Killer cop Roger Rogerson dies in Sydney hospital aged 83

Police have revealed they had hoped to extract a deathbed confession from corrupt officer Roger Rogerson, who has died days after suffering a brain aneurysm. WATCH Crime Editor Mark Morri walk through the crooked cop’s most notorious moments.

NSW Police attempted to interview disgraced officer Roger Rogerson over a number of unsolved cases in the last months of his life it can be revealed, as the notorious killer cop died on Sunday.

Senior police have revealed to The Daily Telegraph that as the killer’s health deteriorated in the last two months, they were negotiating to get access to him.

“But there never was a face-to-face meeting with him,’’ the senior officer said.

Rogerson’s lawyer, Peter Katsoolis, said he had no knowledge of any approaches by police to interview his client in recent times.

It was hoped Rogerson may have revealed the whereabouts of the remains of missing hitman Christopher Flannery — known as ‘Mr Rent-A-Kill’, — crown witness Lyn Woodward and other people who went missing in the 80’s when Rogerson was at the height of his powers.

Roger Rogerson inside a police truck being taken into Bankstown Court in 2014 to face charges relating to the murder of Jamie Gao. Picture: Craig Greenhill

Rogerson, Australia’s most notorious corrupt police officer who was serving a life sentence for the murder of a 20-year-old Sydney drug dealer, died on Sunday night days after suffering a brain aneurysm.

Rogerson died at the Prince of Wales in Hospital in Randwick at 11.15pm after his life support was switched off about 11.30am on Friday.

A who’s who of Roger Rogerson’s victims

The 83-year-old had been rushed to the hospital after suffering a brain aneurysm inside his cell at Long Bay jail a day earlier.

A Corrective Services NSW spokesman said authorities investigated all deaths in custody regardless of the circumstances as a matter of protocol.

Rogerson’s death will also be subject to a coronial inquest.

Lyn Woodward’s body was never found.

Christopher Dale Flannery, known as ‘Mr Rent-A-Kill.

His early police career was so spectacular many of his colleagues believed the brash young detective would be police commissioner one day.

But Rogerson was not just some no-nonsense, “Dirty Harry” style cop. He was a serial killer with a badge - a low-life crook with the backing of the police force.

Rogerson was feared by Sydney’s criminals after being involved in shooting dead three armed robbers on different occasions in the line of duty.

As a homicide detective, Rogerson also established himself as an outstanding operator early on, helping solve the most horrific murder of 16-year-old Sydney schoolgirl Maureen Bradley in 1971.

“In the mid-80s he was God,” said a former high ranking police officer.

“Roger Rogerson was a legend, and he was a very effective police officer in many ways.”

Drug dealer Jamie Gao was murdered by former cops Glen McNamara and Roger Rogerson.

Criminal Warren Lanfranchi was shot dead in Chippendale in 1981 by Rogerson.

Before he was booted from the police force, he received 13 bravery awards and, in 1980, was a recipient of the Peter Mitchell award for outstanding police work, considered the highest accolade the force could give.

The following year, the third person he shot dead was heroin dealer and convicted armed robber Warren Lanfranchi in Dangar Place in the inner Sydney suburb of Chippendale.

There were eighteen police officers in and around the laneway when Lanfranchi arrived for a meeting with Rogerson, who claimed the crook was handing himself in over an earlier crime.

Rogerson said Lanfranchi pulled a weapon and he was forced to shoot him twice, killing him. At first there, was no recriminations against the decorated officer, with defenders of Rogerson arguing that Lanfranchi was a violent criminal who dared to point a gun at a NSW Police Officer. Back in 1981, that was a death sentence for any criminal.

What Rogerson didn’t count on was the bravery and tenacity of Lanfranchi’s girlfriend, Sallie-Anne Huckstepp who went on a media campaign accusing Rogerson of murdering her former partner in cold blood.

Lanfranchi’s killing did little to hurt the rising star of the police force, but the attempted murder of undercover cop Mick Drury did.

The attempted murder of Mr Drury, himself a recipient of the Peter Mitchell award, was the beginning of the end of Rogerson.

Sally-Anne Huckstepp.

Glen McNamara was jailed for his involvement in the murder of Jamie Gao.

Mr Drury later gave a statement while in a critical condition in hospital, saying in the weeks before he was shot through the window of his Chatswood home, Rogerson had offered him $30,000 to lie in court about Melbourne crook Alan Williams.

Mick Drury survived his ordeal and is still alive today.

“Had Drury died before that accusation came out, Roger would have just gone on from strength to strength, but that failed shooting exposed him and split the NSW Police Force,” said a former detective who knew Rogerson well.

“And Sallie-Anne wasn’t going away, she kept talking.”

Rogerson was suspended while the investigation into Mick Drury’s allegations were ongoing leading to him being charged with conspiracy to murder, a charge he was eventually acquitted of.

In April 1986, Rogerson was sacked from the NSW Police Force after he went on TV and spectacularly outed Arthur “Neddy” Smith and Lennie McPherson as police informants, which was against regulations.

The murder scene where Sally-Anne Huckstepp’s body was found.

There were also rumours swirling around at the time that he was involved in the eventual murder of Sallie-Anne Huckstepp, who found strangled in a pond at Centennial Park in February of that year.

No one has ever been convicted over her murder despite Neddy Smith being charged.

By the late 80s Rogerson was under siege over the shooting of Mick Drury and eventually was jailed in 1990 for perverting the course of justice over false bank accounts involving more than $100,000.

After his release Rogerson was earning a living running a scaffolding business but was still very much involved in criminal activities, giving advice to crooks and acting as an unofficial adviser to some of Australia’s best known criminals.

Rogerson was sacked from the NSW Police Force in 1986 after outing informants on TV. Picture: Sam Mooy

The Wood Royal Commission in 1996 and an ICAC investigation in 2002 exposed that Rogerson while a Darlinghurst detective, he was at the heart of a small band of corrupt cops which took thousands of dollars in bribes a week from drug dealers and criminals so they could operate in Kings Cross, referred to then as the Golden Mile.

In 2005 he was jailed for 12 months for lying to the Police Integrity Commission, and after his release he went on a speaking tour with AFL star Mark “Jack’’ Jackson and notorious Melbourne criminal Mark “Chopper”’ Read, where he constantly belittled the NSW Police Force for being soft on crime.

All these years he continued to protest his innocence.

It was only after Rogerson was found guilty of murdering a young Sydney drug dealer, Jamie Gao in 2014 that the full list of Rogerson’s crimes was revealed.

Questions still remain over the disappearance of Sydney model, Lyn Woodward and a plot to kill former NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Clive Small.

“For Roger it wasn’t really about the money, although he was greedy in that department, it was about the power and control,” a former police colleague of Rogerson’s said.

“He thought he could get away with anything because as far as Roger was concerned, he was the smartest person in any room, especially a courtroom.”