This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Twenty-seven gay men were likely to have lost their lives to homophobic killers during a violent period of Sydney’s history, a New South Wales police review has found.



The force has vowed never to let the dark period of history repeat itself, and is understood to be considering issuing a formal apology for its handling of the cases.

On Wednesday, police released the findings of Strike Force Parrabell, whose goal was to “do all that is possible” to heal the rift that grew between police and the LGBTIQ community in those decades. A team of police investigators and independent academics from Flinders University looked at whether attackers had shown evidence of gay-hate motivation. They reached different conclusions in some cases but agreed eight deaths were the result of gay hate.

All eight have been solved – the killers were charged and convicted.

A further 19 men are suspected to have died in similarly brutal attacks, while 25 other deaths could not be ruled out as hate crimes.

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Among them was a 25-year-old newsreader, Ross Warren, whose keys were found at the base of a cliff at a Tamarama gay beat in 1989. His body was never found but homophobic youths were known to be launching attacks on gay men in the area to assert masculinity or as gang initiation. In 2005 the deputy state coroner ruled that Warren was a homicide victim.

Scott Johnson, who was found dead on the rocks below North Head’s gay beat in 1988, is also a suspected victim. His death, like many others, was ruled a suicide by an early inquest. But Parrabell, like the latest coronial ruling in 2017, saw enough evidence to rule that homophobic attackers may have thrown or chased him off the cliff.

Five of the suspected gay-hate killings remain unsolved and 23 of the 86 cases are now back with the unsolved homicide unit.

The violence reached a bloody crescendo in the late 1980s and early 1990s fuelled by a “moral panic” triggered by the HIV epidemic. Up to 20 assaults took place each day but unsympathetic elements of the police and judiciary meant most attacks were never reported or investigated.

Only 34 cases had no evidence of bias while the remaining 25 had insufficient evidence for classification – but could not be ruled out.

Twelve recommendations were made by NSW police to improve how the force investigates potential gay-hate crimes.

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“We accept that there were mistakes made,” Assistant Commissioner Tony Crandell said. “We accept there are improvements required. We accept that we can learn from the past and we can do better.

“We believe that the community expectation of police today, and always, is to conduct thorough investigations when it comes to the death of somebody, whether that be from a family or community perspective, and we must live up to that standard.

“Please understand that Strike Force Parrabell is not a comment upon the level of violence or hatred or motivations against the LGBTIQ or gay-lesbian community in the 70s, 80s, 90s.”

The HIV support organisation Acon welcomed Parrabell’s findings, but the group’s chief executive, Nicolas Parkhill, said the recommendations essentially reinforced existing policies, and he called for police to bolster its bias crimes unit to protect the LGBTIQ community.

Parkhill wants a broader independent review into the criminal justice system’s handling of the under-siege community in the violent decades. “Concerns have been raised in the past about whether the police can objectively review themselves and their practices,” he said.

Parrabell stopped short of taking up Acon’s recommendation of a police apology – but Parkhill reignited the call.



“This would send a positive sign to any same-sex attracted couple who are still too frightened to hold hands in many places around the state for fear of violence,” he said.



It is understood police leadership will consider an apology.