Green was one of New Zealand’s most notorious criminals. He was a prolific bank robber and had a liking for violence, albeit his diminutive stature. He was also suspected of murders both in New Zealand and Australia – the ones across the Tasman linked to the Mr Asia drugs syndicate.
There are people in the criminal underworld in the decades past who believe Green held the key to Jorgensen’s disappearance from Kaikoura in the mid-80s.
There are three theories over what happened to Jorgensen, who gained infamy for his part in the Bassett Rd machine gun murders in Auckland in the 1960s.
He had been paroled with strict conditions to live with his elderly father in his hometown Kaikoura. It was not a place Jorgy wanted to be. It was far too small.
On December 17, 1984, Jorgensen’s Mark II Cortina was found at the bottom of a 15m sea cliff near Kaikoura. His body was never found.
One theory was Jorgy had engineered his own disappearance and had made his way by boat to Australia, and was living in Perth.
There were several reported sightings of him between 1986 and 1990 in Perth, one supposedly in the company of a former Christchurch lawyer.
But nothing was ever substantiated.
The belief was if Jorgensen had made it to Australia he would not have been able to live a normal life and would have certainly come to the attention of the police at some point.
Another theory at the time was if Jorgy had made it to Australia, he would have got offside with criminals there and they would have ensured he was never found.
The other theory was that he did crash over the cliff near Kaikoura and his body was swept out to sea.
A Christchurch woman who was in a relationship with Jorgensen said in 2000 she believed he plotted his own disappearance and was still alive, somewhere. Her theory was based on what she says Jorgy said to her in the weeks leading up to his disappearance.
Years later when the disappearance caught the attention of the media again, police said they believed a Christmas card sent from Western Australia to a woman soon after he went missing, was from Jorgy.
And so the plot continued to thicken as the years went by.
But in the Auckland underworld in the 80s and the years later, there were some key figures who firmly believed Les Green was the man responsible for the disappearance.
Green had travelled south to settle an old score, it was believed. Green was feared amongst criminals and settling scores was second nature.
Leslie Maurice Green was 82 when he died in Auckland. He may have taken the fate of a number of people with him. Was Jorgy one of them?
