Two ex cops arrested for murder

Jamie Gao

There was 3.1 kilos of methamphetamine at stake worth $3 million and police allege that two ex cops who worked together in the 1980s, murdered university student Jamie Gao to get it.  Police believe Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara took Gao to a storage unit facility in Padstow, shot him twice in the chest and dumped his body out to sea.

Rogerson arrested at his Sydney home yesterday

But what they didn't know was that their movements were being recorded on CCTV.  Video footage shows Rogerson, McNamara and Gao walking into the unit together and 10 minutes later, only Rogerson and McNamara walking out.

But that's not all.  They are then seen backing their station wagons up to the unit's roller door, carrying Gao's body wrapped in a surfboard cover and blue tarp and putting it into McNamara's white station wagon. Then they carried chairs out of the unit and put them in the back of the wagon.  Officers later found a surfboard at McNamara's Cronulla home and the items of clothing he was wearing on the CCTV footage.

Glen McNamara

The next day police allege they used McNamara's boat to dump Gao's body in the sea which was later found floating about 1 km off Cronulla. Then they went back to the unit, spent 40 minutes cleaning up and took the chairs back inside.

Rogerson in 1981

Rogerson loved his job and received 13 bravery awards and at one stage, he was even considered for the job of Police Commissioner. He was dismissed from the force in 1986 and convicted of perverting the course of justice over $110,000 deposited by him into a bank account under a false name.  He spent 9 months in jail in 1990 before being released on appeal.  The appeal was dismissed and he spent three more years in jail from 1991 to 1995.

In 2005 Rogerson and his second wife were found guilty of lying to the Police Integrity Commission and he served another 12 months.

Rogerson is playing the 'old age' card, "I'm 73 years old" he told reporters outside his house yesterday.  He was outraged when police came to his home to arrest him because he had already made a deal with them to give himself up at a set time.   He was under the impression that he still commanded a modicum of respect from the force, when he should have known he has none left.  The good old days are well and truly over.