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. Rogerson, 75, and McNamara, 57, were found guilty of murdering Mr Gao, 20, during a drug deal at a Padstow storage facility on May 20, 2014 and dumping his body in waters off Cronulla the next day. Rogerson has always maintained Smith was no more than a valuable informant for the Armed Hold-Up Squad. 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. Smith said Lanfranchi had asked him to organise a payment to Rogerson so that the dealer wasnt charged with the police shooting. Theres just something horribly wrong with Rogers head. 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. [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. 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. 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. Had Jamie been a little bit more dexterous in the use of Google he might actually have not gone to that deal, he says. ROGER ROGERSON. His sentencing in August will likely be seen as ending an era of deeply rooted police corruption. This page was last edited on 7 January 2023, at 20:08. He could get them out of strife with the coppers, he could tell them how the coppers operated, how best to avoid things, the depth of his knowledge. 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. CCTV showed both men walking into a Padstow storage facility with the young drug dealer in 2014 before he was shot dead. Rogerson has always maintained from that time on Smith was no more than a valuable informant for the Armed Hold-Up Squad. . Drury said Rogerson had tried to bribe him to change his evidence over a heroin trial and when Drury refused, he was shot. Storms threaten north-east United States after tearing through the south, leaving 10 dead. He claimed that he was trying to arrest Lanfranchi for five suspected armed robberies. We asked the experts - and their answers will terrify you Public Service Announcement, do NOT watch these ads! 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. Former Sydney detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara have lost an appeal against their convictions for murdering a drug dealer. 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. In 2016 after the men were jailed, he met with Rogerson's solicitor Peter Katsoolis and police then began to investigate. These days, having left the police force, I make my living as a journalist, specifically writing crime. They dont reminisce over a cup of tea and a Scotch Finger. 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'. He assures me McNamara is the key to his freedom. Huckstepps media profile blossomed, but she couldnt give up heroin. But the three appeal judges agreed Witness A was a "liar". Smith later said that Rogerson ordered him to disarm Lanfranchi en route. Flannery would ultimately meet a similar fate to that of Roger Wilson. 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? 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. 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. Followed categories will be added to My News. 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. 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. My view is it started out as a drug deal that became a rip off and at some point in the planning Roger said, well if it doesnt go right, well just top him, end of story, he says. 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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. 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. Rogerson Rogerson emerged fresh from the killing at an old mates' lunch club at a Sydney pub having invited some unfamiliar guests: a well-known boxer with two bikies in tow. 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. He was the master of the police verbal, an unsigned confession from a suspect, and operated in an era later classified as corrupt. It was the beginning of the end for Rogersons police career, and Flannerys hot heatedness and ready gun toting would be his own demise. [8][9], A new trial started on 1 February 2016. Sources also confirmed Rogersons sharp eye for turning a situation to his advantage has not waned since his arrival at Long Bay. Rogerson, 80, and McNamara, 62, were jailed for life in 2016 after being convicted of murdering Jamie Gao in May 2014. Smith became a star witness for the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Wood Royal Commission, revealing Rogerson and others alleged corruption. Drury is now retired from the police force and a respected philatelist and collector of rare stamps. 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. It implicated Roger Rogerson in Drurys attempted execution at the behest of a heroin trafficker. With his running knowledge of underworld sellers and buyers, Rogerson was a fantastic middleman but came to grief when he stopped being middleman and decided to actually take a bigger slice, McNab says. Rogerson who is now80, and Glen McNamara, now 62, were jailed for life for the murder of drug dealer Jamie Gao. 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. But it has emerged that neither Rogerson nor McNamara has formally lodged appeals. ", Rogerson claims he didn't know co-accused McNamara bought a gun. You start meeting so many people whove had their lives trampled on by this guy, both coppers and civilians, McNab says. Rogerson, 82, serving life term for murder of drug dealer. ISBN9781925675443. 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. 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. 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. [2][3] Rogerson, 75, and McNamara, 57, pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Gao and dumping his body in waters off Cronulla the next day. Justice Bell said both accused had run "cut-throat defences". [2] In September 2016, both were sentenced to jail for life for the murder of Gao. If he did not, Glass speculated, he at least knew who did. Lawyers for both Rogerson and McNamara indicated they would appeal against the sentence. They have not been seen or heard from since. According to Camden, the noted historian of the 16th century, this name Roger was a valiant . He became involved in a violent Sydney gang war over the heroin trade and Flannery tried to align himself with Neddy Smith. Production isnt even underway yet and theres already friction behind the scenes on the controversial Sydney-based reality series. 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. Im not the only visitor outside his circle of family and friends. 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. Sources say Rogerson has become the leader of the unit because of his high profile and reputation. 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". Rogerson, 79, appeared in the Court of Criminal Appeal via video link, dressed in a prison issued green tracksuit and seated beside a walker. Rogerson (in handcuffs) is serving life for the murder of 20-year-old drug dealer Jamie Gao. 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. In the following months, the cocaine and booze-fuelled Flannery became increasingly erratic. Brisbane's Whiskey Au Go Go fire killed 15 people. 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.. Disgraced detective's last bid for freedom to not die in jail. 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. 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. He was released from Kirkconnell Correctional Centre on 17 February 2006. Apparently he has been regularly enjoying using far more than his allotted precious telephone minutes. The CCTV footage of the entirety of the crime was devastating - it's probably the 'most recorded' murder in Australian history. [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. 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. [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). 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. Rogerson, 80, and McNamara, 62, were jailed for . A Sydney prostitute, Lyn Woodward, later vanished within hours of giving evidence in the case. She also claimed that Neddy Smith had lied at Lanfranchis inquest and was in cahoots with Rogerson. 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. '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. 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. Delving deep again into a signal event in Rogersons past the 1981 shooting of heroin dealer Warren Lanfranchi, which began the coppers original fall from grace he tracked down a man believed to have witnessed the event as a teenager on the street. 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!' But McNab put the project to bed and expected never to write again of Rogerson, presuming the fallen copper would see out his days casting a line over a dinghy and bouncing grandchildren on his lap. [40], Richard Roxburgh portrayed Rogerson in the 1995 TV mini-series Blue Murder and its 2017 sequel Blue Murder: Killer Cop.[41]. On 20 May 2014, former New South Wales police officers Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara murdered student Jamie Gao in cold blood. Smith was born in 1944 and was a major criminal, involved particularly in armed robbery, heroin trafficking, and murder. "Roger would like to see you," she said. CORRUPT cop and convicted killer Roger Rogerson has been working as a prison cleaner at Long Bay . Both have been found guilty of murder and possession of 2.78. This was because John Andrew Stuart, accused of lighting the fire, had said criminals from Sydney were behind the nightclub extortion attempts. [24], In 2009, he published an autobiography about his time as a detective, entitled The Dark Side, launched by broadcaster Alan Jones. Both pleaded not guilty in January 2015. 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. 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. Rogerson has been in custody since May 2014 for the murder that month of 20-year-old student and wannabe drug dealer Jamie Gao. [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. His 'threat' came shortly after the release of my first book on him. 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.. Smith (left) is pictured with ex-wife Debra and brothel keeper Harvey Jones, who he was convicted of having murdered in 1983. "Extensive in its planning, brutal in its execution and callous in its aftermath," he said. Glen McNamara, 60, also watched proceedings remotely. 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. "I shot Lanfranchi twice, once in the neck and then one in the chest. An inquest heard Rogerson fatally shot Lanfranchi while trying to effect an arrest, but failed to find it was done in self-defence. It was the type of relationship that had often existed before - Smith . 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. There are three known killings directly attributed to Rogerson: Gao and the on duty shootings of Lanfranchi and would-be armed robber Lawrence Byrne in 1977. They also were jailed for plotting to steal 2.78 kilograms of methamphetamine from the drug dealer. 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. Notorious gangster Neddy Smith died aged 76 in Long Bay jail last week while serving a life sentence of murder. The surname Rogerson was first found in Aberdeenshire (Gaelic: Siorrachd Obar Dheathain), a historic county, and present day Council Area of Aberdeen, located in the Grampian region of northeastern Scotland from ancient times, some say as early as the 11th century. On 6 June 1984, Drury was shot twice through his kitchen window as he fed his three-year-old daughter. In the pre-digital era, illegal bootleg video cassettes of Blue Murder I and II were jealously guarded, surreptitiously leant and massively copied. Lennie McPherson. He said he arranged for it to be handed over to McNamara. 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. The NSW crown prosecutor, Christopher Maxwell sought for the judge to jail Rogerson and McNamara for life, stating there was no distinction between a contract killing and killing for the purpose of financial gain[30], One detective witness told the Daily Telegraph "it was like tracking the stars of Amateur Hour", regarding the killing of Jamie Gao. Crooks loved him. Early Origins of the Rogerson family. Smiths loving family and his ex-wife Debra, with whom he has remained friends, have continued to visit him in prison, where the 72-year-old is set to die without being released. It was one of the most high-profile court cases Australia has ever seen - at its conclusion, Rogerson was acquitted. In late January, 1985 Flannerys family home was sprayed with rounds from a rifle. "I guess I thought about it a lot from the start but I wanted to put it out of my mind," he said. 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.