Former cops Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara lose appeals over Jamie Gao murder

Two disgraced detectives have learnt their fate of their appeals against life sentences for a cold-blooded murder.

Crooked cops Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara are set to spend the rest of their lives in jail after failing to overturn their convictions for the cold-blooded murder of a young drug dealer.

Rogerson and McNamara were found guilty at a Supreme Court trial in 2016 of shooting dead Jamie Gao, 20, in a south Sydney storage shed and stealing $19m worth of ‘ice’.

Gao’s body was discovered wrapped in blue tarpaulin off Cronulla six days after he was killed and dumped at sea on May 20, 2014.

Former police officer Roger Rogerson blamed Glen McNamara for pulling the trigger. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

McNamara claimed Rogerson was responsible for the murder. Picture: AAP

Both former police detectives have always blamed the other for pulling the trigger, and the murder weapon has never been found.

In November, the ex-police officers turned on each other as they fought their convictions and sentences in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

On Friday a panel of justices, including the Court of Criminal Appeal president Justice Andrew Bell, upheld the trial verdicts and sentences imposed.

“We are of the unanimous view that both appeals should be dismissed,” Justice Bell said.

Jamie Gao, a UTS student murdered in 2014.

Rogerson, 80, appealed against his conviction for murder, while McNamara, 60, appealed against both his conviction and sentence for murder and drug supply.

At trial the Crown alleged Gao was lured to the Padstow storage shed by McNamara, and Rogerson attended as the proposed buyer of almost 3kg of methylamphetamine.

It was alleged the disgraced detectives had no intention of paying for the drugs and one of them fired two shots, killing Gao.

Rogerson – one of the country’s most notorious figures – claimed in court that he was unaware McNamara had brought a gun to the meeting with Gao organised at the Rent-a-Space unit.

Roger Rogerson during his trial for the 2014 murder of Jamie Gao. Picture: Adam Taylor / Newspix

Rogerson’s barrister John Stratton SC said during the appeal it made no sense for his client to drive his own car to the crime scene if he had been part of a plan to kill and rob Gao.

A new witness, dubbed Witness A, gave evidence during the appeal hearing, claiming to have picked up a gun wrapped in a towel from a doorstep in the months before the murder.

Witness A said he arranged for it to be handed over to McNamara, who instructed him “don’t tell Rogerson about this”.

Justice Bell said the Witness A’s evidence was rejected because he was deemed to be “not credible”.

“Witness A is an experienced fraudster and accomplished liar,” the court’s judgment reads.

“Given Witness A’s record of dishonesty, his association with Rogerson, the unpersuasive nature of his version of events and the circumstances in which that version of events emerged, we are satisfied that no reasonable jury would accept his uncorroborated evidence of having provided a pistol to McNamara, much less that McNamara expressly told him not to tell Rogerson that he had done so.”

The court of appeal found the jury’s guilty verdict was open to them at trial, as Rogerson’s case “was completely lacking in credibility and did not raise any doubt about his guilt”.

The three men were all seen on CCTV at the unit. Picture: Adam Taylor and supplied

McNamara and Gao were caught on CCTV walking into the storage shed where the university student was murdered. Rogerson was captured in the footage arriving soon after.

Only Rogerson and McNamara were seen leaving 10 minutes later, dragging a surfboard bag that concealed Gao’s body.

Rogerson’s case was that when he arrived at the scene Gao had already been shot, with McNamara saying Gao had “pulled a gun” on him.

McNamara claimed at trial he did not shoot Gao and only helped dispose of his body using his boat due to his fear of Rogerson, who threatened to kill his children.

“Help me with him, otherwise you will be lying on the ground next to that c**t and then I’ll kill your girls”, Rogerson allegedly said, according to McNamara’s testimony at trial.

Barrister Gabriel Wendler SC, acting for McNamara, told the court of appeal that his client believed that threat because Rogerson had told him he had committed several murders in the past.

Mr Wendler argued the jury trial should have heard this evidence, as it proved McNamara was acting under duress.

Glen McNamara (green shirt) claimed Rogerson threatened him. Picture: AAP Image/Daniel Munoz

The court of appeal, however, threw out the argument and ruled it would have been prejudicial for a jury to hear the unsubstantiated claims that Rogerson had confessed to further murders.

After they were convicted by a jury following a 10-day trial in 2016, Justice Geoffrey Bellew sentenced both men to life in prison for Gao’s murder.

Sentences of 12 years were also imposed against both men for the offence of supplying an indictable quantity of drugs.

Justice Bellew was satisfied the ex-police officers had plotted to kill Gao and steal the drugs he intended to supply to them.