THE hope that
bones found at an "underbelly graveyard " belonged to victims of two of
Sydney's greatest crime mysteries have been dashed - only to become an
even greater mystery themselves.
Police have now got DNA profiles of the remains of two, possibly three,
bodies found in the dunes of Kurnell and reveal for the first time a black
wig was found at the crime scene and is part of the investigation.
"We know positively the bones are of two males, the first a Caucasian aged
24 to 46," said Detective Superintendent Michael Willing, Commander of the
NSW Homicide Squad.
"The second victim is also a white male, aged 24-40 and there is a
possibility of a third person, which could be female but is still
undetermined."
He said carbon dating putting the bones as being anywhere round 1962 to
1981.
A shin bone was first uncovered by workers at the desalination plant in
October, 2007. A week later, 300m away, ribs and smaller bones were
discovered in sandy scrubland off Sir Joseph Banks Drive. Further searching
unearthed a pelvis and foot bones.
The discovery sparked a flurry of theories from cops, crooks and armchair
detectives. Missing Kings Cross heiress Juanita Nielsen's name was bandied
about.
Survivors of Sydney's 1980s gang wars wondered if the final resting place of
missing hit man Christopher Dale Flannery had been found. DNA belonging to
relatives of Flannery, who went missing in 1984, and Juanita Nielsen in
1978, was sought and sent away for testing.
"Those results have eliminated Flannery or Miss Nielson," said Detective
Superintendent Willing. The DNA was also compared with
missing Sydney prostitute Lynne Woodward, a friend of Sally Anne Huckstep
who was murdered in 1986 after accusing NSW police of corruption.
Greek businessman Peter Mitros was another possible victim of the Sydney
underworld rumoured to have been buried in the sand dunes after he vanished
from Kings Cross in 1991.
"There was a lot of speculation about these four but they have all been
positively ruled out by DNA," said Det Supt Willing.
With Flannery and Nielsen out of the equation the whispers of whose "'handywork"
it is will throw up a list of potential new victims among drinkers in some
of Sydney's tougher pubs and inside the cells of Long Bay.
Killer Neddie Smith was known to favour the dunes of Foreshaw Drive at
Botany Bay for disposing of his victims and some thought the bones at
Kurnell meant he had moved further afield.
"I knew they wouldn't have been his. He would have been too lazy to drive
that far," said a retired detective.
Others believe it could be the work of Stan "The Man" Smith who, despite his
low profile, was one of the most prolific underworld killers in Sydney from
the 1960s through to the 1980s.
A Chuppa Chup wrapper found near a sock led early investigators to place the
victims as being around the 1970s when the lollipop was popular in
Australia.
"The problem is during the construction of Kurnell much of the crime scene
was contaminated by landfill, which came from all over Sydney," said Det
Supt Willing.
The case will be briefly mentioned at Glebe Coroner's Court this Friday.
In spite of the hurdles confronting investigators, police believe one day
the identity of the remains will be solved.
"DNA is making advances at a rapid rate and I'm confident one day we will be
able to find out who they belong to."
Then the difficult job of finding out how and why they died begins.
Roger Rogerson: Cold-blooded killer linked to nearly a dozen
unsolved murders
MARK MORRI
Crime EditorThe
Daily Telegraph
ROGER Rogerson, convicted yesterday of the murder of Jamie Gao, is officially
Australia’s first serial killer with a badge. The cold-blooded killer is linked
to nearly a dozen unsolved murders.
After six-and-a-half days of deliberation, the jury delivered their verdicts —
guilty for both Rogerson and co-accused Glen McNamara on charges of murder and
taking part in the supply of 2.78kg of ice.
But the student drug dealer Gao is just the tip of the iceberg.
Roger Rogerson has killed four people that the police and public know of — but
there are many more, including two women, that he has been linked to.
It can also be revealed for the first time that police believed Rogerson was
going after the Police Commissioner Tony Lauer and Superintendent Clive Small in
1990 because of their pursuit of him over the attempted murder of undercover
officer Michael Drury in 1984.
Rogerson was acquitted of conspiring to kill Drury in 1989.
Drury has revealed for the first time that there was another plot to have him
killed.
Within days of his arrest for the murder of Jamie Gao, the NSW Police
Integrity Unit approached his legal advisers to see if Rogerson would give up
the secrets of Sydney’s underworld and possibly even do a deal.
Likewise, Western Australian police said they wanted to talk to Rogerson over
suspicions he had information about the murder of a prostitute in 1974.
Neither organisation have spoken to him yet.
The Telegraph has also uncovered that the file of a Sydney woman who disappeared
before giving evidence about Rogerson has vanished
The young prostitute Lyn Woodward vanished after giving preliminary evidence
into the shooting of Warren Lanfranchi.
Homicide detectives as recently as three years ago questioned Neddy Smith over
accusations he knew who killed the 31-year-old and buried her on beach between
Sydney and Wollongong.
The file relating to an inquest held in 2001 into her disappearance is missing
from the coroner’s office.
Rogerson was caught by a senior legal officer in the early 80s in the coroner’s
office early one morning going through documents.
A Daily Telegraph investigation into the life and killings of Roger Rogerson has
uncovered a number of deaths linked to him and his links to various crimes in
Australia.
You name it and Rogerson was up to his ears in it.
Blood on the streets: The
killing of Warren Lanfranchi
Mark Morri
The Daily Telegraph
BY 1980 Roger Rogerson
seemed invincible.
There was even talk the charismatic blue-eyed detective was on his way
to become Police Commissioner.
He stood proudly as he was
bestowed with the most prestigious honour a NSW police officer could
receive — the Peter Mitchell Award for outstanding police work.
It complimented the 13
recommendations for bravery already in his box of accolades.
Yet, Rogerson’s perfect world
was about to unravel.
The star detective of the Armed
Hold Up Squad was moved to the Darlinghurst police station in an area
dubbed “The Golden Mile”.
The opportunity for graft and
corruption on the Kings Cross strip was about to explode.
In the back alleys of the Cross
“shooting galleries’’ where starting to pop up where a new breed of
never-before-seen drug addicts were emerging.
Neddy Smith, Rogeron’s number one
informant, was ahead of the game and had discovered the riches to be made in
heroin.
He quickly set himself up as a major
distributor. And it brought mountains of cash the likes he had never seen
before.
In 1978 he boasted supply lines from
Asia and had a network of dealers throughout Sydney.
His relationship with Rogerson was set
in stone. Everyone was happy.
Did Roger introduce Neddy to the heroin
trade or did Neddy tip Roger into the it? No one can be sure.
But one thing we know for certain is the
powers to be had made a fatal error in moving Rogerson to the detectives room at
Darlinghurst.
“He was bitter about that move and
really I believe things went down hill from there,’’ retired Chief
Superintendent Brian Harding said.
Six months into 1981 the first chink in
the seemly bullet proof career of Rogerson appeared when he shot dead a violent
criminal and emerging heroin dealer named Warren Lanfranchi.
The third man shot dead in public in
five years by Rogerson seemed straightforward at first — the top cop was doing
his public duty ridding the streets of dangerous criminals.
Like Philip Western and Butch Burns
before him, Lanfranchi was just another legal kill.
Less than three hours after the shooting
Rogerson signed a seven page statement of his version of events.
It was a doozy.
“About 2.30pm,
Thursday, 14.5.1981 — Senior Constable Walker of the Inner City Cycle Patrol was
patrolling Lyons Rd, Drummoyne. At this time he saw a green Holden Commodore
disobey a red light. He followed the car and saw two male occupants in the front
of the vehicle. The Constable stopped the car ... and as he approached the
driver’s side of the car a third man, who had apparently been lying on the back
seat of the vehicle sat up and pointed an automatic pistol at the Constable and
pulled the trigger. The pistol misfired and the offender tried to re-cock at and
at the same time called on the driver to go. The Commodore sped away and was
lost by the Constable.”
The Constable attended the Armed-Hold Up
Squad office one week later, and from a selection of photographs nominated the
decease Lanfranchi as the offender.
Rogerson’s police log would also say
that an offender named Stephen Phillip Pauley was the front seat passenger of
the car and had“nominated
the deceased (Lanfranchi) as the man who tried to shoot a cop”.
“He (Pauley) further
nominated a third offender in the vehicle as Aaron Thomas Smith,”Rogerson’s
log said.
“Smith apparently
acted as the driver during this escapade.”
Smith was arrested on the June 24 at
Redfern.
Both Pauley and Smith said Lanfranchi
intended to murder the Constable, according to the log.
And they admitted they were on their way
to commit an armed robbery.
Pauley further nominated Lanfranchi as
being his co-offender in a string of armed robberies, including major banks.
“On the 9th June, 1981 whilst under
observation the deceased was seen to meet Stephen Pauley and Lynette Woodward —
a known prostitute and Pauley’s de facto wife,” Rogerson said in the log.
Then at “about 2pm” on Thursday, June 25
it was logged that “an informant contacted Detective Sergeant Rogerson stating
that he wished to see him urgently”.
“The informant was spoken to shortly
afterwards and informed Rogersons that the deceased had made approaches to him
offering $30,000 to be paid to the police for him not to be charged in relation
to all matters.
“The informant was told that every
effort was being made to effect the arrest of the deceased. “The informant
iterated that the deceased had informed both him and other persons that he would
not voluntarily surrender, that he was armed, and in this regard the informant
had actually seen a 9mm Smith and Wesson pistol carried down the front of his
trousers ... and he had boasted that he would shoot it out with police.”
Yet, a meeting went ahead.
At 2pm the informant contacted Rogerson
stating that he had the deceased in his company and that they had driven around
the Chippingdale area and had selected Dangar Place, which runs between Beaumont
Street and Abercrombie Streets, as a suitable meeting place.
Rogerson was instructed to wait in the
vicinity of Beaumont Street.
The meeting was to take place at 2.45pm.
The informant apparently stressed that
“the deceased was in a highly agitated state”.
“He did not think the deceased was armed
but he would (not) guarantee it,” the log says.
Interestingly the word “not’ was added
in pen after the typed entry.
“Members of the Armed Hold Up Squad were
deployed in various positions in the vicinity of Dangar Place,” the log says.
“In particular, Detective Frazer was to
lie on the floor of the vehicle which Rogerson drove into Dangar Place.
“Also Detective Sergeant Harding and
Detective Senior Constable Moore, using Moore’s private vehicle, were to be in
proximity.”
About 2.50pm, Rogerson is said to have
observed Lanfranchi walk towards him.
“The deceased, on becoming aware of what
was happening said to Rogerson, “You’ve f---ing tricked me, this is a f---ing
ambush”,” the log says.
“The next instant, the deceased was seen
to pull out a silver coloured revolver.
“He commenced to bring it up and point
it in Rogerson’s direction. At the same time Detective Rogerson drew his service
revolver, No: 1196, a normal .38 calibre issue Smith and Wesson revolver.
“At this instant, the deceased had the
gun pointed at Rogerson and Rogerson then fired two shots in quick succession at
the deceased, both shots striking him and he stumbled back and fell into the
gutter.”
Paramedics arrived soon after and
pronounced Lanfranchi dead.
Rogerson’s account wasn’t questioned in
the days after the shooting.
After all there were 18 other police in
and around Dangar Place at the time Lanfranchi was shot dead.
He was a wanted man. A convicted armed
robber. A sex offender. And he had openly tried to kill a cop.
Plus, an informant had told Rogerson
that Lanfranchi hated cops and would shoot it out with the Armed Hold Up Squad.
That informant happened to be Smith, who
years later claims he was full of remorse about leading Lanfranchi to the
slaughter.
Lanfranchi would have just been another
dead crim if it had not been for his girlfriend at the time, an attractive and
articulate prostitute named Sally-Anne Huckstepp.
Forty-nine days after her lover was
shot, Huckstepp, her father Jack Krivoshow and a lawyer walked in to police
headquarters on College St to meet with two detectives from Internal Affairs.
The 26-year-old detailed a string of
allegations against NSW police — including verballing, bribery and the cold
blooded execution of her boyfriend.
After she documented her allegations to
Internal Affairs she did the unthinkable, and in a sensational TV appearance,
claimed Rogerson was crooked.
The unflappable Rogerson was confident
he could weather any allegations made against him, particularly from as
self-confessed hooker and heroin addict.
By publicly going after Rogerson she may
have bought herself some protection against reprisal. The glare of publicity was
clearly focused on him and if something were to happen to her it would be pretty
obvious.
The questions over Lanfranchi’s shooting
raged for years with repeated inquiries.
Those present don’t believe Rogerson
went there to kill Lanfranchi, but don’t discount that Smith had set the young
hothead up.
“You don’t inform your superiors in
advance, bring in a squad full of detectives for a major operation if all along
you planned to kill someone,’’ Harding, who was called that morning to help in
the operation, said.
“It makes no sense at all. We were all
there to make an arrest of a wanted and violent felon.’’
But another close associate of the time
is not so sure.
“By that time Roger really thought he
could do anything,” he said.
“The power he had gathered had him
running out of control.’’
Murder or self defence — either way it
put the spotlight on two people for years to come. Rogerson and Huckstep.
Sally lived on edge for the next five
years, taunting Rogerson whenever she could get on TV or in the courts.
On February 6 in 1986, her body was
found floating in a pond at Centennial Park by a man walking his dog.
At first it didn’t raise a ripple.
Huckstep had been rolling the dice for
years with heroin.
She was bound to end up dead.
But 12 days later it was revealed she
had been strangled.
The list of suspects ran from her now
drug dealer boyfriend Warren Richards, a few police officers and Smith.
Years later Smith would be caught on
tape confessing to the crime saying he had strangled her and held her under
water.
He was charged, but acquitted when he
said he was just boasting to his cell mate.
Her murder was examined, re-examined and
was the subject of the longest running inquest in NSW history at the time.
To this day it hasn’t been solved — but
many suspect that Rogerson ordered her killed by his mate Neddy.
Rogerson himself had an alibi: he was
drinking at a club in Merrylands with police prosecutor Mal Spence.
“You can bet your bottom dollar Roger
and Neddy were behind her murder,” a police officer has said.
While there are a mountain of files and
statements regarding a number of investigations into the death of Huckstep none
can be found for Lyn Woodward.
Yet there is little doubt Woodward was
murdered.
Whether it was part of a cover up
involving the Lanfranchi shooting or the fact that she may well have been ready
to spill the beans on the corrupt cops like her friend Sally, no one knows.
Unlike the murder of Huckstep there were
no screaming headlines. It was just another junkie lost to a world of
prostitution and heroin.
But in the late 80s and early 90s
rumours started to surface that Rogerson had killed a prostitute after the
Lanfranchi shooting.
In 1993 Smith was holding court down at
the now defunct National Crime Authority, spilling his guts on anyone and
everything so he could to try and get a deal.
Six years earlier, after one of his
normal drinking binges, including a session with Rogerson, he got in an argument
with a tow truck driver after a prang and stabbed him to death.
There was no green light for murder so
Smith was trying to wriggle his way out of his life sentence by ratting on his
mates, including Rogerson.
He told investigators Rogerson shot the
34-year-old Woodward because he was told she had taped conversations about the
Lanfranchi matter which would hurt him.
After shooting her, Rogerson buried her
in sand dunes somewhere between Sydney and Wollongong.
As expected Rogerson denied he murdered
Woodward when interviewed by police two years later.
Others pointed out Smith was as good a
suspect as his old mate.
Woodward had been the girlfriend of
Stephen Phillip Paulley, who had admitted to being involved in bank robberies
with Lanfranchi in the lead up to his shooting by Rogerson.
The dots to connect Rogerson to Woodward
are there but its hard to really find out what happened as the file is missing.
Rogerson was named as a suspect into
Woodward’s presumed death at a coronial inquiry in 2000, with no clear findings
found except that it was presumed she was dead.
Strangely, all the inquest files have
vanished.
“The Lyn Woodward file has disappeared,”
an Attorney-General’s Department source said.
“It’s not in the archives. They (staff)
had an extensive search for it and it seems to have disappeared and no one knows
when or how. It’s a mystery”.
All that can be found on the record from
the Coroner’s Court is a short electronic statement that says the “place, manner
and cause of death” is uncertain.
The shooting of Lanfranchi would taunt
Rogerson for years.
But it was nothing compared to the storm
coming his way three years later with another shooting.
This time it wasn’t a wanted crim, but a
loved and respected police officer by the name of Michael Patrick Drury.
Rogerson had crossed to the dark side
and was never coming back.
Roger Rogerson: Secret of Lyn Woodward’s murder finally exposed
MARK MORRI, Crime Editor, The Daily
Telegraph
THE family of Lyn Woodward have broken their 35 year silence to reveal why
they suspect serial killer cop Roger Rogerson was involved in the murder of
the “attractive and intelligent” model while she was in the middle of giving
crucial evidence against him.
The Daily Telegraph has obtained unpublished transcripts of recordings the
24-year-old made with lawyers in preparation for the 1981 inquest into the death
of her drug dealer friend Warren Lanfranchi at the gun of Rogerson.
The legal transcripts reveal accusations aimed at Rogerson, including
allegations:
■He
was a major heroin dealer;
■Some
members of the Armed Holdup Squad actually helped plan and shared in the profits
of many bank robberies; and
■Rogerson
gave Ms Woodward drugs so she would initially give evidence supporting his
version of the Lanfranchi murder.
On the only occasion Rogerson was charged with a drugs offence he was acquitted
on appeal. Rogerson was never charged with any offence relating to bank robbery.
In her early 20s, the striking blonde’s career was just taking off when she
started dating drug addict Stephen Pauley. She met Lanfranchi through Pauley and
then became close to Lanfranchi’s girlfriend, Sallie-Anne Huckstepp.
Lanfranchi was shot dead by Rogerson in June 1981. It was the corrupt cop’s
third public kill and he justified it by saying it was self defence.
Later that year Ms Woodward gave evidence into the shooting of Lanfranchi. She
vanished that afternoon, never to be seen again. She was told she may be
required to continue her evidence the next day.
According to the legal transcripts, Ms Woodward had been planning to say
Rogerson had been selling drugs with the help of Lanfranchi and Pauley.
She also alleged Rogerson gave her heroin after the death so she would fake
testimony to support him.
“Everything that I’ve said in any sort of statement they’ve taken off me ... I
want it completely dismissed as evidence because it is a whole lot of hogwash,
lies and garbage,” she said.
“I know it has my signature on the bottom of every page, but that signature is
there because I was weak enough.”
Ms Huckstepp, who went on live TV to accuse Rogerson of corruption, was found
floating in a pond at Centennial Park in 1986 after being strangled.
Ms Woodward’s brother Scott this week broke his family’s silence to talk about
the sister who dared to stand up to Rogerson and other corrupt NSW police
officers, but paid for it with her life.
“She was not afraid,” Mr Woodward (left), a successful Sydney businessman, said.
“Lyn had it all. She was attractive, articulate, intelligent but very
determined.
“Lyn went to give evidence because she wanted to see justice done. She had
nothing to gain by talking.’’
Mr Woodward revealed how his father Doug, a celebrated former TV and radio
sports commentator, told her to “stay away” from the inquiry. His last words to
her were: “Don’t go. You don’t want to get involved with that mob”.
And Mr Woodward described his disgust when Rogerson and his informer Neddy
Smith, a vicious killer, “laughed and joked” during an inquest into his sister’s
death 20 years after her disappearance.
“It was like a stroll in the park for Smith and Rogerson,” he said.
“They had no idea of the beautiful human being that the inquiry was about.
“Only that she was a threat to their freedom and had to go.’’
Mr Woodward, who kept quiet about his sister’s death while his parents were
alive to protect them, said the consensus from police during the inquest was Ms
Woodward was “lured into a car and taken to a park in Alexandria” where she was
killed. “Lyn tried to get out of the car and was shot in the back of the head,”
he said.
During the inquest, Smith said he saw Rogerson murder Ms Woodward.
However, because of conflicting accounts and his lack of credibility as a
witness Rogerson was never charged over her death.
“I had prepared my mind well and thought I’d handled things well but it was not
until I was at home that everything hit me,” Mr Woodward said.
“The graphics of a gunshot entering my sister’s head kept haunting me.
Eventually I succumbed and vomited.’’
Mr Woodward told his father the only thing the inquiry determined was that his
sister was presumed dead.
“My mother had been ill for some time and I had taken conscious steps to protect
her,” he said. “By not formally advising ‘Missing Persons’ her name was kept
out of the media and I made certain that there was no picture.
“I did not want my mother to constantly see pictures and unbalanced stories
about Lyn like the media had done with Sallie-Anne. I see Sallie-Anne as a hero
for coming forward, and like my sister, I hope they are remembered as such.’’
Mr Woodward said Rogerson described many people as murderers, attempted
murderers, bank robbers, drug addicts and prostitutes so the media would swallow
his lies.
For example, Rogerson often falsely referred to Ms Woodward as a prostitute.
The corrupt cop is currently awaiting sentencing after being found guilty of the
2014 murder of a young teenage drug dealer.