A former top cop has dismissed as "absolute rubbish" suggestions he had prior knowledge of a TV interview that featured controversial claims of political interference in a high-profile gay murder case.
Ex-NSW Police deputy commissioner Mick Willing returned to a hate crimes inquiry on Friday after a series of witnesses contradicted his evidence about the 2015 interview on ABC's Lateline concerning the death of US mathematician Scott Johnson.
The exchange involved then-detective chief inspector Pamela Young, who re-investigated the 1988 homicide, talking to journalist Emma Alberici.
Mr Johnson's naked body was found at the base of a cliff at North Head, a well-known gay beat on Sydney's northern beaches, and his death was initially ruled a suicide.
Family pressure, multiple inquiries and a $2 million reward sparked renewed interest in the case and in 2020 Scott Phillip White, 52, was arrested.
He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced in 2023 to nine years in jail.
Mr Willing previously told the inquiry he did not know the sit-down ABC interview - in which Ms Young accused the police minister of "kowtowing" to Mr Johnson's family - had taken place until after it occurred.
However, on Friday it was put to him that at a 2017 meeting he told Alberici: "I thought that once it was public and the scandalous misdirection of investigation resources was exposed the political pressure would stop."
Referring to testimony from the journalist, counsel assisting Peter Gray SC suggested Mr Willing also said at the meeting: "I had no idea the commissioner would be enraged as he was about the interview and Pam got the blame unfortunately."
"That's absolute rubbish," Mr Willing said of the claims.
"It is your evidence that you did not say that you wanted (Ms Young) to do the interview?" Mr Gray asked in relation to the meeting.
"That's correct," Mr Willing replied.
Mr Gray put to the witness that he had given false evidence to claim Ms Young told him of a "doorstop interview", not a television studio interview.
"No," Mr Willing replied.
He also denied that choosing Lateline to advance the police view of the Johnson case implied there would be a formal interview.
"It doesn't necessarily mean a sit-down interview," Mr Willing said.
Earlier this week, the inquiry heard evidence from Ms Young and her former colleague Penelope Brown that contradicted Mr Willing's version of events.
Both women said Mr Willing knew about the interview and what Ms Young was planning to say.
In a diary note made at the time, Detective Sergeant Brown detailed a call Ms Young had with Mr Willing on loudspeaker in which she told him about the ABC appearance and her intention to accuse the minister of kowtowing over the case.
Ms Young, in evidence on Friday, said one "practical step" in the police media strategy was to give Alberici a sensitive coronial statement related to the Johnson case.
Asked if she believed in police hierarchy, she replied, "Yes, when it's functioning."
The inquiry, which is examining the unsolved deaths of gay people in NSW between 1970 and 2010, is due to report to the government in December.
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