Roger Rogerson
| Roger Caleb Rogerson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 January 1941 |
| Other names | Rodger the Dodger |
| Occupation | former detective |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment |
| Criminal status | imprisoned |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Melocco |
| Conviction(s) | Murder, drug trafficking, perverting the course of justice |
Roger Caleb Rogerson (born 3 January 1941) is a former detective-sergeant of the New South Wales Police Force and a convicted murderer.
During his career, Rogerson was one of the most decorated officers in the police force, having received at least 13 awards for bravery, outstanding policemanship and devotion to duty including the Peter Mitchell Trophy, the highest annual police award. During his time in office he was implicated in—but never convicted of—two killings, bribery, assault and drug dealing.
In 1999 Rogerson was convicted of perverting the course of justice and lying to the Police Integrity Commission. Rogerson is also known for his association with other NSW detectives who are reputed to have been corrupt, including Ray "Gunner" Kelly and Fred Krahe, and with a number of organised crime figures, including Abe Saffron,Arthur "Neddy" Smith and Christopher Dale Flannery. Smith was a convicted heroin dealer, rapist and armed robber who has claimed Rogerson gave him the "green light" to commit crimes in New South Wales (NSW). Henry and Lanfranchi were also heroin dealers and armed robbers, while Flannery specialised in contract killing.
In May 2014 Rogerson was remanded in prison after being charged, with another former NSW detective Glen McNamara, with the murder of 20 year old student Jamie Gao, and supply of drugs. Both pleaded not guilty in January 2015. Their trial was started in July 2015, but was aborted after two days because of the potential prejudice caused after McNamara's then-barrister Charles Waterstreet made a reference to Rogerson "killing two or three people when he was in the police force" . Following a retrial, both Rogerson and McNamara were found guilty of murder. In September 2016 both were sentenced to jail for life for the murder of Gao.
Rogerson worked on some of the biggest cases of the early 1970s, including the Toecutter Gang Murder and the Whiskey Au Go Go Fire in Brisbane. By 1978 his reputation was sufficient to gain convictions based on the strength of unsigned records of interviews with prisoners (known as "police verbals"). He was brought in to investigate the Ananda Marga conspiracy case, despite having no connections to the Special Branch investigating the case. Tim Anderson, one of the three released in 1985, claimed the confession Rogerson extracted was fabricated, and that he and two other members of the Ananda Marga group were convicted in part because of Rogerson's fabrications.
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