Police 'pawns' resented political pressure to pursue family's gay-hate theory for Scott Johnson's cliff death

By Rick Feneley
Updated September 21 2014 - 10:08am, first published 9:58am
The last family photo of Scott Johnson, whose family want an independent inquiry into almost 30 unsolved and potentially gay-hate related deaths. Photo: NSW Police
The last family photo of Scott Johnson, whose family want an independent inquiry into almost 30 unsolved and potentially gay-hate related deaths. Photo: NSW Police
The last family photo of Scott Johnson, whose family want an independent inquiry into almost 30 unsolved and potentially gay-hate related deaths. Photo: NSW Police
The last family photo of Scott Johnson, whose family want an independent inquiry into almost 30 unsolved and potentially gay-hate related deaths. Photo: NSW Police
The last family photo of Scott Johnson, whose family want an independent inquiry into almost 30 unsolved and potentially gay-hate related deaths. Photo: NSW Police
The last family photo of Scott Johnson, whose family want an independent inquiry into almost 30 unsolved and potentially gay-hate related deaths. Photo: NSW Police
The last family photo of Scott Johnson, whose family want an independent inquiry into almost 30 unsolved and potentially gay-hate related deaths. Photo: NSW Police
The last family photo of Scott Johnson, whose family want an independent inquiry into almost 30 unsolved and potentially gay-hate related deaths. Photo: NSW Police

Senior NSW police felt like "pawns in a political game" and resented pressure to give priority to investigating whether a young American's plunge from a North Head cliff in 1988 was a gay-hate murder, not a suicide as police originally concluded.