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. Rogerson and McNamara argued the guilty verdict could not be supported by evidence and there hadbeen a miscarriage of justice. Roger Rogerson, a 75-year-old former detective who boasted about killing people and has already served three prison sentences, was on Wednesday found guilty in the death of a student drug dealer. Rogerson has always maintained from that time on Smith was no more than a valuable informant for the Armed Hold-Up Squad. She also made statements to the New South Wales Police Internal Affairs Branch. 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. He later joked that the only way to identify Western's bullet-ridden body was by his ingrown toenails. ", Rogerson claims he didn't know co-accused McNamara bought a gun. 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. It was the beginning of the end for Rogersons police career, and Flannerys hot heatedness and ready gun toting would be his own demise. 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. They also were jailed for plotting to steal 2.78 kilograms of methamphetamine from the drug dealer. 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? "Roger would like to see you," she said. 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. A reality TV star has allegedly been caught having a full-on affair with a co-star, leaving his longtime girlfriend and fellow castmate heartbroken. A generation of his colleagues have either keeled over or retired, and Rogers looking around for fresh playmates, McNab says. Can the dogs of Chernobyl teach us new tricks when it comes to our own survival? 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. Still, it fascinates me that Rogers career was brought to an end by a 20-year-old Asian kid with an education.. "According to the plan McNamara lured the deceased to the storage unit for a drug deal and Rogerson attended supposedly to purchase the drugs. [8][9], A new trial started on 1 February 2016. I'm a vet, and here are five dog breeds most prone to cancer - including Golden Retrievers and Rottweilers. Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara sentenced to life in jail for Jamie Gao murder. 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. Arthur 'Neddy' Smith. 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. The pair met in November 1976 when Rogerson arrested Smith as he was reporting for bail at Rockdale police station and charged him attempting to snatch the Fielders Bakery payroll at Granville. Roger Rogerson is escorted to a prison van at the Supreme Court in Sydney, Wednesday, 15 June, 2016. 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. Both Rogerson and McNamara lodged a notice of intention to appeal days after their life sentences were imposed in 2016. 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Roger Caleb Rogerson (born 3 January 1941) is a former detective sergeant of the New South Wales Police Force, and a convicted murderer. Melocco was sentenced to two years' periodic detention for the same offence. The death of Lanfranchi, whose girlfriend was heroin-addicted prostitute turned police corruption whistleblower, was ruled in the line of duty. 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. First introduced by the Norman-French at the Invasion of England in 1066, it was originally a baptismal personal name Rogier. 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. Rogerson was jailed . His wife Anne Melocco told Daily Mail. In 1981 came Rogerson's most high profile police killing, the shooting of heroin dealer Warren Lanfranchi in an inner-Sydney alleyway. "It was open to the sentencing judge to determine that a life sentence should be imposed," he said. 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. Stephen Bear, who starred in several seasons of reality TV shows aired in Australia, has been jailed for 21 months for sharing a sex tape. 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. Smith insisted the pair became partners in crime. In the wake of Rogersons arrest over the Gao murder, the flow of information quickened as people who previously had been reticent to talk all of a sudden really started talking. [24], In 2009, he published an autobiography about his time as a detective, entitled The Dark Side, launched by broadcaster Alan Jones. A month into the trial, McNab realised this dark new chapter for Rogerson was no epilogue to his previous biography but a new book in the begging. 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's long relationship with the since disgraced detective sergeant Roger Rogerson caused both men ongoing difficulties. Rogerson, 79, appeared in the Court of Criminal . 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. Test your knowledge by naming all 20 of these famous films. Disgraced former detective Roger Rogerson is appealing his life sentence, arguing he didn't know Glen McNamara had sourced a gun before the murder. 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. By 1978, his reputation was sufficient to gain convictions based on the strength of unsigned records of interviews with prisoners (known as "police verbals"). 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.. [25], On 27 May 2014, Rogerson was charged with the murder of Sydney student Jamie Gao, allegedly after a drug deal having gone wrong. Drury spent 12 days in a coma, but survived. 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. Following the shooting, Huckstepp became an anti-police corruption whistleblower. The men were due for trial in the Supreme Court on 20 July 2015. People whove known him have seen the facade drop, and it drops hard and fast, and the real Roger pops out: vile, vicious, opportunistic, McNab says. One was the murder in company of tow truck driver, Ronnie Flavell and the other of brothel owner Harvey Jones. Geesche Jacobsen, Kate McClymont (21 February 2005). He hasn't seen him for however long he's been in jail.'. Rogerson, 75, and McNamara, 57, pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Gao and dumping his body in waters off Cronulla the next day. Rogerson and fellow former detective Glen McNamara were caught on CCTV removing Gaos body in a surfboard bag from a storage facility. Smith (left) is pictured with ex-wife Debra and brothel keeper Harvey Jones, who he was convicted of having murdered in 1983. BLUE Murder was the original true crime TV blockbuster with scenes so shockingly thrilling about the lives of Sydneys cops and gangsters that it was a hit even while it was still banned. 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. On 6 June 1984, Flannery was allegedly the shooter who fired two rounds through the kitchen window of the home of Sydney Drug Squad detective, Michael Mick Drury. Gao was unlikely to have had any real idea of the background of the men he was dealing with, particularly Rogerson, McNab says. He became involved in a violent Sydney gang war over the heroin trade and Flannery tried to align himself with Neddy Smith. The coronial file and findings into her disappearance are now missing. The outcome is now both history and the script line for Blue Murder: Killer Cop, which debuts Part 1 on Sunday, August 6. "Roger would like to see you," she said. One of three children, Rogerson grew up in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown (moving there from Bondi at six years old). 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. "I was trying to get my life back together, the last thing I needed to do was think about this.". His family was among those in court for today's hearing. 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. 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. Glen McNamara is escorted by a correctional services officer as he leaves the NSW supreme court in Sydney in February 2016. Property News:House prices in some school catchments explode by up to $367,000 - domain.com.au, Your web browser is no longer supported. Single mother faces 170 parking fine after overstaying at McDonald's for just 14 minutes while she treated Man had sex with his wife on bollard in protest after it had been erected by neighbour to stop him parking What will the next pandemic be? [13], Rogerson worked on some of the biggest cases of the early 1970s, including the Toecutter Gang Murder and the Whiskey Au Go Go Fire in Brisbane. Glen McNamara, 60, also watched proceedings remotely. Rogerson wanted me to tell him the 'real' McNamara story the one the jury didnt hear. He and fellow former detectiveGlen McNamara were jailed for life in September 2016 and lost appeals over their convictions in July. 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. They also rejected the claim the jury should have been told about a conversation McNamara said he had with Rogerson before the murder where he allegedly admitted to murdering or conspiring to murder six other people. [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. Stella Dings unique way of relating to her students has seen the NSW science teacher develop engaging lessons based on gaming. He turned himself in after being spotted on surveillance, spun a story, and set up his former colleagues. In late January, 1985 Flannerys family home was sprayed with rounds from a rifle. Published Sep 4, 2016. Smith insisted they became partners in crime. 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. 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. Roger Rogerson was jailed for life for the 2014 murder of student Jamie Gao. 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. 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. Ive never seen a man more terrified in my life, he says. Putin's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov provokes gales of laughter as he tells audience the West started Find out what Uber drivers really think of you! 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. Hes in his mid-60s but Roger misses being on centre stage in the criminal life so hes reconstructing his drug-dealing mates.. ISBN9781925675443. 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. Born in 1921, McPherson was convicted of various crimes as a boy and . If he did not, Glass speculated, he at least knew who did. That was close. 2023 BBC. Violent and sinister characters populate the script: Neddy Smith, played by Tony Martin, is the charismatic big man of Sydneys gangland. 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. Made in 1995, by the time all the court cases, ICAC and royal commission hearings about the cops and crims had been cleared for the ABC to broadcast in 2001, countless people had watched it. Smith has spent much of his life in prison for earlier crimes, but despite his reputation as a killer, he was convicted of only two deaths. His only hope for freedom, now, would be an uphill battle to try to find new and compelling evidence that will change the court's mind and give him one last chance to appeal. Rogerson is serving life in prison, alongside fellow former police officer Glen McNamara, over the murder of 20-year-old drug dealer Jamie Gao in May 2014. But the three appeal judges agreed Witness A was a "liar". It was a career-defining performance for actor Richard Roxburgh. Smith was born in 1944 and was a major criminal, involved particularly in armed robbery, heroin trafficking, and murder. 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. 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 big Beckham birthday! [11] Rogerson attended Bankstown Central School and later Homebush Boys High School. 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. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. 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. 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 prospect of an appeal still drives him, despite the court having denied him the ability to do so. 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. McNab also reveals the hitherto unknown depth of Rogersons ties with outlaw motorcycle gangs, his close friendship with convicted rapist, kidnapper and Bandido Arthur Loveday among others, as he sought to rekindle drug connections. 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. [20], After leaving the force, Rogerson worked in the building and construction industry as a supplier of scaffolding. 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. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Hershey's Canada releases HER for SHE bars featuring a trans activist, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up. 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.. He was known for his hothead and tendency to go off and empty his gun into the victims. CCTV showed both men walking into the facility with the young drug dealer. This is a list of the real life characters and what they did in the first Blue Murder. A source revealed to McNab that Gaos contact in Hong Kong who helped broker introductions with the Triad later vanished. Rogerson and another former cop, Glen McNamara, were found guilty of shooting Gao inside a west Sydney storage . All the benefits of simply switching from white to brown - AND how purple, Why is Britain experiencing so many earthquakes? Just days after their conviction and life sentences were handed down in 2016, the pair lodged a notice of intention to appeal. 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. When will the Beast from the East be at YOUR door? But as McNab now recalls, Rogerson was protected in large part by his aura within the polices own ranks. You might also be interested in these Crime Scene Investigator stories: Charismatic and affable. By Stephen Gibbs for Daily Mail Australia, Published: 08:31 GMT, 13 September 2021 | Updated: 09:09 GMT, 13 September 2021. He was granted bail but in December the next year was arrested with two others outsideBotany Council preparing to snatch its Christmas payroll drop. Smith's exploits with Rogerson featured in the 1995 television drama series Blue Murder. 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. When Lanfranchi stepped out of the car, Rogerson shot him dead, claiming 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. 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. 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. Smith would claim that before Jones disappeared - his body was not found until 1995 - the sometime used car salesman had been arranging to pay Rogerson $60,000 to make gold bullion theft charges go away. 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.. 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". 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. 00:01. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. 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. Rogerson has 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. Roger Rogerson after being jailed for life in June. As a former NSW detective, I met Rogerson regularly when we were both stationed at the Criminal Investigation Branch headquarters. 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. He is pictured in 1980. Roger Rogerson being escorted to a prison van at the Supreme Court in Sydney in 2016. Credit: Dean Lewins/AAP Late last year, as Rogerson languished in a cell in the geriatric unit of Sydney's Long Bay jail over the Gao murder, I received a call from his wife Anne. Prosecutors said the length of the prison term they are seeking for Ng is justified under US federal sentencing guidelines because of the size of the fraud. Now a frail old man, Rogerson's sentencing brings down the curtain on a story that, for better or worse, has written itself into Australia's modern mythology. But Justice Bell said the Crown had established a circumstantial case against the men. Test yourself with this Cockney Rhyming Slang quiz. These days, having left the police force, I make my living as a journalist, specifically writing crime. 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. 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. 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. 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. He was released from Kirkconnell Correctional Centre on 17 February 2006. "It was the '80s. It was the type of relationship that had often existed before - Smith . Disgraced detective's last bid for freedom to not die in jail. McNamara told the trial Rogerson shot the student dead as he "seethed with anger" over the exchange of drugs and cash. Crooks loved him. The Whiskey Au Go Go Massacre: Murder, Arson and the Crime of the Century. She also claimed that Neddy Smith had lied at Lanfranchis inquest and was in cahoots with Rogerson. The first Blue Murder series is largely based on Smiths book Neddy. 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. . To improve your experience, Corrupt cops Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara are contemplating a lifetime behind bars after losing their. Roger Rogerson was the teak-hard. Detectives have variously described . Actors Steve Bastoni and Peter Phelps play the roles of Detective Michael Drury, who survived an assassination attempt, and Smith friend Graham Abo Henry.