2023 BBC. "Roger would like to see you," she said. Things went fatally wrong for the naive Gao after Rogerson, waiting in the wings on the deal, conceived with McNamara a more brutal but profitable alternative. 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. This page was last edited on 7 January 2023, at 20:08. I left school at 16 with six GCSEs - and became a self-made millionaire. Allegations bounced off. 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. Rodgerson History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms - HouseOfNames Ex-cops lose drug dealer murder appeal | The West Australian Rogerson (in handcuffs) is serving life for the murder of 20-year-old drug dealer Jamie Gao. Glen McNamara (right) is escorted by a correctional services officer as he leaves the NSW Supreme Court in 2016. His defence is trying to establish he wasn't part of the agreement to kill or rob the victim. "Extensive in its planning, brutal in its execution and callous in its aftermath," he said. Rogerson, the once-masterful court performer who swayed a jury to take his word over both Drurys and the heroin dealer who said hed paid Rogerson for the hit, will end his life behind bars, serving a life sentence along with McNamara. Over the past year, detectives have been talking to him about the 1975 murder of Perth brothel madam Shirley Finn and the 1973 Whiskey Au Go Go fire in Brisbane. Both are appealing their convictions and life sentences for the. [2][3] Rodgerson - Wikipedia McPherson was a standover man who probably committed or commissioned more murders than any other major organised figure. The CCTV footage of the entirety of the crime was devastating - it's probably the 'most recorded' murder in Australian history. Children drinking PINTS and the King riding in a 14-wheel golden HGV - this is Kate and Prince William 'are keen' for Prince George to have official role in King Charles' coronation - but Royally hard work! CCTV showed both men walking into a Padstow storage facility with the young drug dealer in 2014 before he was shot dead. On April 23, 1985 Flannery is said to have been responsible for the gangland shooting of drug dealer Tony Spaghetti Eustace by his gold Mercedes. 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". Glen McNamara, 60, also watched proceedings remotely. In May 2014, Rogerson was remanded in prison after being charged, along with fellow former NSW detective Glen McNamara, with the murder of 20-year-old student Jamie Gao, and supply of drugs. Corrupt cops Rogerson, McNamara lose appeals against life sentence [11] Rogerson attended Bankstown Central School and later Homebush Boys High School. He put himself up on the pedestal then kicked his own pedestal from underneath him., Roger Rogerson will be published by Hachette Australia on 11 October, Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara given life sentences for murder of Jamie Gao, Former detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara found guilty of murder of Jamie Gao, The noble aim of open justice and the public's right to know | Richard Ackland, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. An armed robber, nightclub bouncer and convicted rapist, he moved into contract killing and is said to have murdered a Melbourne barrister and later a Sydney brothel owner. CONDEMNED to spend the rest of his days behind bars, disgraced detective turned convicted killer Roger Rogerson will be held in an aged care wing where he regularly conducts singalongs, to stop him becoming a godfather-type figure to young inmates, prison sources have revealed. They dont reminisce over a cup of tea and a Scotch Finger. Early Origins of the Rodgerson family. Rogerson was jailed again in 2005 for 12 months for lying to NSW's Police Integrity Commission about bribing a local council official to obtain work. That shooting hastened the detective's downfall after Lanfranchi's girlfriend Sallie-Anne Huckstepp publicly stated her lover was meeting Rogerson to pay him a bribe. I dismissed it as bluster, but nonetheless looked over my shoulder for the next few days. As one officer scoured through frames of CCTV vision from the storage unit, an older colleague passing by spotted a figure with a distinctive gait. A three-judge panel of Justice Andrew Bell, JusticeRobert Beech-Jones and Justice Robert Allan Hulme in the NSW Court of Appeal today unanimously dismissed the appeals. He was part of a drug trafficking ring with notorious paedophiles including Robert Dolly Dunn and bent police. Loose Women star Jane Moore puts her seven-bed Battersea home on the market for 4.5M three months after Are YOU a romantic comedy buff? A large scale search was underway at Freshwater Beach on Saturday night after a young man was reported missing in the water. McNab quit the force in dismay. A year later his autobiography Neddy was published with even more damning claims against Rogerson and the book became the basis for Blue Murder. Rogerson is in the Kevin Waller Unit for aged and frail prisoners at Long Bay. By Stephen Gibbs for Daily Mail Australia, Published: 08:31 GMT, 13 September 2021 | Updated: 09:09 GMT, 13 September 2021. This was because John Andrew Stuart, accused of lighting the fire, had said criminals from Sydney were behind the nightclub extortion attempts. Rogerson's record of killing has led some Australian media outlets to dub him "the serial killer who wore a badge". He and fellow former detectiveGlen McNamara were jailed for life in September 2016 and lost appeals over their convictions in July. Pictured left to right are Gary Sweet playing hitman Chris Flannery, Peter Phelps as Henry, Richard Roxburgh as detective Roger Rogerson and Tony Martin as Smith, Rogerson has always maintained Smith was no more than a valuable informant for the Armed Hold-Up Squad. A bloody and corrupt chapter in Australian criminal history appears to have drawn to a close with the country's most notorious police officer set to spend the rest of his life in jail for murder. At the age of 73, Rogerson murdered a 20-year-old university student called Jamie Gao over a 3kg package of crystal meth, a drug deal that became a straight rip-off. Roger Rogerson In addition, two Hong Kong men drove Gao to the deadly drug deal and called New South Wales police 30 hours after he disappeared. [17][18], Rogerson received a criminal conviction, which was overturned on appeal, for involvement in drug dealing, allegedly conspiring with notorious Melbourne drug dealer Dennis Allen to supply heroin. Roger Rogerson - Wikipedia With Smith jailed for life Rogerson took to the speaking circuit for a while, telling wild stories of his days on the force, and wrote a memoir. Smith was a convicted heroin dealer, rapist and armed robber who claimed Rogerson gave him the "green light" to commit crimes in NSW, while Flannery specialised in contract killing. During the Gao trial, McNamara alleged Rogerson confessed to him of complicity in the killings of heroin dealers Alan Williams and Luton Chu, as well as Lanfranchis partner Sallie-Anne Huckstepp. The latter are alleged to have been Rogersons hope for unloading the ice. She began a relationship with a police officer. Both have been found guilty of murder and possession of 2.78. The initial approach to Rogerson has been aired via a series of taped phone calls made between . [31], On 2 September 2016, Justice Geoffrey Bellew sentenced Rogerson and McNamara to life in prison, with the statement "The joint criminal enterprise to which each offender was a party was extensive in its planning, brutal in its execution and callous in its aftermath". Convicted killer Roger Rogerson was a real life 'Dirty Harry' Roger Rogerson could not have been written by anyone else. He later joked that the only way to identify Western's bullet-ridden body was by his ingrown toenails. And so are the Sydney gang wars of the mid 1980s, when criminals turned on each other in a shooting feast over dominance in the Sydney heroin trade. Melbourne hitman Christopher Dale Flannery was a career criminal who became known as Mr Rent-A-Kill. But the whiff of suspicion persists that Rogerson had a hand in at least seven others. "It alleged both men were part of a plan to steal drugs from the deceased and kill him," he said. More than three decades later, Rogerson now stands as both the definitive figure of police corruption in Australia and also arguably the best-connected figure ever to stalk the criminal underworld. Early Origins of the Rogerson family. [33] However, Rogerson then lodged an appeal in 2020. Drury spent 12 days in a coma, but survived. Smith became a star witness for the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Wood Royal Commission, revealing Rogerson and others alleged corruption. Drury alleged that Rogerson had tried to bribe him to changes his evidence in the heroin trial of Melbourne dealer Alan Williams. 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. In late January, 1985 Flannerys family home was sprayed with rounds from a rifle. His sentencing in August will likely be seen as ending an era of deeply rooted police corruption. Rising through the ranks, he won 12 commendation awards and worked on some of Australia's biggest cases of the 1970s, before his well-documented slide into infamy. Christopher Dale Flannery (Gary Sweet) is the Melbourne hitman known as Mr Rent-A-Kill whose entry into the seamy underbelly miles away from his home territory doesnt end well. He will get that chance over coming days. ), English footballer; Stan Rodgerson (1894-1955), Australian rules footballer; See also. [26] On 21 January 2015, he and his co-accused, Glen McNamara (also a former police detective), were committed to stand trial over the alleged murder. [34], During legal proceedings surrounding the trial against suspects involved in the 2009 contract murder of Michael McGurk, the Supreme Court heard evidence that, while in the Cooma Correctional Centre in 2014, Rogerson, McNamara, and Fortunato "Lucky" Gattellari attempted to extort Ron Medich, a businessman and suspect for masterminding the murder of McGurk. The pair could often be found drinking with other police and criminals at inner-city pubs includingAlexandria's Star and Iron Duke, the Captain Cook at Millers Point and the Lord Wolseley in Ultimo. Rogerson gets jail keyboard at Long Bay jail, Teen feared missing in water at Freshwater Beach. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. Sources say Rogerson has become the leader of the unit because of his high profile and reputation. Had Jamie been a little bit more dexterous in the use of Google he might actually have not gone to that deal, he says. Blindsided: Stars affair rocks hit show, Reality star sent to jail over secret sex tape. While it was impossible to know who fired the fatal shot, Rogerson claimed the kill, according to Australia's News Limited newspapers. But Drury believed the shocking truth that Rogerson was involved, and could only publicly admitted it after the disgraced detective was convicted for Jamie Gaos murder in late 2016. But the escapade would put to the sword for all time the old coppers cultivated public image as a misunderstood rogue and confirm in the eyes of the law his murderous intent. Rogerson was charged with the shooting and Williams testified that Rogerson and Christopher Dale Flannery had agreed to murder Drury for A$50,000 each. The honeytrap plot that left father-of-six dead: Moment two women lead victim into his flat to seduce him 'Sonic boom' is heard across central England as 'ground shakes' and houses are rocked. Storms threaten north-east United States after tearing through the south, leaving 10 dead. Rogerson Unlike the remains of lawyer Brian Alexander, which has never been found, Gaos body wrapped in a blue tarpaulin bobbed to the surface off Cronulla beach in May, 2014. And fabled underworld tales are recreated, such as the scene of Sydney lawyer Brian Alexander on a boat trussed up and chained to a stove, being pitched overboard outside the Sydney Heads. Flannery may have shot up to a dozen people before he was called to a meeting with George Freeman On May 9, 1985. Rogerson, 82, serving life term for murder of drug dealer. In 1984, Duncan McNab was a New South Wales police internal affairs investigator when a deathbed statement from undercover drug cop Michael Drury came across his bosss desk. Australia's killer with a badge: Roger Rogerson - BBC News He moved his bashing and murder business to Sydney where he made the big-time, including his failed attempt to murder police officer Mick Drury in June 1984. The book describes the moment Rogersons notoriety first betrayed his link to Gaos murder. The sentencing of the 75-year-old detective recalls an era of deeply rooted police corruption in Australia, Rogerson rose through the ranks during his career to win 12 commendation awards, Sallie-Anne Huckstep spoke out against Rogerson, who shot dad her drug dealer boyfriend Warren Lanfranchi, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. 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. It was an unsettling enough account for its subject that Rogerson, having emerged from jail after a stint for perjury, phoned up the author to give his first personal glimpse of his dangerous side. The latter-day Rogerson was a valued source of advice to criminals on how to find weaknesses in prosecutions against them, building on an already staggering range of underworld contacts. Former detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara have been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Jamie Gao. However, it was alleged by Lanfranchi's partner, Sallie-Anne Huckstepp, and later by Neddy Smith, that Rogerson had murdered Lanfranchi as retribution for robbing another heroin dealer who was under police protection and for firing a gun at a police officer. Property News:House prices in some school catchments explode by up to $367,000 - domain.com.au, Your web browser is no longer supported. CORRUPT cop and convicted killer Roger Rogerson has been working as a prison cleaner at Long Bay . Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara lose appeal over Jamie Gao's murder. His 'threat' came shortly after the release of my first book on him. Australia's most corrupt cop Roger Rogerson launches appeal. But Justice Bell said the Crown had established a circumstantial case against the men. Former detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara have lost their appeals against convictions for the murder of Sydney drug dealer Jamie Gao. Disgraced former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng said he lived through "absolute hell" during a six-month stint in a Malaysian prison riddled with vermin and disease, according to . 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. The police confirmed Rogerson was the 'mole' during an early 1990s secret investigation called 'Operation Graveyard'. Video, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, Mother who killed her five children euthanised, Walkie Talkie architect Rafael Violy dies aged 78, Alex Murdaugh's legal troubles are far from over, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus, US sues Exxon over nooses found at Louisiana plant. Arthur Stanley Neddy Smith is a big force of character in the first Blue Murder series. Blue Murder (TV Mini Series 1995) - IMDb Sources also confirmed Rogersons sharp eye for turning a situation to his advantage has not waned since his arrival at Long Bay. This was tainted by Purdey's claims that Rogerson assaulted him, prevented him from calling his solicitor and typed up to five different records of the interview. The idea was quite simply the Triad in Hong Kong and their enforcers would not know who Jamie Gao was selling to, so if Jamie Gao disappeared and it was done cleanly and concisely, hed just become a disappeared person.. Rogerson claimed Lanfranchi was armed and he shot him in self-defence. Disgraced detective's last bid for freedom to not die in jail. For all his criminal investigation nous, awareness of electronic surveillance was an old Achilles heel of Rogerson, who was caught on camera years earlier opening fake bank accounts to deposit $110,000 in cash allegedly from a heroin deal with Allen, McNab says. Roger Rogerson - Duncan McNab - Google Books The latter is what brought Rogerson together with McNamara, whose own cultivated image as a former honest cop hung out to dry likewise unravels under McNabs inspection. His wife Anne Melocco told Daily Mail Australia that Rogerson had mentioned Smith's death but there had certainly been no celebration or revengeful one-liners. Roger Rogerson reacts to learning Neddy Smith died in the same jail But it has emerged that neither Rogerson nor McNamara has formally lodged appeals. Rogerson wanted me to tell him the 'real' McNamara story the one the jury didnt hear. 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. In the company of 18 other police officers, Rogerson waited in the lane. Rogerson has always maintained from that time on Smith was no more than a valuable informant for the Armed Hold-Up Squad. 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. It was one of the most high-profile court cases Australia has ever seen - at its conclusion, Rogerson was acquitted. Arthur 'Neddy' Smith - Sydney Crime Museum Reborn as an investigative journalist and author, McNab became Rogersons unauthorised biographer with his 2006 book The Dodger. Tim Anderson, one of the three released in 1985, claimed the confession Rogerson extracted was fabricated, and that he and two other members of the Ananda Marga group were convicted in part because of Rogerson's fabrications. All times AEDT (GMT +11). All the benefits of simply switching from white to brown - AND how purple, Why is Britain experiencing so many earthquakes? Rogerson, 80, and McNamara, 62, were jailed for life in 2016 after being convicted of murdering Jamie Gao in May 2014. Roger Rogerson, 80, was in Long Bay's aged and frail unit last Wednesday when a prison officer told him his longtime accomplice turned enemy Neddy Smith had died in the jail hospital aged 76. Blue Murder shows the attempted murder of detective Michael Drury who was shot twice through his kitchen window alleged to have been taken down by Melbourne hitman Christopher Dale Flannery at Rogersons behest. In 1992 he gave evidence at an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry into the relationship between police and criminals, implicating Rogerson and others in organised crime. Set in 1980s Sydney, this acclaimed mini-series tells the story of the relationship between corrupt Detective Roger Rogerson and one of Australia's most infamous criminals Neddy Smith. Smith said Lanfranchi had asked him to organise a payment to Rogerson so that the dealer wasnt charged with the police shooting. In 1999, Rogerson was convicted of perverting the course of justice and lying to the Police Integrity Commission. Harsh words forgotten. Two words showed something was wrong with the system, After centuries of Murdaugh rule in the Deep South, the family's power ends with a life sentence for murder, With Prince Andrew's sweetheart mansion rental ending, King Charles offers compromise that shocks his son, Flooding in southern Malaysia forces 40,000 people to flee homes. [16], Fellow police officer Michael Drury has alleged that Rogerson was involved in his attempted murder. The request was for a chat, not an interview. 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. As a former NSW detective, I met Rogerson regularly when we were both stationed at the Criminal Investigation Branch headquarters. He became a Sydney celebrity because of his close relationship during the 1980s with corrupt police detective Roger Rogerson. Huckstepp, a heroin addict and prostitute, appeared on numerous current affairs programs, including 60 Minutes and A Current Affair, demanding an investigation into the shooting. ROGER ROGERSON. You start meeting so many people whove had their lives trampled on by this guy, both coppers and civilians, McNab says. Lennie McPherson. Rogerson was tried but acquitted on conspiracy to murder charges. [8][9] Following a retrial, both Rogerson and McNamara were found guilty of murder. Convicted killer Roger Rogerson working as a prison cleaner He turned himself in after being spotted on surveillance, spun a story, and set up his former colleagues. In 1981 came Rogerson's most high profile police killing, the shooting of heroin dealer Warren Lanfranchi in an inner-Sydney alleyway. As a public figure straddling corruption and crime in modern times, Rogerson has no peer, McNab says. Huckstepp was later murdered, her body found in a pond in Centennial Park, New South Wales. But as McNab now recalls, Rogerson was protected in large part by his aura within the polices own ranks. It was McNamara who met Gao through his own consultancy work for lawyers, when the young man was acting as a translator for a friend in strife. The pair was also found guilty of taking part in the supply of 2.8kg of methamphetamine, known in Australia by its street name ice. He also became an entertainer, telling stories of his police activities in a spoken-word stage show called The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, with former Australian footballers Warwick Capper and Mark "Jacko" Jackson. Former detective Roger Rogerson, 80, was in Long Bay's aged and frail unit when a prison officer told him Smith had died in the jail hospital. 'He did mention that he probably would have been dead long before if he hadn't been in jail but that's about it,' she said, Rogerson and Smith could often be found drinking at inner-city pubs including Alexandria's Star and Iron Duke, the Captain Cook at Millers Point and the Lord Wolseley in Ultimo. [19] He was subsequently convicted of perverting the course of justice in relation to A$110,000 deposited by him in bank accounts under a false name. It was also alleged that Rogerson gave heroin dealer and underworld killer Arthur Stanley Neddy Smith the green light to commit crimes, in exchange for being an informant and a slice of the heroin trade. 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. He was released on appeal after nine months, but in 1992 that appeal was quashed and he was re-imprisoned until 1995. Smith was by then a pariah in the underworld and despised by the detectives he said had allowed him to make millions of dollars from dealing heroin and staging armed robberies. "It was open to the sentencing judge to determine that a life sentence should be imposed," he said.