They have not been seen or heard from since. n is appealing his life sentence, arguing he didn't know Glen McNamara had sourced a gun before the murder. Australia's most corrupt cop Roger Rogerson launches appeal. This is a list of the real life characters and what they did in the first Blue Murder. But if you take a step back from all that charm, youve got a very nasty bit of goods racist, a homophobe, a misogynist, a cruel man and a man of extraordinary greed who will let nothing get in the way of what he wants.. 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. [8][9], A new trial started on 1 February 2016. 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. In 1984, undercover policeman Michael Drury was shot in his Sydney home as he fed his young daughter. Similarities to the true life scenes played out in Sydney and involving the real Roger Rogerson and a body in the ocean in 2014 must have had Blue Murders producers minds reeling. - In 2016, Rogerson was jailed for life for the murder of drug dealer Jamie Gao. They also were jailed for stealing 2.78 kilograms of methamphetamine with a street value of up to $19 million from the 20-year-old student. Smith insisted they became partners in crime. Flannery may have shot up to a dozen people before he was called to a meeting with George Freeman On May 9, 1985. The new book explores in richer detail the accounts of Rogersons profiteering from crime while a detective, anticipating the pivotal shift in Australian criminal enterprise from armed robberies and safe breaking to drug trafficking. 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". 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. They were famously photographed slapping each other with wads of $50 notes for the benefit of federal police surveillance unit at Chinatown's Covent Garden Hotel. NSW News. Test your knowledge by naming all 20 of these famous films. And on free to air, they watched it again. Rogerson, who was called to give evidence at the seven murder committals, denied ever taking money off Smith or that Jones had been paying him a bribe. Smith was convicted of the Jones murder and acquitted of killing Huckstepp. Smith later said that Rogerson ordered him to disarm Lanfranchi en route. The distinctive gait we saw on CCTV; the presence that riveted juries in his heyday. 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. He spent nine months in jail in 1990 before being released on bail pending an ultimately unsuccessful appeal. Property News:House prices in some school catchments explode by up to $367,000 - domain.com.au, Your web browser is no longer supported. [10] Rogerson's father Owen Rogerson emigrated from Kingston upon Hull, England during his career as a boilermaker; his mother Mabel Boxley emigrated from Cardiff, Wales with her parents as a youth (her English born father Caleb Boxley was the reason for Roger's middle name). [40], Richard Roxburgh portrayed Rogerson in the 1995 TV mini-series Blue Murder and its 2017 sequel Blue Murder: Killer Cop.[41]. As a former NSW detective, I met Rogerson regularly when we were both stationed at the Criminal Investigation Branch headquarters. The murder attempt at Drurys Chatswood home makes for dramatic scenes in Blue Murder and the aftermath when Drury almost died from his gunshot wounds. In Blue Murder, Smith is shown murdering Sallie-Anne Huckstepp, although in real life he was charged but acquitted of that murder. To improve your experience, Corrupt cops Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara are contemplating a lifetime behind bars after losing their. An inquest heard Rogerson fatally shot Lanfranchi while trying to effect an arrest, but failed to find it was done in self-defence. CORRUPT cop and convicted killer Roger Rogerson has been working as a prison cleaner at Long Bay since he was jailed for life last year. [35][36][37], Soon after the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub fire on 8 March 1973, Sydney detectives Roger Rogerson and Detective Sergeant Noel Morey were called to Brisbane to assist in the investigation. 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. Rogerson, 75, has taken a job as the prison sweeper, which involves general cleaning duties like emptying bins and mopping floors, at the Kevin Waller Unit for aged and frail inmates. Published Sep 4, 2016. Rogerson and McNamara appealed against their convictions and McNamara also appealed against his sentence. Rogerson joined the New South Wales (NSW) police in 1959, aged 18. VideoRussian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. Smith said his assistance to Rogerson at a coronial inquest into Lanfranchi's death led to senior police granting him a 'green light' to commit major crimes. A source revealed to McNab that Gaos contact in Hong Kong who helped broker introductions with the Triad later vanished. Rogerson, now 80, was in Long Bay's aged and frail unit last Wednesday when a prison officer told him 76-year-old Smith had died in the jail hospital. 00:55. On 6 June 1984, Drury was shot twice through his kitchen window as he fed his three-year-old daughter. Drury almost died and the attempted murder changed the course for Roger Rogerson, who Drury claimed sought revenge. Rogerson, 80, and McNamara, 62, were jailed for . Jamie Gao's . 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. New South Wales Crown prosecutor Christopher Maxwell QC told the hearing in the NSW Supreme Court, life sentences have been applied in the past for contract killings. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. He said he arranged for it to be handed over to McNamara. There was a whole coterie of men who liked Roger because Roger could do things for them, McNab says. He said he arranged for it to be handed over to McNamara. Justice Geoffrey Bellew was satisfied the men formed an agreement to kill so they could steal the 2.78 kilograms of methamphetamine he was going to supply them. "Roger would like to see you," she said. Smith is pictured, Rogerson's wife Anne Melocco told Daily Mail Australia her husband had mentioned Smith's death but there had been no celebration or revengeful one-liners. 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. Rogerson, now 80, was in Long Bay's aged and frail unit last Wednesday when a prison officer told him 76-year-old Smith had died in the jail hospital. He turned himself in after being spotted on surveillance, spun a story, and set up his former colleagues. Drury refused and believed Rogerson was behind the attempt on his life. [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. Geesche Jacobsen, Kate McClymont (21 February 2005). In June 2016, Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara were found guilty of killing student Jamie Gao for his drugs (Partridge, 2016a). Their trial was started in July 2015, but was aborted after two days because of the potential prejudice caused after McNamara's then-barrister Charles Waterstreet made a reference to Rogerson "killing two or three people when he was in the police force". His first experience of killing came in 1976 in the NSW town of Avoca Beach, where he and other officers rained gunfire on a house holding murderous criminal Phillip Western. He was the master of the police verbal, an unsigned confession from a suspect, and operated in an era later classified as corrupt. Storms threaten north-east United States after tearing through the south, leaving 10 dead. Discover your rider rating - how many one-star reviews do Take care of your gut and it will take care of you: Could these 'friendly' bacteria transform your gut Are YOU eating the right colours? [16] During the inquest, the coroner found Rogerson was acting in the line of duty, but a jury declined to find he had acted in self-defence. 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. One of three children, Rogerson grew up in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown (moving there from Bondi at six years old). '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. It was a career-defining performance for actor Richard Roxburgh. He later joked that the only way to identify Western's bullet-ridden body was by his ingrown toenails. Drury is now retired from the police force and a respected philatelist and collector of rare stamps. 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. 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? Smith said Lanfranchi had asked him to organise a payment to Rogerson so that the dealer wasnt charged with the police shooting. Rogerson wanted me to tell him the 'real' McNamara story the one the jury didnt hear. The police confirmed Rogerson was the 'mole' during an early 1990s secret investigation called 'Operation Graveyard'. [14][15], The Peter Mitchell Award was presented to Rogerson in 1980 for the arrest of escaped armed robber Gary Purdey. The outcome is now both history and the script line for Blue Murder: Killer Cop, which debuts Part 1 on Sunday, August 6. Smith's final downfall had begun in October 1987 when he and another criminal killed tow truck diver Ronald Flavell during a road rage incident at Coogee. [4][5] During his time in office he was implicated inbut never convicted oftwo killings, bribery, assault and drug dealing.[6]. He assures me McNamara is the key to his freedom. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. We asked the experts - and their answers will terrify you Public Service Announcement, do NOT watch these ads! As investigations into Rogerson mounted, he was sacked from the police force in 1986 for misconduct. , who was shot dead inside a Padstow storage unit in 2014. He will get that chance over coming days. [16], Fellow police officer Michael Drury has alleged that Rogerson was involved in his attempted murder. Justice Bell said both accused had run "cut-throat defences". ", Rogerson claims he didn't know co-accused McNamara bought a gun. All times AEDT (GMT +11). 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Christopher Dale Flannery. 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. Neddy Smith stood trial for her murder, but was acquitted. On February 6, 1986 she told her flat mate that she would be back home shortly after an evening phone call. News Limited reported Thursday that police four years ago investigated claims Woodward was killed and buried in sand hills behind a beach south of Sydney. CORRUPT cop and convicted killer Roger Rogerson has been working as a prison cleaner at Long Bay . [24], In 2009, he published an autobiography about his time as a detective, entitled The Dark Side, launched by broadcaster Alan Jones. Lanfranchi was something of a wild man who shot at police and robbed other dealers, and also a standover man who worked for Sydney gangster Neddy Smith. [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 was the teak-hard. 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. 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. [38], In 1988 Roger Rogerson told a Bulletin reporter that he and the other lead detectives fabricated evidence. Crucially, McNab has produced a remarkable portrayal of Rogersons activities in his twilight years, leading up to the murder of Gao. 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. In 2016 after the men were jailed, he met with Rogerson's solicitor Peter Katsoolis and police then began to investigate. Watch the video above about Roger Rogerson's sentencing. But the three appeal judges agreed Witness A was a "liar". What Rogerson didn't mention to me during my two visits was that his time to appeal was gone. Rogerson claimed Lanfranchi was armed and he shot him in self-defence. While Rogerson was locking up - and sometimes shooting dead - crooks in the 1970s and 1980s, Smith was distributing heroin and pulling off major armed robberies. Notorious gangster Neddy Smith died aged 76 in Long Bay jail last week while serving a life sentence of murder. 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. This page was last edited on 7 January 2023, at 20:08. Former detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara have been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Jamie Gao. 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. If he did not, Glass speculated, he at least knew who did. It was a different time. Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara lose appeal over Jamie Gao's murder. 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. Followed categories will be added to My News. 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? Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. McNamara is yet to make any submissions. It was the beginning of the end for Rogersons police career, and Flannerys hot heatedness and ready gun toting would be his own demise. At an inquest into Flannery's suspected murder, Coroner Greg Glass said he suspected Rogerson had killed him. Had Jamie been a little bit more dexterous in the use of Google he might actually have not gone to that deal, he says. 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. What an interesting confluence: one man who has an appalling reputation but has rehabilitated himself to genial rogue for hire, and a bloke whos supposed to be pure and downtrodden, McNab says. Drury was a Sydney detective whose dramatic attempted murder in 1984 believed to have been carried out by Melbourne hitman Chris Flannery brought an end to Roger Rogersons career. He had the politicians knack about him, the charm to work a room, says McNab. Smith's exploits with Rogerson featured in the 1995 television drama series Blue Murder. Huckstepp was later murdered, her body found in a pond in Centennial Park, New South Wales. All times AEDT (GMT +11). The CCTV footage of the entirety of the crime was devastating - it's probably the 'most recorded' murder in Australian history. 'He did mention that he probably would have been dead long before if he hadn't been in jail but that's about it,' Ms Melocco said. According to Camden, the noted historian of the 16th century, this name Roger was a valiant . Production isnt even underway yet and theres already friction behind the scenes on the controversial Sydney-based reality series. He is also known for his association with other New South Wales (NSW) detectives who are reputed to have been corrupt, including Ray "Gunner" Kelly and Fred Krahe, and with a number of organised crime figures, including Abe Saffron,[7] Arthur "Neddy" Smith and Christopher Dale Flannery. Rogerson was suspected of having organised the hit after former undercover agent Drurys surveillance resulted in charged against Melbourne heroin dealer, Alan Williams. Gao was not the first drug dealer whose life Rogerson had ended with two bullets to the chest. McNab was flummoxed too by the involvement of Rogersons unlikely partner in crime, a self-styled former police whistleblower and anti-drug/anti-paedophile/anti-corruption campaigner Glen McNamara. Three years later he was tried for conspiring with hitman Christopher Dale Flannery to murder Drury. The 20-year-old student was shot dead in a Padstow storage unit in 2014 and his body was wrapped in a tarpaulin anddumped in Cronulla. [19], Rogerson was dismissed from the NSW Police Force on 11 April 1986 (had not seen active service since his suspension on 30 November 1984 as a result of the Drury investigation). 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. Roger Rogerson leaves a court hearing in 2014. 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. [33] However, Rogerson then lodged an appeal in 2020. The Court of Criminal Appeal threw out their cases in Sydney this morning, almost five years after they were jailed for life for murdering Jamie Gao. "It alleged both men were part of a plan to steal drugs from the deceased and kill him," he said. He claimed that he was trying to arrest Lanfranchi for five suspected armed robberies. [25], On 27 May 2014, Rogerson was charged with the murder of Sydney student Jamie Gao, allegedly after a drug deal having gone wrong. He was brought in to investigate the Ananda Marga conspiracy case, despite having no connections to the Special Branch investigating the case. 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. Ms Melocco said Rogerson hadbeen disappointed by losing his murder conviction appeal but had not given up hope and would take the case to the High Court. ), English footballer; Stan Rodgerson (1894-1955), Australian rules footballer; See also. The Dodger had brought a whole new network of people who knew Rogerson out of the woodwork. Rogerson, 75, has taken a job as the prison sweeper, which involves general cleaning duties like emptying bins and mopping floors, at the Kevin Waller Unit for aged and frail inmates. Glen McNamara (right) is escorted by a correctional services officer as he leaves the NSW Supreme Court in 2016. On 20 May 2014, former New South Wales police officers Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara murdered student Jamie Gao in cold blood. . Rogerson and fellow former detective Glen McNamara were caught on CCTV removing Gaos body in a surfboard bag from a storage facility. Rogerson gets jail keyboard at Long Bay jail, Teen feared missing in water at Freshwater Beach. 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. 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. "I was trying to get my life back together, the last thing I needed to do was think about this.". Allegations bounced off. An aerial view of Long Bay Correctional Centre in Sydney. And Rogersons last application for an extension of time to do so has been refused by the Supreme Court. There was a whole coterie of men who liked Roger because Roger could do things for them, says author Duncan McNab. 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. EXCLUSIVE: Florence Pugh's father is threatened with 2,500 fine as he goes to war with council over Oxford Do not sell or share my personal information. Rogerson and his second wife Anne Melocco were convicted of lying to the Police Integrity Commission, and this is portrayed in Blue Murder: Killer Cop. In 1981 came Rogerson's most high profile police killing, the shooting of heroin dealer Warren Lanfranchi in an inner-Sydney alleyway. Lawyer's murder hints at secrets of Australia mafia, Street fighting in Bakhmut but Russia not in control, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. McNab quit the force in dismay. Rogerson was acquitted of Drurys shooting, but was convicted of perverting the course of justice over a false bank account. Rogerson who is now 80, and Glen McNamara, now 62, were jailed for life for the murder of drug dealer Jamie Gao. His sentencing in August will likely be seen as ending an era of deeply rooted police corruption. Roger Rogerson is escorted to a prison van at the Supreme Court in Sydney, Wednesday, 15 June, 2016. 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. [39] The journalist has refused to discuss the matter. 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. In the pre-digital era, illegal bootleg video cassettes of Blue Murder I and II were jealously guarded, surreptitiously leant and massively copied. Crooks loved him. Smith and Rogerson - both serving life for murder in Long Bay jail - had known each other 45 years and once formed the most infamous partnership in Australian crime. [20], After leaving the force, Rogerson worked in the building and construction industry as a supplier of scaffolding. Actors Steve Bastoni and Peter Phelps play the roles of Detective Michael Drury, who survived an assassination attempt, and Smith friend Graham Abo Henry. Smith was a major heroin distributor in Sydney when the city's streets were awash with that drug. All those years later, [for Rogerson] to have that amount of clout, quite spooky.. 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. That was close. BLUE Murder was the original true crime blockbuster, a massive hit even while it was still banned. Roger Rogerson after being jailed for life in June. Drury alleged that Rogerson had tried to bribe him to changes his evidence in the heroin trial of Melbourne dealer Alan Williams. By 1978, his reputation was sufficient to gain convictions based on the strength of unsigned records of interviews with prisoners (known as "police verbals"). Behind his brazen public persona, however, lies a dark and deadly history. Rogerson is known to most Australians as a prominent, recurring figure in the country's efforts to eradicate corrupt crime fighters. 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. Rogerson is pictured in 2004. 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. The Chubb, McCann, Croft and Sandery cases were dismissed at committal and the Shu case was no-billed. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. Late last year, as Rogerson languished in a cell in the geriatric unit of Sydneys Long Bay jail over the Gao murder, I received a call from his wife Anne. According to his girlfriend, Sallie-Anne Huckstep, who pursued the matter through the media, Lanfranchi was unarmed and carrying A$10,000 (5,200, $7,350) - money which was never found. 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. During Rogerson's career, he was one of the most decorated officers in the police force, having received at least thirteen awards for bravery, outstanding policemanship and devotion to duty including the Peter Mitchell Trophy, the highest annual police award. Lennie McPherson. Nationwide News Pty Ltd 2023.
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