Sydney man admits to pushing a gay American off a cliff in 1988

Steve Johnson, right, with his sisters, Terry, left, and Rebecca and his wife Rosemarie, second right, arrive at the Supreme Court in Sydney, Monday, May 2, 2022, for a sentencing hearing in the murder of Scott Johnson, Steve, Terry and Rebecca's brother. (Rick Rycroft/AP)

Rick Rycroft / Rick Rycroft

A man told police he killed American mathematician Scott Johnson in 1988 by pushing the 27-year-old off a Sydney cliff in what prosecutors describe as a gay hate crime, a court heard on Monday.

Scott White, 51, appeared in the New South Wales state Supreme Court for a sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty in January to the murder of the Los Angeles-born Canberra resident, whose death at the base of a North Head cliff was initially dismissed by police as a suicide.

White will be sentenced by Justice Helen Wilson on Tuesday. He faces a potential sentence of life in prison.