The partner of Scott Johnson, whose naked body was found at the bottom of a Sydney cliff almost 30 years ago, says he warned his lover about the dangers of gay beats.
"In 1982 I received a letter telling me that an associate of mine had been murdered in a beat in the Blue Mountains and this had made a profound effect on my views on beat use," Michael Noone said on Thursday at the third coronial inquiry into Mr Johnson's death.
He said that while Mr Johnson "wasn't interested in gay beats", he nevertheless cautioned him about the potential for "serious danger".
Spear fishermen found the 27-year-old's body at the bottom of Manly's North Head in December 1988.
The mathematician's belongings were discovered 10 metres back from the cliff edge, not far from a beat where the inquest previously heard groups of "bashers" would set upon gay men.
A March 1989 coronial inquest ruled the American's death was a suicide.
But a second inquest in 2012 returned an open finding after the possibility was raised he had been murdered as part of a "gay hate" killing spree in Sydney during the late 1980s.
At the third inquest, Mr Noone was also questioned over a letter he received in London from Mr Johnson who revealed he had thought about committing suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge in 1985.
"The letter simply said 'I tried to do away with myself,'" Mr Noone said.
"It was alarming but vague."
The pair then spoke about the suicide attempt on the phone but never discussed it again over the next three years.
"It was unnecessary ... the episode of the suicide attempt was behind him," Mr Noone said.
"He knew how to contact me and he knew that I was there.
"I'm not somebody to check up on people."
John Agius, the Johnson family's lawyer, put it to Mr Noone that he never followed up with his lover because he didn't believe there was a serious risk he would end his life or because the pair never actually spoke about it in the first instance.
Mr Noone said he had a long conversation with Mr Johnson about the suicide attempt and they would "be working together to ensure his future mental and physical health".
"I personally took solace in the fact that this was somebody who had gone to the edge and found themselves incapable of that final action," Mr Noone said.
"I knew Scott well enough to know that prodding him about sensitive issues was not going to lead to a positive response."
The inquest continues.
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