TRANSCRIPT
RADIO ANNOUNCER "One of the most prominent policemen under investigation, Sergeant Roger Rogerson has been accused by internal affairs chief Bob Shepard of attacking his name and reputation…"
Roger Caleb Rogerson was an outstanding officer in the New South Wales Police Force.
Having joined the corporation when he was barely 18 years old, he worked on many high profile cases throughout his long 27-year career.
Rogerson died on Sunday at the age of 83.
Former detective Duncan McNab recalls the first time they met.
"I was a very young detective. He was the star of the CIB. He was utterly charming, charismatic, always would say hello, ask questions, remember who you are. You felt quite flattered that someone of that stature was taking the time to talk to you. Couple of years after that, I realised that Roger was probably the worst possible thing the NSW police force would have. Corrupt and a killer."
Rogerson's charming personality helped him to quickly become one of the most decorated police officers in the state.
Rising through the ranks to become a detective in 1980, he even received the coveted Peter Mitchell Award for outstanding police work and was in the running to become Commissioner one day.
But that was until allegations surfaced linking him to organized crime.
Mr Mcnab says his greed led to the beginning of his downfall.
"I don't think in my very long experience that I've ever seen quite a character in policing like Roger to have got away with what he got away with, or to have risen to the position of power that he held, and to have had such an extraordinary downfall and in his early 70s decided to give it one last go by murdering a young bloke just purely for the money"
Mr. Rogerson's first murder charge came in 1981, when he shot and killed drug dealer Warren Lanfranchi.
At the time, Rogerson was found to be acting in the line of duty, but Lanfranchi's girlfriend Sallie-Anne Huckstepp claimed he was killed deliberately over a drug dispute.
The police concluded that the victim was pointing a gun at Rogerson, a fact vehemently denied by Lanfranchi's girlfriend.
During an interview aired on Nine Network shortly after the ruling, she complains about the excessive power of the police in the case.
"The police become judge, jury and executioner. Then somebody has to speak, somebody has to come forward, somebody has to start somewhere and stop it"
Huckstepp was found dead five years later in a murder that remains unsolved.
In 1984, he was again accused of attempting to murder an undercover police officer, but was later acquitted.
These cases ended up earning him the nickname Roger the dodger.
But his intriguing personality even led him to be a character in the crime drama miniseries Blue Murder, launched in 1995 by ABC and based on true events of his career.
Andrew Rule is a crime writer who met Rogerson several times; he told the ABC Rogerson was in fact, one of a kind.
"Complex man - highly intelligent, devious, manipulative, cold blooded. When he was very young, when he was probably 29, and this is way back in the old days, a very perceptive journalist of that era said that young Roger reminded him of a young Donald Bradman. And I think it was a very apt comparison between one of Australia's great sports heroes, and someone who was one of Australia's greatest villains."
His final act happened in 2014, when he was arrested for the murder of 20-year-old drug dealer Jamie Gao.
Rogerson was sentenced to life in prison in 2016, alongside another ex-cop, Glen McNamara.
Mr Rule says that his great mistake was not keeping up with the times.
"Times change and he didn't. He came through New South Wales Police at a time when police in New South Wales could do virtually anything they liked. They ran the place. And as time went on, of course, those circumstances altered the technology of it. But he somehow thought he was frozen in time, and could still do the things he used to do. And that last crime, he committed the shocking murder of that young young man. He clearly forgot that you know, there's going to be security cameras up on the corner of substance up to building and there's going to be other cameras around the corner. And it was it was incredibly amateurish for someone who for the rest of his life had been very, very professional."
The convicted murderer was serving his life sentence at Long Bay correctional complex, and was transferred to the Prince of Wales Hospital to receive end-of-life treatment after suffering a brain aneurysm on Thursday.
Rogerson was also notorious for fabricating evidence, bribery, drug-dealing and corruption.
The once promising policeman, who many expected to lead a life as a crime solver, will forever be remembered as a cold-blooded killer.
