Scott White has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 1988 death of gay mathematician Scott Johnson

A man has pleaded guilty to Scott Johnson’s manslaughter just four months after his conviction on alleged gay hate murder was overturned.

Scott Phillip White, 52, appeared before the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday where he pleaded guilty to manslaughter of the American mathematician.

Mr Johnson’s body was found in 1988 on the rocks at the foot of Blue Fish Point on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, near a well-known gay area.

White was not arrested until 2020.

He shocked his lawyers last year when he pleaded guilty to the murder of Mr Johnson, more than three decades after the 27-year-old’s naked body was found at the foot of a cliff.

Scott White pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Scott Johnson (pictured) just four months after he was convicted of murder on alleged anti-gay hate murder charges

‘Guilty. I am guilty. Guilty,” White said loudly over the court official reading the indictment during a pre-trial hearing at the NSW Supreme Court in January 2022.

White has maintained his innocence and has repeatedly instructed his attorneys to plead not guilty before his surprise plea.

Judge Helen Wilson subsequently sentenced White to 12 years and seven months in prison with an eight-year and three-month non-parole period, retroactive to his initial incarceration in May 2020.

Later that morning, White signed a statement saying he was “confused,” “stressed out” and concerned that his ex-wife was “coming after me” as he declared in the courtroom that he was guilty.

“I maintain that I did not cause Scott Johnson’s death. I want to confirm my plea of ​​not guilty. I wish to proceed with my hearing and trial,” White wrote in the statement.

Scott Phillip White (pictured front) appeared before the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday, where he pleaded guilty to manslaughter of the American mathematician

He appealed the conviction, arguing that he should have dropped his lawsuit.

Last year the Court of Appeal reversed his conviction and referred the matter to the Supreme Court.

However, on Thursday, before Judge Robert Beech-Jones, White pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

He now faces criminal proceedings in June.

Police initially believed Johnson had taken his own life, and the case remained cold for decades, despite his family’s calls for further investigation and three coronary exams into his death.

The first inquest, in 1989, found Johnson had died by suicide, and a second in 2012 returned an open finding.

A third inquest in 2017 found he fell to his death as a result of actual or threatened violence from unidentified people who attacked him because he was gay.

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

White (pictured) pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk