Jury Finds 77-Year-Old Man Guilty Of Raymond Keam’s Killing At Sydney Gay Beat In 1987

A jury on Wednesday returned a guilty verdict in the 1987 killing of Raymond Keam, a Sydney man who was beaten to death at a gay beat in Alison Park, Randwick.

Trigger Warning: This story discusses a hate crime death, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.

Keam’s murder remained unsolved for over three decades until 2021 when Stanley Bruce Early, a 77-year-old man, was arrested at his home in Clayton, a suburb of Melbourne.

According to the prosecution, Early, also known as ‘Spider’, used to live as a tenant in a boarding house opposite Alison Park and was allegedly part of the “Alison Park gang” that targeted and assaulted men they suspected to be gay.

Gay Hate Crime Deaths

Forty-five-year-old Keam, a martial arts expert and father of four, did not identify as gay. 

Keam’s murder was one of the 88 killings of gay men and trans persons in Sydney and NSW between 1976 and 2010. Keam’s body was found on the morning of January 13, 1987, at Alison Park. 

A post-mortem examination revealed that Keam died from severe head injuries, likely caused by multiple strikes. The cold case was reinvestigated by the NSW Police’s Strike Force Augenaut, and in 2021, a $1 million reward was offered, leading to Early’s arrest a few months later.

Early Pleads Not Guilty

Early pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. The case against him was largely based on circumstantial evidence since there were no eyewitnesses to the crime. 

“At the time of his death, we had been planning out our life together – then it was all ripped away in an instant,” Keam’s partner Diane Smart said in 2021 when the police announced the reward to catch the killer.

“I didn’t just lose my partner that night, I lost my life and my future, and we all lost a huge of part of our family. Raymond was a bright, strong, smart and generous man who can never be replaced.”

Keam’s daughter Stephanie said she had not only lost her father, “but a good friend, and have always felt a shadow over me not knowing why he was so cruelly taken from us”.