Australia Australia - Ross Warren, 25, Sydney, 22 July 1989

Murkywaters

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Ross Warren was a famous WIN news TV newsreader who disappeared in the height of the epidemic of anti-gay violence in Sydney between 1970s and late ‘90s where up to 80 gay men had been murdered and 30 cases still unsolved. Most of the victims were found, Ross's remains still haven't been located. Circumstances: Ross was last seen driving his vehicle east on Oxford Street towards Paddinton about 2.00am on 22 July 1989. Extensive inquiries were conducted by police whereby Ross's vehicle was located in the vicinity of Marks Point, Bondi on the morning of 24 July 1989. Ross failed to attend work and family and friends have not heard from him. This behavior is totally out of character for him. Grave fears are held for his safety.

Crime Investigation Australia - The Bondi Gay Murders - YouTube Ross's case was highlighted on crime investigation Australia in a segment on the "Bondi Gay Murders"


http://www.australianmissingpersonsregister.com/RossWarren.htm
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/...l-into-case-of-win-tv-newsreader-ross-warren/ - Recent article on Ross.
 
I remember watching this case when it was on TV. Terribly sad.
 
Hmmmm, I read a book on this quite some time ago. "The Beat" I think it was called. Marks Park in Bondi was notorious for being a "gay beat" whereby men would meet and "socialise" (yes, I'm using a euphamism) within the area, providing a perfect opportunity for anti-gay sentiment to erupt into violence. Ross has never been found. There were others that also fell victim to the violence. Some were bashed, robbed and left for dead. One was found at the base of a cliff within the area. An appalling part of Sydney crime history.
 
Extract from a Sydney Morning Herald Article
Up to 80 men murdered, 30 cases unsolved - Date: July 27, 2013

"There was a culture of gay-hate bashings ... It didn't stop at the Harbour Bridge. We've heard stories of the equivalent of the Alexandria Eight or the Bondi Boys who regularly gay-bashed along the northern beaches."
The postcodes for the unpublicised cases stretch from Mosman to Collaroy on the north side. There were the brothers from Narrabeen, aged 15 and 12, who would travel to the city in the late 1980s to bash and rob gays and Asians in Kings Cross and Moore Park. A couple of cases involve men found naked at the base of cliffs, north and south of the harbour, their clothes folded on the cliff-tops - as with Scott Johnson.

-----
But the dozens of kids in those gangs have grown up. They are approaching middle-age. Not all did the bashing but they have been living with these secrets, and the guilt, ever since. "Someone's going to open their mouth one day," says Ted Russell, whose 31-year-old son John was found at the base of a Bondi cliff in November, 1989.
-----
He hopes someone from the Bondi gang can find as much courage and finally come forward with the truth. It is the girls he thinks about most. "I've always wondered what sort of mothers they would make."
-----


art-Mucci-620x349.jpg

Canberra Times: Illustration: michaelmucci.com

.
 
Illawarra News Aug 9 2013

Homicide detectives have revealed they are reviewing the 1989 disappearance of WIN TV newsreader Ross Warren.
Warren’s case will be included in a review of two gay-hate murders and another disappearance on the Bondi cliff-tops.
Warren, 25, disappeared on July 22, 1989.
Police have pleaded for the public’s help to solve many more killings of homosexual men dating back decades.
Homicide squad commander Detective Superintendent Mick Willing said police couldn’t solve some of these cases without the help of the community.
-----
‘‘If someone has information – evidence, I should say evidence – of a particular homicide, I want them to come forward,’’ Supt Willing said. ‘‘I really want them to come forward.’’


.
 
April 11 2003
SMH April 11 2003. Read More:
Woman denies saying she had role in gay bashing
A woman had admitted taking part in "poofter bashing" in Sydney and knew a missing television newsreader had been thrown off a cliff, witnesses told an inquiry yesterday.
The NSW Coroners Court was told Merlyn McGrath, of Nowra, told a friend, known as Miss M, her mother, Miss X, and a former NSW police constable about Mr Warren.



'
 
Extract from a Sydney Morning Herald Article
Up to 80 men murdered, 30 cases unsolved - Date: July 27, 2013

"There was a culture of gay-hate bashings ... It didn't stop at the Harbour Bridge. We've heard stories of the equivalent of the Alexandria Eight or the Bondi Boys who regularly gay-bashed along the northern beaches."
The postcodes for the unpublicised cases stretch from Mosman to Collaroy on the north side. There were the brothers from Narrabeen, aged 15 and 12, who would travel to the city in the late 1980s to bash and rob gays and Asians in Kings Cross and Moore Park. A couple of cases involve men found naked at the base of cliffs, north and south of the harbour, their clothes folded on the cliff-tops - as with Scott Johnson.

-----
But the dozens of kids in those gangs have grown up. They are approaching middle-age. Not all did the bashing but they have been living with these secrets, and the guilt, ever since. "Someone's going to open their mouth one day," says Ted Russell, whose 31-year-old son John was found at the base of a Bondi cliff in November, 1989.
-----
He hopes someone from the Bondi gang can find as much courage and finally come forward with the truth. It is the girls he thinks about most. "I've always wondered what sort of mothers they would make."
-----


art-Mucci-620x349.jpg

Canberra Times: Illustration: michaelmucci.com

I found this very detailed article about Scott Johnson and the 'gay hate murders' in MSM today:

Was Scott Johnson's 1988 death a suicide or a gay hate crime?
By Emma Alberici
Updated Mon Dec 12 17:47:52 EST 2016
Posted Mon Dec 12 16:56:55 EST 2016


'On December 10, 1988, 27-year-old American Scott Johnson was found dead at the base of the cliffs at North Head in Manly, Sydney.

Key points

  • A third inquest into Scott Johnson's death will begin this week
  • Scott's partner, Michael Noone, believes he committed suicide
  • Scott's brother Steve, a tech millionaire, has hired lawyers and private investigators to prove it wasn't suicide
  • There are no witnesses to Scott's death'
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/...alia-gay-men-killed-suicides-sydney.html?_r=0

Now the police in New South Wales, the state that includes Sydney, are reviewing the deaths of 88 men between 1976 and 2000 to determine whether they should be classified as anti-gay hate crimes.

About 30 of the cases remain unsolved, and the police have not said how many of the killings were tied to gangs. About a dozen victims were found dead at the bottom of cliffs or in the sea, the police say...

According to a report by Sue Thompson, a former state-appointed liaison between the New South Wales police and gays, one of the assailants told the police, “The easiest thing with a cliff is just herding them over the edge.”

The idea that the killing was part of a pattern was not seriously pursued until years later. In 2000, Mr. Page, spurred by letters from a grieving mother, reopened the case of Ross Warren, a 25-year-old television news anchor who disappeared in 1989.

Mr. Warren’s body was never found, though his car keys were discovered in a rock ledge. The police concluded that he had accidentally fallen into the harbor. But Mr. Page found the original investigation had been cursory at best.
 

1687941497790.png
Ross Warren's case is one of many cases being examined by the The Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes. And by the looks of it, it appears the police culture hasn't changed.


Key points:

  • NSW Police Strike Force Neiwand did not investigate the deaths of three gay men in Bondi in the 1980s as homicides
  • A Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes has heard police sought to overturn a 2005 coroner's finding
  • The inquiry heard police "deliberately" chose not to investigate suspects, including gangs that targeted gay men in the area
Counsel Assisting Peter Gray SC told Commissioner John Suckar that Strike Force Neiwand however was not interested in investigating the deaths as homicides.

"What we submit, commissioner, is the evidence establishes that Strike Force Neiwand made virtually no attempt to investigate, as homicides, the deaths of any of these three men,' he said.

"Notwithstanding that coroner Milledge had expressly found that the deaths of Mr Russell and Mr Warren were homicides and had expressed the view that the death of Mr Mataini probably was as well.

"Instead, what Neiwand did was to direct its very considerable efforts and resources over the better part of two years, to attempting to build a case for contradicting and overturning the findings of coroner Milledge."

Following a two-year investigation Strike Force Neiwand found the deaths of Mr Warren and Mr Russell as "undetermined" overturning the ruling to Coroner Milledge.

The inquiry heard Strike Force Neiwand failed to inform the Coroner, DS Page or the families of the deceased about this outcome.
 

There is something “seriously wrong” with the way the NSW Police Force investigates unsolved homicides and public confidence in the force should be questioned, an inquiry into historic LGBTQI hate crimes has been told.

A series of damning blunders and delays, including exhibits lost, a failure to test key evidence, a lack of forensic testing and the mismanagement of evidence, has stymied a weeks-long inquiry into multiple unsolved murders.

Several scheduled cases have been thrown into disarray, with many now unable to go ahead.

The commissioner of inquiry, Supreme Court Justice John Sackar, wondered out loud on Thursday whether it was just police “ineptitude” as to why crucial documents and evidence requested 13 months ago were only delivered to the inquiry the day before the cases were due to be heard.

The inquiry previously heard victims’ blood-stained clothing was never sent for forensic analysis, while other exhibits languished untouched in evidence boxes for decades or were simply lost.
 

Ex-NSW Cop Reveals He Witnessed Gay Bashings By His Police Colleagues In Sydney In 1980s


A former NSW police officer has come forward to reveal that he witnessed his colleagues bashing gay men in an organised manner in Sydney in the 1980s.

“I’m doing it because I want the people who are victims of this conduct to be validated and for them to have their stories accepted,” former cop Mark Higginbotham told Channel Nine’s true crime program Under Investigation.

Higginbotham joined the NSW Police as a fresh-faced 19-year-old constable in the 1980s. The young police officer left the NSW police force in disgust after seeing and witnessing horrible conduct of his fellow officers. He later joined Victoria Police where he retired as a decorated police officer.

The latest episode of Under Investigation took a look at the spate of bashings and murders of gay men and trans women in Sydney and NSW between 1970 and 2010.

Higginbotham told the program that these organised gay bashings occured multiple times during his time in the force and there were officers who protected others guilty of hate crimes.

In 1983, Higginbotham and his partner were out on patrol when a gay man approached them and reported that he had just been bashed. Higginbotham tracked down the accused, arrested him and took him to Darlinghurst police station to charge him for the crime.

“I was typing out a document that was called a fact sheet when I became aware of the presence of the shift surgeon – senior person in the police station at the time. He started to scream at me, scream abuse at me. ‘We don’t charge ‘poofter bashers’ here. What have you done?’ And he was enraged and did overwhelm me,” recalled Higginbotham, adding that he felt “powerless”.

Higginbotham, however, charged the accused and the next day the victim, who was a gay journalist wrote about it in his paper. The former police officer said it led to him being treated as an outcast in the police station.

“I was told that I had brought aggravated shame on the police station because I had not only charged a man with ‘poofter bashing’ – I am comfortable using the phrase but that’s the way it was described – but it had been reported. People would not work with me. I was labeled a “”. And people would would overtly announced that they would not work with a “”,” said Higginbotham .

“There must be people in New South Wales Police who I worked with. I mean, there were many, many young people my age, many 19-year-olds, 20-year-olds working at Darlinghurst (police station). It’s not far-fetched to think that people still work there. It was wrong. It was clearly wrong to poke with a stick, hitting someone on the head. There’s no moral confusion about that. It’s ugly, it’s wrong. It’s criminal. And it’s done in police uniform,” said Higginbotham.
 

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