A year later his autobiography Neddy was published with even more damning claims against Rogerson and the book became the basis for Blue Murder. Roger Rogerson leaves a court hearing in 2014. AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), abc.net.au/news/roger-rogerson-glen-mcnamara-lose-appeal-murder/100298452, Australia's biggest drug bust: $1 billion worth of cocaine linked to Mexican cartel intercepted, 'Pincers are closing': Ukrainian forces under pressure as Russians shell roads out of Bakhmut, Four in hospital after terrifying home invasion by gang armed with machetes, knives, hammer, 'We have got the balance right': PM gives Greens' super demands short shrift, Crowd laughs as Russia's foreign minister claims Ukraine war 'was launched against us', The tense, 10-minute meeting that left Russia's chief diplomat smoking outside in the blazing sun, 'Celebrity leaders': Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley take veiled jabs at Donald Trump in CPAC remarks. After his release, he leveraged his infamy to conduct a series of public speaking engagements, along with another notorious criminal, Mark "Chopper" Read, and former high-profile Australian Rules football players Mark Jackson and Warwick Capper. Rogerson, 79, appeared in the Court of Criminal Appeal via video link, dressed in a prison issued green tracksuit and seated beside a walker. He spent a further three years in jail. Property News:House prices in some school catchments explode by up to $367,000 - domain.com.au, Your web browser is no longer supported. Smith (left) is pictured with ex-wife Debra and brothel keeper Harvey Jones, who he was convicted of having murdered in 1983. It was quite disturbing. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, Mom who lost both sons to fentanyl blasts laughing Biden, Two Russian tanks annihilated with bombs by Ukrainian armed forces, Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' "The deceased was shot and killed by one of them and both Rogerson and McNamara cooperated to dispose of the body at sea and cover their tracks.". On 20 May 2014, former New South Wales police officers Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara murdered student Jamie Gao in cold blood. McNab uncovered one startling exception. Theres a long and sad list and I reckon there would be a few people who have just gone, disappeared, that no one cares about.. He once claimed to be a cash millionaire. On June 9, 1981, according to Smith, he was ordered by Rogerson to drive Lanfranchi a meeting at Dangar Place, a back lane in the inner city Sydney suburb of Chippendale. Roger Rogerson could not have been written by anyone else. He is pictured in 1980. Smith insisted they became partners in crime. Sallie-Anne Huckstepp was a Sydney private schoolgirl who fell into heroin addiction and prostitution and in 1981 began a relationship with Sydney dealer Warren Lanfranchi. Revealed: The new '23' number plates the DVLA deems offensive and has banned including EU23 OFF and GO23 HEL, The secret WhatsApp mode that lets you EDIT texts after you've sent them. Recorded as Roger, Rodger, Rojer, and the patronymics Rogers, Rodgers, Rodgerson, Rodson, Roddison, Rogerson and others, this is an Anglo-Scottish surname, but one of French origins. The coronial file and findings into her disappearance are now missing. Rogerson served twelve months of a maximum two-and-a-half-year sentence. Rogerson and Smith's joint exploits were immortalised in the award-winning 1995 television series Blue Murder and their notorious association helped eventually bring each man down. The man said he suspected it might have been the gun used in the murder of Mr Gao. Three years later he was tried for conspiring with hitman Christopher Dale Flannery to murder Drury. [14][15], The Peter Mitchell Award was presented to Rogerson in 1980 for the arrest of escaped armed robber Gary Purdey. Production isnt even underway yet and theres already friction behind the scenes on the controversial Sydney-based reality series. In September last year, Rogerson was jailed for life for the murder of young drug dealer Jamie Gao, 20, and supplying almost 3kg of ice. He had been at Merrylands Bowling Club the night Huckstepp was killed, and said he had never told Smith it would be 'best to get rid of Croft'. Ive never seen a man more terrified in my life, he says. Languishing in Long Bay he was paired with a police informer dubbed Mr Brown who secretly recorded him confessing to a string of 1980s murders, all of which he later denied having committed. But the whiff of suspicion persists that Rogerson had a hand in at least seven others. He was released from Kirkconnell Correctional Centre on 17 February 2006. Detectives have variously described . Rogerson was eventually jailed in 1990 for conspiring to pervert the course of justice over the transfer of A$110,000 into bank accounts under false names during the Drury trial. Published Sep 4, 2016. Glen McNamara, 60, also watched proceedings remotely. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? Behind his brazen public persona, however, lies a dark and deadly history. [11] Rogerson attended Bankstown Central School and later Homebush Boys High School. Rogerson, 76, is incarcerated in the aged and frail unit at Sydneys Long Bay prisons, where his old friend Neddy Smith is also serving a life sentence. Rogerson was welcomed in Bandidos and Rebels clubhouses across the country and was regularly seen briefing queues of bikies in coffee shops. [20], After leaving the force, Rogerson worked in the building and construction industry as a supplier of scaffolding. The unlikely pairing culminated in Gao, through contacts with a Triad gang in Hong Kong, arranging the import of 3kg of ice from mainland China. As a former NSW detective, I met Rogerson regularly when we were both stationed at the Criminal Investigation Branch headquarters. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. Based on the years before Smith was jailed for life for murder it depicts the armed robber and heroin dealer as a charismatic player on the Sydney scene. He was last seen catching a taxi in the city, and never seen alive again. It was a career-defining performance for actor Richard Roxburgh. + Follow. She went on television and gave extensive interviews about allegedly crooked police, including Rogerson who she claimed murdered Lanfranchi and stole the $10,000 bribe he was carrying to be let off the police shooting. Allegations bounced off. Rogerson has been in custody since May 2014 for the murder that month of 20-year-old student and wannabe drug dealer Jamie Gao. Reborn as an investigative journalist and author, McNab became Rogersons unauthorised biographer with his 2006 book The Dodger. Where things went horribly wrong for Rogerson was his blindness to the array of CCTV cameras that captured their meeting with Gao in the Padstow storage unit, McNab says. ), English footballer; Stan Rodgerson (1894-1955), Australian rules footballer; See also. An inquest heard Rogerson fatally shot Lanfranchi while trying to effect an arrest, but failed to find it was done in self-defence. Rogerson also used his influencing skills in a multimillion-dollar civil legal dispute while doing consultant work under the auspices of other peoples private investigator licences. Rogerson joined the New South Wales (NSW) police in 1959, aged 18. There was no gloating when disgraced detective Roger Rogerson learnt of the death in prison of once feared gangster Neddy Smith, his longtime accomplice turned ferocious foe. Rogerson is pictured in 2004. He had the politicians knack about him, the charm to work a room, says McNab. McNamara told the trial Rogerson shot the student dead as he "seethed with anger" over the exchange of drugs and cash. He was also a man who possibly, if you were locked up, could walk up to arresting police and crack a deal for you, either through payment of money or say to the copper, by the way, Ive got a brief [compromising information] on you. Smith insisted the pair became partners in crime. Although gun residue was found on Rogerson's clothes, the judge said he couldn't be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of who fired the fatal shot. - In 2016, Rogerson was jailed for life for the murder of drug dealer Jamie Gao. On appeal Rogerson called a new witness, who told the court he picked up what he thought was a gun wrapped in a towel from a doorstep in the months before the murder. [14][dead link], Rogerson was responsible for the 1981 shooting death of Warren Lanfranchi. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara lose appeal over Jamie Gao's murder. Roger Rogerson is escorted to a prison van at the Supreme Court in Sydney, Wednesday, 15 June, 2016. .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#3a3;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}Plunkett, Geoff (2018). Property News:House prices in some school catchments explode by up to $367,000 - domain.com.au, Your web browser is no longer supported. Since joining Smith at Long Bay there have been occasional reports from criminal and police sources of the pair being sighted together which Corrective Services always denied. Rogerson and McNamara were found guilty after a four-month trial that showed CCTV footage linking them to the death of Gao, whose body was found floating in a bag in the ocean off Sydney. Drury claims he refused to accept a bribe Rogerson offered in exchange for evidence tampering in a heroin trafficking trial of convicted Melbourne drug dealer Alan Williams. He was part of a drug trafficking ring with notorious paedophiles including Robert Dolly Dunn and bent police. Rogerson had publicly accused Smith of informing on other criminals in media interviews and in the early 1990s the crook spectacularly turned on the copper. He was granted bail but in December the next year was arrested with two others outsideBotany Council preparing to snatch its Christmas payroll drop. New light is shed on Rogersons link to heroin importation via Thai sex workers and trafficking in the 1980s with Melbourne criminal Dennis Dr Death Allen, who was believed to be involved in the killings of up to 15 people. That young observer has now gone on to become the definitive chronicler of a life on both sides of the law that he says is likely without parallel in the English speaking world. Melocco was sentenced to two years' periodic detention for the same offence. One of Australia's most notorious cops, Roger Rogerson, is likely to die in jail after a court declined to extend his time to appeal. BLUE Murder was the original true crime blockbuster, a massive hit even while it was still banned. He was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease and, more recently dementia, and lives in a prison unit for aged and frail inmates. One was the murder in company of tow truck driver, Ronnie Flavell and the other of brothel owner Harvey Jones. Roger Rogerson was the teak-hard. Roger Rogerson was a decorated and skilful detective sergeant of the NSW Police Force who worked on some of the 1970s major cases, including the Whiskey Au Go Go fire and the Toecutter gang murder. Theres just something horribly wrong with Rogers head. Smith became a star witness for the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Wood Royal Commission, revealing Rogerson and others alleged corruption. They were photographed by a federal police surveillance unit in the Covent Garden at Chinatown, 'He's never seen him in prison because Neddy was in the hospital and Roger hasn't been there. Sources also confirmed Rogersons sharp eye for turning a situation to his advantage has not waned since his arrival at Long Bay. Rogerson, 79, appeared in the Court of Criminal . Crooks loved him. He claimed that he was trying to arrest Lanfranchi for five suspected armed robberies. "It alleged both men were part of a plan to steal drugs from the deceased and kill him," he said. "Extensive in its planning, brutal in its execution and callous in its aftermath," he said. Smith'sfinal downfall had begun in October 1987 when he and another criminal killed tow truck diver Ronald Flavell during a road rage incident at Coogee. "It is clear that the offenders acted with complete disregard for the life of another human being.". Geesche Jacobsen, Kate McClymont (21 February 2005). The 20-year-old student was shot dead in a Padstow storage unit in 2014 and his body was wrapped in a tarpaulin and dumped in Cronulla. "It is clear that the offenders acted with complete disregard for the life of another human being. Disgraced former detective Roger Rogerson is appealing his life sentence, arguing he didn't know Glen McNamara had sourced a gun before the murder. At an inquest into Flannery's suspected murder, Coroner Greg Glass said he suspected Rogerson had killed him. Brash and boastful to friends and the media, Rogerson has been involved in a litany of crimes and misadventures which have repeatedly thrust him into the spotlight, and which led to the production of a TV mini-series about him called Blue Murder. It was Smith who in 1981 drove drug dealer Warren Lanfranchi to an appointment with Rogerson at which the policeman shot Lanfranchi dead in a Chippendale lane. His wife Anne Melocco told Daily Mail. I cant think of a copper with such a high profile who has been caught out the way he has and likewise a copper whos maintained this level of public focus for almost 40 years, as a copper, as a crook, or as an affable old man offering grandfatherly advice, he says. Rogerson wanted me to tell him the 'real' McNamara story the one the jury didnt hear. He had been due to testify in a major drugs trial and alleged that Rogerson offered him a bribe to protect a Melbourne drug dealer. While it was impossible to know who fired the fatal shot, Rogerson claimed the kill, according to Australia's News Limited newspapers. Both have been found guilty of murder and possession of 2.78. It is one thats shatteringly at odds with Rogersons public rebirth as a genial rogue through his regular media commentary and improbable stints on the stand up comedy circuit with Mark Chopper Read under the banner of the Wild Colonial Psychos. He did less than other crime bosses to avoid publicity, and was referred to in the media as Mr Big and less often as "Mr Ten Percent". [22][failed verification] Following his release from prison in 2006, Rogerson resumed his entertainment career with Mark "Jacko" Jackson by appearing in a show called The Wild Colonial Psychos with Jackson and Mark "Chopper" Read. The judge who sentenced them in 2016, Justice Geoffrey Bellew, said the pair were "overwhelmed by greed"and had formed an agreement to kill with "a complete disregard for the life of another human being". DISGRACED ex-cops Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara have been jailed for life for the drug murder of student Jamie Gao. Rogerson gets jail keyboard at Long Bay jail, Teen feared missing in water at Freshwater Beach. By 1978, his reputation was sufficient to gain convictions based on the strength of unsigned records of interviews with prisoners (known as "police verbals"). The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Train fares will rise by 5.9% TOMORROW - but travellers can still get cheaper tickets if they buy them Will El Salvador's new mega-prison turn into a bloodbath? Early Origins of the Rogerson family. Married to his then wife Debra, with whom he had four children, the physically imposing Smith is both a wiley gangster and a big-hearted family man. "I was trying to get my life back together, the last thing I needed to do was think about this.". People I know whove taken him on as a mate, love his company, cant even begin to pin down why hed done this [murder Gao], McNab says. More than one acquaintance describes Rogerson as a psychopath but the apparently remorseless killer has never undergone a psychiatric assessment of any depth, McNab says. Rogerson, who. Drury said Rogerson had tried to bribe him to change his evidence over a heroin trial and when Drury refused, he was shot. The CCTV footage of the entirety of the crime was devastating - it's probably the 'most recorded' murder in Australian history. Fond of talking about himself in the third person, Rogerson was known to say: "Roger is a tough cop in a tough town". Low income Aussies and pensioners could be forced out of homes, Tens of thousands flock to Bondi for one-off dance party, Major traffic chaos warning for Sydney across busiest weekend in years.