Corrupt ex-cop Roger Rogerson near death after aneurysm

The one-time detective-turned-killer and drug dealer’s life support was turned off in consultation with his family this morning, according to reports.

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

Roger Rogerson always had a reputation as a hard man to kill, so neither his friends nor his enemies were surprised that Australia’s most notoriously corrupt cop refused to go quickly when his life support was switched off.

The one-time detective-turned-killer and drug dealer was taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick, Sydney, just before midnight on Thursday following a suspected brain aneurysm.

The 83-year-old’s life support was turned off in consultation with his family on Friday morning, police and prison sources say.

But on Friday night no one could say when the disgraced former cop would be officially declared dead.

“Roger was a persistent, evil bastard who never gave up, so it’s no surprise he’s lingered on,” said former detective Duncan McNab, who was behind Rogerson’s arrest over the attempted murder of undercover cop Mick Drury and wrote a book on Rogerson’s life and crimes.

“He could go tonight or he could hang on for days,” Mr McNab told The Weekend Australian. “Until they carry Roger out with a toe tag, don’t believe anything you hear.”

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

The former cop had been transferred from Long Bay jail’s aged and frail unit last year to the prison hospital with a mystery illness but appeared to have partially recovered.

Rogerson was once the most decorated detective in the NSW Police Force but was later exposed as one of its most brutal and corrupt.

He had been in prison since 2016, when he was jailed for life for the murder of drug dealer Jamie Gao in May 2014.

Detective Sergeant Roger Rogerson in Sydney in 1981.

Roger Rogerson leaves the Supreme Court in 2016. Picture: Adam Yip/The Daily Telegraph

Rogerson and former detective Glen McNamara had lured Gao to a rental storage unit in Padstow in Sydney’s south, planning to steal methamphetamine with a street value of up to $19m from the unsuspecting student.

Instead, either Rogerson or McNamara – each blamed the other for pulling the trigger – shot Gao twice in the chest at close range.

McNamara was not permitted to tell the jury that Rogerson had told him he had shot Drury, murdered “Mr Rent-a-kill” Chris Flannery, shot dead petty drug dealer Warren Lanfranchi and was involved in the murder of sex worker Sallie-Anne Huckstepp.

Neddy Smith in 1999. Picture: Bill Counsell

Sallie-Anne Huckstepp.

Rogerson’s close relationship with Flannery and Arthur “Neddy” Smith was the focus of the hit TV drama Blue Murder, which propelled him further into the public eye.

When he was sentenced to life for the Gao murder in 2016 Rogerson knew he would almost certainly die in prison.

But he may have thought the end would come at the hands of one of his many enemies, rather than in a prison bed.