Chris Dawson, 73, is accused of killing his wife Lynette Dawson and disposing of her body in January 1982 so he could have an unfettered relationship with one of his former students, known as. The couple moved to Queensland and had a daughter in 1986. Broken-hearted and alone, she avoided reporters for decades and refused to condemn her father amid the speculation about who killed her mother. "The Teacher's Pet: The unsolved murder of Lyn Dawson", "Dawson in custody, appeal 'probable', after marathon five-hour Teacher's Pet verdict handed down, as it happened", "Timeline of the disappearance of Lynette Dawson", "DPP reconsiders evidence in suspected Dawson murder", "The Teacher's Pet: The faces behind the gripping true crime story", Strange world of the Dawson twins as brothers separated after murder allegations against Chris, "Sydney police 'hand dig' Lynette Dawson's home in 1982 cold case", "Chris Dawson presented a handwritten statement to police", "Chris Dawson from Teacher's Pet podcast arrested by Homicide Squad", "Chris Dawson arrested and expected to be charged with murder of Lyn Dawson", "Chris Dawson granted bail after being charged with wife Lyn's alleged murder", "Chris Dawson pleads not guilty to wife's murder in Teacher's Pet case", "Clairvoyant claims at Dawson murder trial as former teacher faces historic sex charge", "Chris Dawson denied special leave to appeal to High Court in bid to stay murder trial", "Chris Dawson granted judge-alone trial for wife's alleged murder", "High Court refuses to hear Chris Dawson's application to halt trial", "Chris Dawson guilty of Lynette Dawson's murder", "Chris Dawson found guilty of murdering wife Lynette Dawson", "The four lies Chris Dawson told that landed him behind bars for murdering his wife Lynette", "Teacher's Pet case: 'Tell us where mum is', Chris Dawson's daughter begs", "Chris Dawson will 'probably die in jail' after being sentenced to 24 years for wife's murder", "The Teacher's Pet: Podcast on hold pending further developments", "Chris Dawson: Husband faces murder trial over 1982 disappearance of wife", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murder_of_Lynette_Dawson&oldid=1141763927, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 24 years in jail, non-parole period of 18 years, This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 17:47. It was one of Australia's most high-profile murder cases and took more than 40 years to solve. For the latest information, searchABC Emergency, For the latestweather warnings in the Northern Territory, search onABC Emergency, Follow the action from the third Test between India and Australia in Delhi in our live blog. This was one of a series of reasons which Harrison gave to dismiss the possibility that Lynette Dawson left of her own accord. Two coroners later found that Lyn was murdered by a known person, but no charges were ever laid. "If we ever find Lyn, I believe that she deserves to have her ashes scattered off here at Clovelly with Mum and Dad," Greg says. Dawson was elected into the Hall of Fame as both . [1] Her whereabouts are unknown, but two coronial inquests found that she had been murdered. On January 9, 1982, Lyn was due to meet her mother at Northbridge Baths, where Chris worked. She said after each visit, the daughter would cower from her mother and 'cling to me like a koala'. Forty years is not possible to re-live. When journalist Hedley Thomas transfixed by the story since he'd first covered the coronial inquests published the hit podcast The Teacher's Pet in 2018, public interest reached fever pitch. When she vanished, Lynette's daughters were just two and four. She contacted Dawson every day via a reverse charge call from a payphone, as Dawson had told her to. After her passing in 2001, Helena's ashes were scattered in the ocean at Clovelly where she had swum every day. Barbara Cruise, the owner of the childcare centre where Lyn worked as a registered nurse, believes police were blinded by Dawson's "celebrity". "We were on the verge of just saying, look, we've been looking for answers for Lyn for so many years, maybe we should just let it lie now," Greg says. It was all part of the web of deceit that would become Chris Dawson's eventual undoing in court, says Greg. Mr Whealy joined thousands of others to watch the verdict read out via a live stream of the court proceedings to provide comments to ABC's Australian Story. Then, in 1965, Chris Dawson met young Lynette Simms and five years later the two were married. [4] She permanently moved into the residence on 10 January 1982, two days after Lynette's disappearance. He MUST seize it, starting with the Budget, writes ANDREW NEIL, Do not sell or share my personal information. THERE was a culture of male teachers trying to have sex with female students at a school where the husband of suspected murder victim Lyn Dawson worked, a former student says. Two coronial inquests have found Lyn was killed by a known person, her . For the next 13 years, not much headway was made in the case. Mr Dawson has always asserted, and he still does, his absolute innocence of the crime of which hes been convicted, he told reporters outside court. But she hadn't really discussed her marriage to Dawson until the night she left him when she stayed atMs Melrose-Mikeska's Southport home before escaping to Sydney with her daughter. Unlike when a jury delivers a verdict, Harrison was also required to outline the reasons for his decision on Tuesday. In the podcast, Thomas alleged he had uncovered new evidence that indicated Dawson may have killed his wife in order to continue an affair with a former student. All times AEDT (GMT +11). 'He's had to pay maintenance to (JC) for eight years, on your theory he should have knocked off his second wife too he should have killed (JC) too,' Marilyn told Joan she'd said to police. She had arranged to go to the Dawson's Bayview home in Sydney's northern beaches to photograph the 'children dressed in beautiful broderie anglaise dresses, they had their hair beautifully done'. Instead, her trust was betrayed by a man she loved.. Lyn Dawson was missing for 40 years but her brother and sister never gave up hope. His relationship with JC, a teenage schoolgirl (who he first met in his PE class), and who subsequently became the couple's live-in babysitter, was an obsession that became "more and more intense", the judge said. Then, in 2001, the first coroners inquest was held. A couple of times at their house I did see him turn quite nasty, and it shocked me.. Like the 2001 inquest, this one also recommended laying charges against Chris Dawson. In a dramatic day on Tuesday, Justice Harrison found Dawson guilty just after 3pm - bringing to a close a mystery that has haunted Lynette's family and Sydney's northern beaches for four decades. He claimed to have dropped Lyn off at a Mona Vale bus stop on January 9 before she called him at the Northbridge Baths about 3pm to say she needed time away. As Chris awaits his trial so does the Australian public, and indeed the world. The family's babysitter, a schoolgirl who can only be identified as JC, moves into the home within days. 16-year-old Joanne Curtis, the student who had an affair with Chris Dawson. Two years later, a second, lengthier inquest was held. On February 18, 1982, however, it seemed that Chris couldnt live in denial any longer and reported his wife as missing. Outside court, Lynettes brother, Greg Simms, called on Dawson to reveal where her body was buried. [8] In 1981, Chris groomed and slept with Cromer student Joanne Curtis, who temporarily moved into the Dawson family residence in Bayview at Chris' invitation. "He was family," Greg says. A lot of teachers said to me, once theyre legal, theyre fair game, former classmate Phil Webster said. Left: Lyn with Chris Dawson, aged 17, before their High School dance of 1965. Ms Dawson, a mother herself, said the poem 'inspired those of us when we forget to do so'. A body was never found but they did discover Lyns pink cardigan during a police dig. On Tuesday, New South Wales supreme court Justice Ian Harrison found Dawson guilty. Verdict that took five hours to be delivered ended a 40-year wait for justice, The Teachers Pet: hit podcast thrust Lynette Dawsons 1982 disappearance into the spotlight. Because Lynette is still gone. What could have possibly caused a mother of two to leave her young family behind? He dismissed claims Lynette Dawson had been seen alive after January 1982 or that she had contacted her husband. Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison handed down the verdict during a lengthy hearing in Sydney today, which lasted for around five hours. And because of his athletic ability or his football prowess, I feel that they believed him.". [2] On 30 August 2022, Chris Dawson was convicted of Lynette's murder . '(JC"s daughter) was scared of her, (JC) found it quite traumatic. The story of Lynette Dawson's disappearance has sparked interest around the world after it was featured on a podcast called 'The Teacher's Pet', produced by The Australian newspaper. , updated "This story has gone worldwide and Lyn would be incredibly humbled by that," Merilyn says. . They were married from 1954 to 1978 until Jacqueline passed away at the age of 41. For more than a month, Curtis lived in the Dawson family home with Chris and his two young daughters (before long there would be three, the youngest mothered by Curtis herself). YouTubeLynette Dawson and her husband, Chris, shortly before their marriage. So while it's just and right that Chris Dawson's long-held secret was forced into the light today, Shanelle and Sherryn still lose. Born in 1948, the 33-year-old Lynette Joy Dawson vanished into thin air on January 9, 1982. Her husband Chris Dawson was suspected of killing. They were married in 1970 at St Jude's Church, Randwick, in Sydney[4][5] and later had two children. To make matters worse, not only was she Chris Dawsons student, but also his childrens babysitter. The image, taken in 1966, depicts Lyn on her day off with a little girl that she had cared for at the time. Now, 36-years on, the answers are unravelling. His Honour said Dawson was motivated by his obsessive infatuation with schoolgirl babysitter JC, with the fear of losing her and clearing the impediment that his wife Lyn represented, as well as not losing hold of his assets as would happen in a divorce. To the untrained eye, it is just a regular wooden park bench, but to Lyn's family it has always been a very special place. My emotions and my love for my dad aside, I can see that there a lot of people saying all those things, its not just one person, she said. Without a body, without knowing first of all whether in fact she is dead, without knowing secondly if she is dead, how she died, its very hard to mount a case of a reasonable prospect of conviction just on motive and the undefined existence of means and opportunity. Chris began teaching physical education at Cromer High School in this year. There was always something ahead with Lyn's case but now there's nothing else to wait for. Having left Chris Dawson, she was keen to reveal her suspicions that he was involved in Lyn's disappearance. 'It's still possible in the end to realise why you are here and why you have endured, and why you might have suffered so much,' the poem continues. In the late 1950s, she went missing for several years. Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. 'We didn't mention my mother. Harrison said his findings had been fortified by the lies Dawson told after his wife was murdered, which he grouped into four categories: those Dawson told JC and others about their relationship; claims he wanted to continue his marriage with Lynette Dawson; lies he told which suggested she was still alive; and those which suggested she may have left their home of her own accord. But their relationship wasnt as picture-perfect as it appeared. She would even wear Lyns jewellery and her clothes. Justice Harrison identified four deceptions in Dawson's defence which "demonstrated a guilty conscience", particularly Dawson's claims Lyn called him repeatedly after she went missing. No body was found, no suspects were arrested, and it seemed as though the case had gone cold. 'I thinks she ws a dissatisfied person , accumulate, accumulate but it didnt give her any pleasure,' Kay Luschwitz said in the taped 1999 conversation to Marilyn Dawson, the wife of Chris Dawson's twin, Paul. 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