1988 Scott Johnson gay beat murder: Scott White interview footage released

Footage from a police interview with a man who murdered a student in Sydney has been made public for the first time.

WARNING: Offensive language

Footage of Scott White’s interview with police has been released by the NSW Supreme Court after he was jailed for the murder of Scott Johnson.

White, 51, murdered the American mathematician at a gay beat on Sydney’s northern beaches and kept it a secret for more than three decades.

He has been sentenced to eight years and three months behind bars.

White met Mr Johnson for drinks at the Brighton Hotel in Manly in December 1988 before the pair went to North Head, a location where men met for sex.

Scott Johnson was an American maths genius in Australia studying his PhD at a university in Canberra. Picture: NSW Police

Scott Johnson’s death was initially believed to be suicide, but his family refused to accept that was the cause of death.

Court documents state White told police that he met Dr Johnson – who was a US student in Australia studying his PhD student at the Australian National University – “through some friends of his”.

“Then he wanted to come up here (to North Head) so we come up,” White said.

“I think we had a fight … that’s all I can remember … he fell.

“I took off. Went home back down to Manly.”

Dr Johnson’s naked body was found by a fisherman on rocks at the base of the headland at Blue Fish Point at North Head in Manly.

According to court documents, the 27-year-old’s clothes were found 10m back from the cliff’s edge.

Detective Sergeant John Breda, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Yeomans and Detective Senior Constable Tim Carey arrested Scott Phillip White. Picture: NSW Police

Police initially believed Dr Johnson took his own life and the case went cold for decades despite his family advocating for further investigation and multiple inquests being held.

It wasn’t until 2017 that an inquest found that Dr Johnson died as the result of an act of another person.

Police interviewed White in 2020 after his ex-wife Helen tipped off authorities.

She told the NSW Supreme Court on Monday that White often bragged about bashing gay men and referred to Dr Johnson as a “girly looking poofter”.

“He said ‘the only good poofter is a dead poofter’,” Mrs White told the court.

When police spoke to White in March 2020 he denied targeting gay men and said “no I’m gay myself”, court documents state.

White, a father of six, said his sexuality was his biggest secret “cause my brother hates gays … my family hates gays”.

“We used to go poofter bashing … my brother did,” White told police.

Scott's Johnson’s siblings Steve and Rebecca Johnson during one of many campaigns in which they called for people with information about Scott’s death to come forward.

Court documents state White could not recall if he was intimate with Dr Johnson.

“I hit him,” White said.

“He hit me. He stumbled back. I went to grab him and he … just stumbled back.”

After his arrest in May 2020, White changed his story and told police “I didn’t push the bloke cause I didn’t know the bloke”.

Initially, White indicated he would plead not guilty to murder, but in January he changed his plea to guilty and was convicted.

Justice Helen Wilson on Tuesday sentenced White to 12 years and seven months in jail, with a non-parole period of eight years and three months backdated to when he first entered custody in May 2020.

Members of the Johnson family travelled to Australia from the US for White’s sentencing. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

The court was told that the sentence reflected that White was aged only 18 when Dr Johnson died and punishments for murder handed out in the 1980s were less severe than in 2022.

“The offender must be sentenced in accordance with sentencing patterns from around the late 1980s and not those imposed now,” Justice Wilson said.

“The offender hit Dr Johnson, causing him to stumble backwards and leave the cliff edge. Dr Johnson must have been terrified, aware that he would strike the rocks below and conscious of his fate.

“Once Dr Johnson left the clifftop the offender’s only thought was for himself.”

White made no admission the murder was motivated by a hatred towards gay men and Justice Wilson said that, coupled with the “limited” availability of evidence, led her to conclude “a gay hate crime is not a conclusion the court can reach to a criminal standard”.

At the time of his death Scott Johnson was living in Canberra with his partner Michael Noone. He travelled to Sydney once a week for university and seminars. Picture: AFP Photo /NSW Police

She said Dr Johnson and White could have possibly met for a sexual encounter before the murder, but there was no evidence before the court that explained the full facts surrounding the circumstances of the murder.

“Something prompted the offender to attack Dr Johnson … possibly the assault was driven by the offender’s own self-loathing and self-loathing of what Dr Johnson represented,” Justice Wilson said.

“He may have chased Dr Johnson, it may be that he pushed Dr Johnson … neither of those propositions can be accepted as proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”

White’s claim he was punched was rejected by Justice Wilson, who said there no injuries found on Dr Johnson’s hands.

“The offender necessarily foresaw that his act would probably cause the death of Dr Johnson but continued regardless of that consequence,” Justice Wilson said.

“He would have been well aware that he and Dr Johnson were close to a cliff edge.”

Scott White has been remanded in custody since his arrest in 2020. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

White was homeless and living on the streets with a mild cognitive impairment when he murdered Dr Johnson, the court was told.

Justice Wilson said White had lived on the disability support pension since 1998 and was diagnosed with mild intellectual disability, post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, generalised anxiety disorder and alcohol dependence disorder.

Convicted killer Scott White speaks to police in 2020 after his arrest. Picture: NSW Supreme Court

Video footage of Scott White’s interview was played in court. Picture: NSW Supreme Court

The court was told that White suffered when he was a child raised by alcoholic, homophobic parents.

“The community failed the offender as a child and a young man,” Justice Wilson said.

“It seems the offender was encouraged as a child to fight for the amusement of others.”

White previously attempted to take his own life multiple times and said he would “kill himself” he if was sentenced to imprisonment, the court was told.

Justice Wilson said White claimed he felt sorry for the Johnson family and would “never cope” with what happened to Dr Johnson, who was remembered as a modest, kind and gentle young man who was posthumously awarded a doctorate of philosophy on mathematics in 1995.

“With Dr Johnson’s death the world lost a mind ready to contribute substantially to its advancement,” Justice Wilson said.

White has lodged an appeal against the conviction, which will be dealt with by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal later this year.

Originally published as 1988 Scott Johnson gay beat murder: Scott White interview footage released