and make a new life for himself overseas before his dramatic arrest last week, the Daily Mail can reveal. 

Sources said the country’s most decorated soldier made the decision before Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers swooped on the Victoria Cross recipient and arrested him at Sydney Domestic Airport on April 7.

The Daily Mail understands that Roberts-Smith, 47, was planning to move overseas to pursue work opportunities.

The precise timing, or location, of his overseas move is unclear, but it was thought to be in the near future.

Roberts-Smith and his partner Sarah Matulin had just landed in Sydney, from Brisbane, for a family holiday with his twin 15-year-old daughters, when armed police escorted him off a plane last Tuesday. 

He was charged with five war crime -murder offences over allegations he killed two unarmed civilians while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.

He was also accused of aiding, abetting or counselling another person to commit a murder on three separate occasions.

The maximum penalty for each offence is life imprisonment.

AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett said police will allege the victims ‘were not taking part in hostilities’.

‘It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed, and were under the control of the ADF members when they were killed,’ Commissioner Barrett said at a press conference on Tuesday.

‘It will be alleged the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinate members of the ADF in the presence of and acting on the orders of the accused.’

Roberts-Smith has consistently maintained his innocence. The Daily Mail revealed at the weekend that two of the five men Ben Roberts-Smith is accused of murdering while serving with the Special Air Service in Afghanistan have never been identified by war crimes investigators.

Roberts-Smith remains in custody at the Metropolitan Remand Centre in Sydney’s west, where it’s understood Ms Matulin visited him on Sunday.

For those like Roberts-Smith, who are on remand, inmates are allowed to have two-in person or family tablet visits per week, whereas sentenced inmates are allowed to have one in-person or family visit per week.

Visits are limited to Saturdays and Sundays, between 8am and 1pm. 

He is expected to apply for bail on Friday when the matter is due to be heard at the Downing Centre in Sydney’s CBD.

If his bail application fails, he can apply again in the NSW Supreme Court.

While it’s not known what position Roberts-Smith was seeking overseas, it would likely be connected to his former media work after his time as general manager of Channel Seven’s Queensland division, where he also met Ms Matulin.

She left the station in late 2020 and joined Gold Coast PR firm Ruby Communications, later becoming marketing and media manager for the Gold Coast Bullets basketball team.

Roberts-Smith, who had worked for Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media since 2015, stepped down during the defamation action he lodged against Nine newspapers, which published a series of reports accusing him of war crimes in 2018. 

He resigned in mid-2023 after the civil case did not go in his favour. The defamation action was funded by Stokes, who was later ordered to pay $13.5 million in legal costs for Roberts-Smith.

Stokes backed his employee, both financially and publicly, telling Seven West Media’s annual general meeting in 2022 that he ‘deserves legal representation’.

However, Stokes has reportedly already ruled out funding the ex-soldier’s criminal defence. 

Roberts-Smith, who along with his VC earnt a Medal for Gallantry in Afghanistan, has always denied committing war crimes while serving with the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

A source close to Roberts-Smith previously told the Daily Mail that Australia’s most decorated living soldier had repeatedly offered to present himself to police if they were going to charge him. 

A Nine News television camera crew had been tipped off and waiting at the airport to film Roberts-Smith being taken off the aircraft and escorted to a four-wheel drive which took him to Mascot police station.

‘Mr Roberts-Smith has lived in Queensland since leaving the Special Forces in 2012,’ the source said.

‘He has never shied away from his accusers, nor sought to avoid scrutiny or place himself beyond the reach of Australian authorities.’

The source said Roberts-Smith’s legal team had repeatedly told the AFP and OSI he would present himself ‘at a time and place of their choosing should any charges be brought’.

‘Instead, he was arrested upon arrival in Sydney during a short visit with his children,’ the source said.

‘In doing so, authorities chose to inflict maximum distress in front of his two young daughters. It is particularly concerning that media, including Nine News, appeared to have been notified in advance.’

The Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) commenced 53 investigations involving allegations of war crimes by the ADF in Afghanistan.

Of these, 39 of are not being actively pursued, subject to further evidence emerging.

Ten investigations into allegations of criminal offences under Australian law connected to breaches of the Laws of Armed Conflict by ADF personnel are ongoing.

One investigation resulted in another former SAS soldier being charged with murder.

That case has been listed for trial in February next year.