Rogerson and his boys from the Armed Hold Up Squad surrounded a small fibro house where a murderous career criminal named Phillip Western was holed up. They saturated the house with teargas. Then they sprayed it with a hail of gunfire from a distance of less than two metres. Rogerson would later joke Western’s body was so bullet-ridden the only way his mother could identify him was by his ingrown toenails.

It was impossible to really know who was responsible for the fatal rounds. But Rogerson — the “bastard cop from Bankstown” who loved booze and women, and saw himself as Australia’s answer to Dirty Harry — was quick to claim the killshot.

“He was an arsehole,” Rogerson declared, striding away with shotgun in hand. At least that’s how he told the story.

Killing in the line of duty normally haunts officers. Especially your virgin kill. But not Rogerson. If there was one thing he enjoyed more than killing crooks, it was talking about it. When he wasn’t dangerous, he was dangerously charming. His stories seemed well rehearsed. In fact, it was often like he was reading from a script he had practised beforehand in front of a mirror. A schooner of beer in hand, and grinning broadly, Roger the raconteur loved to remind people that no other police officer in the country could match his death tally. He liked to talk about himself in the third person. “Roger is just a tough cop in a tough town,” he would often say. He also used to say you kept the “ratbags” in check through fear — not respect.

The Western killing was quickly followed a few months later when Sydney bank robber Butchy Burns was shot to death in the Sydney suburb of Kingsford. Rogerson and his colleagues “shot the s***” out of his getaway car. Those present said there was no doubt this time it was Roger who had killed Burns.

“He fell out of the car dead as a doornail,” Rogerson used to quip.

Then in 1981, there was the infamous shooting of that “little s***head” Warren Lanfranchi in Dangar Place at Chippendale. This was his most high-profile police killing. And in many ways it was the start of the end for the famous detective. It led to at least two other murders that many believe Rogerson was instrumental in as he desperately tried to cover up facts.

While he liked to boast, there were other deaths he didn’t talk about openly. Deaths which showed the real Rogerson. Cold. Pragmatic. Evil.

Like that of Sydney prostitute Lyn Woodward, who vanished within hours of giving evidence into the Lanfranchi shooting. It is believed her evidence would have contradicted Rogerson’s testimony that Lanfranchi had a gun at the time he was killed. The Daily Telegraph can reveal today that NSW Homicide detectives as recently as four years ago were investigating claims Woodward was killed and buried in sandhills on a beach between Sydney and Wollongong.

His one-time ally and informant — the psychotic drug dealer Arthur “Neddy” Smith — has publicly said his former mate wanted to silence Woodward.

Somehow the coronial file and findings into her “disappearance” are now missing.

The final body count associated with Rogerson will never be known, but Australia’s most famous corrupt cop can be linked to numerous deaths.

Phillip Western: armed robber, killed by Rogerson in the line of duty. Butchy Burns: armed robber, killed by Rogerson in the line of duty. Warren Lanfranchi: drug dealer, killed by Rogerson in the line of duty. Sally Anne Huckstepp: murdered prostitute and police informant. Rogerson has never been charged.

Lyn Woodward: murdered prostitute and friend of Huckstepp. Rogerson has never been charged. The attempted murder of decorated police officer Mick Drury, for which Rogerson was acquitted. The disappearance and murder of hit-man Christopher Dale Flannery, in relation to which Rogerson has never been charged.

And lastly, Jamie Gao: a young teenage drug dealer wannabe.

It is understood WA police want to talk to Rogerson about the murder of Perth prostitute Shirley Finn in 1975. Police believe he may have information about her death, in relation to which he has never been charged. There other killings Rogerson may have simply turned a blind eye to during the 70s and 80s too.

He was in the thick of the Sydney gangland war of 1985.

Big-time drug dealers Michael Sayers, Daniel Chubb, Barry McCann and Tony Estuace all died during this period. Others with loose connections to Rogerson or his No.1 informant Smith also perished.

Hit-man Roy Thurgar, petty criminals Harvey Jones and Luton Shu and law clerk Brian Alexander to name just a few.

The Daily Telegraph has also uncovered information suggesting Rogerson once seriously plotted to murder former police commissioner Tony Lauer and former assistant police commissioner Clive Small.

As early as 1986, “decorated detective sergeant Rogerson” was sacked from the police force and had become known as “disgraced former police officer Rogerson”.

It was a label he hated.

He recently told a documentary crew he had “no regrets” from years in the blue uniform. And strangely he would even learn he could trade on his notoriety after leaving the force. At one stage he toured the country as part of a surreal comic act alongside “Chopper” Read.

Now Rogerson has a new label — convicted killer Roger Caleb Rogerson.

This is the definitive story of Australia’s only serial killer with a badge.