Australian arrest in 30-year-old gay murder case

Australian police have charged a man with the decades-old murder of a gay US student in Sydney. The body of Scott Johnson (27) was found at the bottom of beach cliffs in 1988. Police ruled it a suicide at the times, notes a BBC News report. However, later inquiries concluded he had been killed in a hate crime. This also drew attention to other cases of homophobic killings around Sydney's beaches in the 1980s. Scott Price (49) was arrested at his Sydney home yesterday. He was refused bail and will be in court today. The police force has previously apologised to the family for not investigating the case properly in the 1980s and failing to protect the gay community. ‘While we have a long way to go in the legal process, it must be acknowledged that if it wasn't for the determination of the Johnson family... we wouldn't be where we are today,’ Commissioner Mick Fuller said. Scott, a gifted University of Cambridge maths student, had moved from the US to Sydney to be with his partner in 1986. He had been close to completing his PhD when he was found dead at the bottom of the North Head cliffs in Manly. His brother Steve campaigned for decades for the case to be re-investigated. He told the BBC in 2018 it was ‘inconceivable’ that his brother had jumped off a cliff. ‘This is a very emotional day,’ he said in a video message yesterday. It's now estimated up to 80 gay men were murdered by homophobic gangs in and around Sydney in the late 1980s – with many pushed off cliffs. Johnson said he hoped the arrest ‘opens the door’ for others to receive justice. ‘I hope the family and friends of the other dozens of gay men who lost their lives find solace in what's happened today,’ he said.

Full BBC News report