An Australian man has admitted murdering a Los Angeles mathematician who was found at the bottom of a Sydney cliff 34 years ago in a gay hate crime that was originally dismissed as suicide.

Scott Johnson’s naked body was found at the base of North Head cliff on December 8, 1988, and the 27-year-old’s death has been a long-standing mystery.

The gay hate crime was initially dismissed by police who concluded that Mr Johnson, a Los Angeles-born mathematician who lived in Canberra, had taken his own life.

After a new police investigation, Scott White was charged with murder in 2020 and has previously denied the crime.

But at a pre-trial hearing in Sydney on Monday, White repeatedly yelled in court that he was guilty of pushing Mr Johnson from the cliff 34 years ago.

Scott Johnson’s (pictured) naked body was found at the base of North Head cliff on December 8, 1988, and the 27-year-old’s death has been a mystery for 34 years

On Thursday, a New South Wales state Supreme Court judge accepted the guilty plea, dismissing White’s lawyers arguments that he wasn’t fit to make the admission. 

After declaring his guilt, White apologised to his lawyers and told them that he appreciated their work but he ‘can’t handle it’, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The court heard White had raised an intention to plead guilty on other occasions, but his lawyer said these were during moments of high stress and he had later accepted legal advice that he had a strong case and to continue with the trial. 

White is to be sentenced on May 2 and faces a possible sentence of life in prison. 

His barrister Belinda Rigg reportedly indicated White intends to appeal against his conviction.

Mr Johnson’s brother Steve, from Boston, had relentlessly pursued justice for his brother and reportedly spent up to $1million on an investigator to prove his death was the result of foul play.

Speaking after White pleaded guilty, Steve told reporters outside the court that ‘he [White] deserves what he has coming to him’.

He added: ‘It’s a very sad, tragic thing that he did.’

After a new investigation, Scott White (pictured being taken into custody) was charged with murder in 2020. At a pre-trial hearing on Monday, White yelled in court that he was guilty

He said proving the death was a homicide ‘wasn’t easy’ but his faith had now been ‘restored’.

Steve added that his brother, who was a doctoral student at Australian National University, was a ‘proud’ gay man and was his best friend. 

‘[My brother] was brilliant, but more modest than he was brilliant, so you would never hear him say that,’ Steve said. 

‘The last conversation we know he had was with his [university] professor … as far as his professor was concerned, my brother could get a job at any university in the world.’

Police had initially concluded that Mr Johnson had taken his own life, despite the discovery that his wallet was missing from his clothes, which were neatly folded near the cliff top. 

A coronial inquest – a court-like proceeding held after unusual deaths – ruled in 1989 that the openly gay man had taken his own life, while a second coroner in 2012 could not explain how he died.

During the first inquest, police were reported to have incorrectly told the first coroner that North Head was not a gay beat – an area frequented by gay men often for sexual liaisons.

Mr Johnson’s brother Steve (pictured), from Boston, pursued justice for and reportedly spent up to $1million on an investigator to prove his brother’s death was the result of foul play

Mr Johnson’s family sought a third inquest, and state coroner Michael Barnes ruled in 2017 that Mr Johnson was killed in a gay hate crime.

The coroner concluded Mr Johnson ‘fell from the cliff top as a result of actual or threatened violence by unidentified persons who attacked him because they perceived him to be homosexual’.

Mr Barnes found gangs of men had roamed various Sydney locations in search of gay men to assault, resulting in the deaths of some victims, while some people were also robbed.

North Head, where Mr Johnson’s body was found, was a well-known gay beat which was targeted by gangs in the 1980s, according to 9News. 

The final inquest reportedly also heard how police had failed to investigate a number of gay hate crimes that took place in Sydney at the time.

The inquest is understood to have heard that soldiers at the Army School of Artillery at North Head used to brag about attacking gay men and calling it ‘fun and games’. 

After the 2017 coroner ruling, a new police investigation – Strike Force Welsford – was set up, led by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Yeomans, ABC reported.

Speaking after White pleaded guilty, Steve (right, pictured with his brother) told reporters outside the court that ‘he [White] deserves what he has coming to him’ 

Steve Johnson (pictured) said in 2020, after White’s arrest, that it marked ‘a very emotional day’ in a video message shared by police

In 2018, the new investigation offered a one million Australian dollar ($729,500) reward for information which led to a conviction.

This was later doubled to $2million in 2020 with the additional reward offered by Mr Johnson’s brother Steve – reported to have been the first of its kind in New South Wales.

White, who was not previously known to police, was arrested at his home in Sydney after a tip-off came in just two months after the reward was doubled by Steve, a Boston tech entrepreneur.

At the time, police said the reward helped in their breakthrough and an unnamed informant would be eligible for the reward once White was convicted. 

Detective chief inspector Peter Yeomans, who led the investigation, said that without the evidence from the informant the case ‘couldn’t have been solved’.

At the time, Steve Johnson said ‘this is very emotional day’. 

He previously said he arrived in Sydney 36 hours after he heard of his brother’s death.

‘It was clear when I got to the police station, the Manly police station, that the police already assumed it was a suicide,’ Steve told ABC’s Australian Story.

Police conduct a search of a headland on May 12, 2020, after an arrest was made in connection with Mr Johnson’s death. Police originally dismissed his death in 1988 as suicide

‘And I said, ”Impossible”. He’d just finished his PhD that he’d been working on for five years.’ 

Over the following years, Steve hired an investigative journalist, and lawyers and others joined the cause to find answers, calling themselves ‘Team Scott’. 

Among the leads followed by the team were whether Blue Fish Point was a known gay beat, where strangers in the gay community would meet for sex. 

Also unanswered was why Mr Johnson’s clothes were neatly folded in a pile at the top of the cliffs.

Steve previously said the arrest of his brother’s alleged killer was important not only for his family but also for the wider gay community.

‘Scott had come to symbolise the many dozens of other gay men who lost their lives in the 1980s and 90s,’ he said. 

The arrest proved ‘times have changed’ and it recognised ‘that all of us deserve equal protection and justice under the law’, Steve added.

Last year, the New South Wales government announced an inquiry into hate crimes committed against members of Sydney’s gay community between 1970 and 2010.

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