Roger Rogerson’s final months in prison revealed as disgraced ex-cop taken off life support

As disgraced ex-cop and convicted killer Roger Rogerson lays on his death bed, his final months in prison have been revealed.

Exclusive:Roger Rogerson’s final months in prison were spent in the aged care section of Long Bay’s jail hospital, where he was unable to walk or communicate properly.

For the past six months he has been bed-bound, unable to get out of bed or even sit up on his own.

His lonely last months were spent in solitary hospital cell, his only visits being from medical staff inside the notorious prison.

Due to his ailing health and the fact he spent most of his time in bed, his muscles and mind deteriorated rapidly.

Despite his past crimes, it’s understood he was quiet and well-mannered when he did engage with staff at the prison.

It’s understood he was transferred to hospital on Thursday after staff found it difficult to rouse him earlier that day. While that wasn’t uncommon, further tests revealed he had suffered a brain aneurysm.

Roger Rogerson is lead from the Supreme Court, during his trial for the murder of Jamie Gao. Picture: Adam Taylor

Roger Rogerson taken into custody at his home in Padstow in 2014. Picture: Dan Himbrechts

The disgraced ex-cop and convicted killer is now receiving “end of life” care.

His death will end one of Sydney’s most corrupt chapters, with ex-cop Duncan McNab saying: “He was an evil, manipulating, murderous bastard.”

About 11.30am on Friday the disgraced 83-year-old former cop’s life support was switched off. Sources said it could be “days” before the 83-year-old is officially declared dead.

Roger Rogerson was dismissed from the NSW Police Force in 1986 and jailed in 1990 for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Ex-police officer turned author, Duncan McNab, who worked with Rogerson before charting his exploits in a series of books, said the former detective’s demise was “no great loss”.

“A few people will probably mourn his passing – family, friends and the people he helped progress in their careers,” Mr McNab said. “But they are very few.

“To the rest of us he was just an evil, manipulating, murderous bastard.

“This is a bloke who would give the same level of thought to murdering a person that another person would give to ordering a steak – medium rare or well done?

“The wake could be held in a phone box. There are people who will mourn, but you could count them on one hand.”

Roger Rogerson, who was dismissed from the NSW Police Force in 1986 and jailed in 1990, was described as “an evil, manipulating, murderous bastard”by ex-police officer turned author, Duncan McNab

But Rogerson is not without supporters. Long-time solicitor Peter Katsoolis said the ex-cop’s loss in the High Court of Australia last March against his life sentence for murdering Gao was a devastating blow.

“The prospect of winning the appeal was like life support for the old man,” Mr Katsoolis said. “I’ll miss him as a client.” Rogerson’s wife Anne did not return calls.

Roger Rogerson at his Padstow Heights, Sydney in 2006 reading through the autobiography he wrote by hand while serving time in prison.

Detective Sergeant Roger Rogerson in Sydney in 1981.

A gifted raconteur, Rogerson hid his psychopathic tendencies behind a mask of charm and could work a room better than even the most skilled politician.

Eventually, the myth evaporated and his career ended in disgrace.

He was implicated in two murders and the attempted assassination of fellow police officer Mick Drury, plus years of fabricating evidence, bribery, drug-dealing and corruption.

On top of that, Rogerson’s links to organised crime figures like contract killer Christopher “Rent-a-Kill” Flannery and criminal heavyweights Abe Saffron and Arthur “Neddy” Smith – who Rogerson famously gave the “green light” to commit crime – were eventually ­exposed.

But Rogerson had a teflon-like ability to avoid accountability for serious criminal behaviour.

He was acquitted by a jury of conspiring to murder Drury.

The NSW Coroner found that Rogerson was acting in the line of duty when he shot dead drug dealer Warren Lanfranchi in a Chippendale alley in 1981.

Former police detective Roger Rogerson pictured in his old turf of Surry Hills in Sydney. Picture: Sam Mooy

Lanfranchi’s girlfriend, Sally-Anne Huckstepp, later claimed in TV interviews that Rogerson murdered Lanfranchi as revenge for robbing a heroin dealer who was under police protection.

She was found dead in Centennial Park in 1986 and five years later the Coroner found there was not enough evidence to charge anyone over her death.

Rogerson was sacked from the police in 1986.

Once of his few convictions came in 1999 when he was sentenced to 12 months in jail for lying to the Police Integrity Commission.

His luck ran out in 2016.

Rogerson was sentenced to life in jail after he and ­another crooked ex-cop, Glen McNamara, murdered drug dealer Jamie Gao in May 2014.