Three decades after US man Scott Johnson’s body was found at the base of cliffs in Sydney, his killer has been sentenced to jail. Scott White was on Tuesday sentenced to a maximum 12 years and seven months in jail for the then-27-year-old’s murder. At the time, the Cambridge University graduate’s death was ruled as suicide – something his family never believed. They had for years fought for Australian police to investigate it as a gay hate crime instead. On Tuesday, a judge found there was not enough evidence to establish it was a gay hate crime, but sentenced White to jail for the 1988 killing. He will be eligible for parole in 2030. White – who was 18 at the time of the murder – did not give evidence in court but had told police he and Johnson had met at a bar in December 1988.(BBC)…[+]

Russian mercenaries have been accused of summarily executing, torturing and beating civilians in the Central African Republic (CAR). Witnesses told Human Rights Watch (HRW) that in one incident last July, Russian-speaking fighters shot dead at least 12 unarmed men at a roadblock. Most victims were put in a shallow hole by the road near Bossangoa, they said. CAR’s government denies hiring mercenaries from the private Russian Wagner Group to fight rebels.UN experts have also accused Russian mercenaries of committing systematic and grave human rights violations in CAR, which is one of the world’s poorest countries but is rich in diamonds, gold and uranium.(BBC)…[+]

An escaped inmate and a guard suspected of helping him had a “special relationship”, say investigators. The announcement from the Alabama sheriff office said the discovery was confirmed by fellow inmates of missing prisoner Casey White, a murder suspect. A manhunt is underway for the 38-year-old escapee and corrections officer Vicky White, 56 (no relation). The pair vanished as she was transporting him to a bogus mental evaluation. Police have not revealed whether the relationship was romantic. Friday – the day the pair went missing – was supposed to be her final day at work. She had recently sold her home and had told colleagues she planned to spend more time at the beach. Police now believe Ms White helped orchestrate the escape after breaking jail protocol to escort Casey White alone. “Investigators received information from inmates at the Lauderdale County Detention Center over the weekend that there was a special relationship between Director White and inmate Casey White,” Sheriff Rick Singleton said in a statement on Tuesday. “That relationship has now been confirmed through our investigation by independent sources and means.”(BBC)…[+]