North Head: Scott White accused of Scott Johnson gay hate murder
The man accused of killing Scott Johnson in a gay hate crime at Manly in 1988 will remain in custody after being refused bail. It comes as NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller revealed he had apologised to the Johnson family for the bungled investigation.
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The man charged with killing US national Scott Johnson in a gay hate crime at Manly in 1988 remains in custody after his matter was heard in court today.
Scott Phillip White is accused of murdering Mr Johnson at Manly’s North Head on December 8, 1988.
On Wednesday at Parramatta Local Court, his lawyer did not apply for bail and said White did not wish to appear via video link.
The matter was adjourned to Central Local Court on July 14.
At a press conference earlier on Wednesday, police said the 49-year-old “wasn’t surprised” by his arrest when Strike Force Welsford detectives swooped on his Lane Cove home on Tuesday at 8.30am.
Later that day he was charged with the gay hate murder of 27-year-old US university student Johnson, who fell to his death from a cliff near North Head.
Lead Investigator and Detective Chief Inspector Peter Yeomans called his arrest a “watershed moment” for the investigation.
“It’s an absolute watershed moment for Scott’s family and the investigation team … who worked tirelessly for two years on this exceptionally complex case when we got the job where we didn’t have a body, we didn’t have DNA evidence and we didn’t have forensic evidence. No one forgot Scott.”
Det Chief Inspector Yeomans said White’s reaction “was not one of surprise” when police arrived to arrest him and there had been “previous conversations” between him and investigators leading up to the arrest.
The cold case was reopened in 2017 following three coronial inquests into Johnson’s death in 1989, 2012 and 2017, where then-NSW coroner Michael Barnes found Mr Johnson fell from the cliff as a result of a gay hate crime.
The ongoing push for further investigation was supported by Johnson’s brother Steve and other family members who offered an additional $1 million reward to match the NSW government’s $1 million information incentive in December 2018.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said he had “apologised” to the Johnson family for the bungled investigation, which initially treated Scott’s death as a suicide, and declared the force will “never give up” on solving cold cases.
“The plight of young gay men in the ‘70s and ‘80s in Sydney was really appalling,” Commissioner Fuller said.
“They were let down by police but also let down by the community and the media … I suppose an apology is one thing but actions will always speak louder than words.
“We say to all those victims out there of unsolved homicides please know NSW police will never give up on you.”
Police and Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said White’s arrest by police had proven there was “no such thing as an unsolved crime.”
“The murder of Scott Johnson was offensive in so many ways … it was offensive because it was at a time when people were slightly dismissive of hate crimes and were too easy to try to make excuses or to move on. Well, we don’t do that anymore,” Mr Elliott said
Mr Johnson’s murder is one of 27 unsolved cases in Sydney and across NSW assessed as gay hate-motivated by police investigators.