Chris Dawson

Four decades after Lynette Dawson vanished from Sydney's northern beaches, a judge is preparing to hand down his verdict in one of Australia's most ...

"I'm satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Dawson's various reports ... By Heath Parkes-Hupton

Chris Dawson and Lynette Dawson were married with two children before she disappeared. Live from Supreme Court of NSW.

She told the Court she had sex with her former teacher while his wife was asleep. The 33-year-old nurse was last made contact with on Friday 8, 1982, when she spoke to her mother on the phone. The couple didn't make it to Queensland, instead turning around when JC felt ill. One witness told the Court Lynette had told him she was planning to run away from her marital problems. A few months later in early 1982, the babysitter told the Court she received a call from Dawson telling her "Lyn's gone, she's not coming back". She was never seen or heard from again, and her body was never found.

Live from Supreme Court of NSW Justice Ian Harrison SC has found Lynette Dawson is dead, but is still yet to rule on whether her husband.

She told the Court she had sex with her former teacher while his wife was asleep. The 33-year-old nurse was last made contact with on Friday 8, 1982, when she spoke to her mother on the phone. The couple didn't make it to Queensland, instead turning around when JC felt ill. One witness told the Court Lynette had told him she was planning to run away from her marital problems. [Teacher's Pet case: 'He groomed me and made me a sex slave'](/news/world/teachers-pet-case-babysitter-tells-chris-dawson-murder-trial-she-was-treated-like-sex-slave/?utm_source=zb&utm_campaign=article_link&utm_content=related) [The teacher, the wife, the babysitter and the 40-year wait - what happened to Lynette Dawson?](/news/world/teachers-pet-case-chris-dawson-lynette-dawson-jc-and-the-40-year-wait-for-answers/?utm_source=zb&utm_campaign=article_link&utm_content=related) [Teacher's Pet case: Murder accused gave his wife booze so he could sleep with babysitter](/news/world/teachers-pet-case-murder-accused-chris-dawson-gave-his-wife-booze-so-he-could-sleep-with-babysitter/?utm_source=zb&utm_campaign=article_link&utm_content=related) Watch live: The Teacher's Pet case - Chris Dawson to learn his fate as judge delivers verdict

Justice Ian Harrison is handing down his verdict in the high-profile murder trial of Chris Dawson. He has told the court there is “scant evidence” Lynette ...

Chris Dawson will either be found guilty of murder or acquitted as a highly anticipated judgment is delivered...

No charges were laid, however, until Dawson was arrested at his Gold Coast home in December 2018. According to evidence given at trial, JC moved into the Dawson home within days of the disappearance. Inquests in 2001 and 2003 recommended that a "known person" be charged with the murder of Mrs Dawson.

A decision will be made on Tuesday in the infamous murder case of former teacher and rugby league player Chris Dawson, who is accused of killing his wife to ...

She told the court she had sex with her former teacher while his wife was asleep. The couple didn’t make it to Queensland, instead turning around when JC felt ill. Mr Dawson was silent as he walked into the Sydney Downing Centre on Tuesday morning to hear the judge’s final decision. After a three-month trial, Justice Ian Harrison SC is now delivering his findings, with Mr Dawson to learn if he will return home with a not-guilty verdict. The 33-year-old nurse was last seen on Friday 8, 1982 when she spoke to her mother on the phone. After telling the court he believed none of the five alleged sightings of Lynette Dawson following her death were “genuine”, Justice Harrison ruled the mother-of-two was dead - and had not left her home of her own accord.

Chris Dawson and Lynette Dawson were married with two children before she disappeared. Live from Supreme Court of NSW.

But JC forced Dawson to turn the car around before the border after she grew ill and told him that she missed her family. JC told the court of one occasion in 1981 during which she alleged Dawson drove her to a building somewhere south of the Harbour Bridge. The Crown prosecution argued Dawson killed Lynette because he was "besotted" with JC and wanted "unfettered access" to her. Dawson told detectives during a police interview in 1991 that he had dropped off his wife at a Mona Vale bus stop and it had been planned she would meet him later that afternoon. Lynette Dawson disappeared in January 1982 - her body has never been found and she never contacted her friends or family, including her two children. The former teacher and rugby league player's defence had argued he had neither the opportunity nor the motive to kill the mother of his two children.

Supreme court verdict brings to a close the high-profile case that was the subject of the popular Teacher's Pet podcast.

This was one of a series of reasons which Harrison gave to dismiss the possibility that Lynette Dawson left of her own accord. These reasons included that she adored her children, was mentally stable, had not taken any clothing or personal belongings with her, and had made plans for the future. Harrison agreed that Lynette Dawson died on this date, dismissing claims by Dawson that his wife had called him after this date as “lies”. He had told her “Lyn’s gone, she’s not coming back, come back to Sydney and help look after the kids and live with me”. He’ll continue to assert that innocence and he’ll certainly appeal.” After they arrived home, she told Dawson she wanted to end the relationship, which he did not want to happen, Harrison found. Harrison dismissed several reported sightings of Lynette Dawson which occurred after 8 January 1982. He also made clear on multiple occasions that Dawson did not have to prove nor disprove any evidence in the case. Earlier, Harrison had rejected the possibility Lynette Dawson voluntarily abandoned her husband and children to vanish without a trace. She contacted Dawson every day via a reverse charge call from a payphone, as Dawson had told her to. and that she did not voluntarily abandon her home,” the judge said on Tuesday. Dawson, 73, had been accused of killing Lynette Dawson in 1982.

Chris Dawson and Lynette Dawson were married with two children before she disappeared. Chris Dawson has been found guilty of murdering his wife Lynette and ...

The defence's star witness, Paul Cooper, said he had a chance meeting with Lynette Dawson at a pub at Warners Bay, in the Lake Macquarie region, in early 1982. JC told the court of one occasion in 1981 during which she alleged Dawson drove her to a building somewhere south of the Harbour Bridge. Dawson told detectives during a police interview in 1991 that he had dropped off his wife at a Mona Vale bus stop and it had been planned she would meet him later that afternoon. In late 1981, Dawson and JC packed his car full of their clothes and belongings and set out for Queensland to start a new life. Lynette Dawson disappeared in January 1982 - her body has never been found and she never contacted her friends or family, including her two children. The former teacher and rugby league player's defence had argued he had neither the opportunity nor the motive to kill the mother of his two children.

The 74-year-old denied involvement in Lynette Dawson's disappearance from the city's northern beaches in January 1982. During a judge-alone trial in the New ...

He was satisfied that by some time towards the end of 1981, Chris considered his marriage to be in "a state of incipient failure", however he was not satisfied the former teacher was also "physically violent" towards Lynette. But Justice Harrison variously rejected evidence of those sightings as "false", "a fabrication", "extremely fail" or "wholly unreliable". Justice Harrison said he was "not able to be satisfied" such a conversation took place, however, he otherwise found JC's evidence to be "truthful and reliable". JC, who moved into the Dawsons' home and went on to marry him, told the court she was "groomed" by her former teacher and was treated like a "slave" after Lynette vanished. The judge said he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Lynette died as a result of a conscious and voluntary act by Chris with the intention of causing her death. Justice Ian Harrison today said there was "a most compelling" body of evidence to support a rejection of that hypothesis.

Chris Dawson faced trial in Australia over the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Lynette.

But he concluded she did not "abandon" her home voluntarily, as the defence suggested. Mr Dawson resolved to kill his wife," he told the New South Wales Supreme Court. He said he also received several phone calls from her afterwards. Ashen and dazed. Chris Dawson appeared to be in shock as he stepped into a lift on the 13th floor of the court with his older brother, Peter, and his lawyer during a break in the judge's deliberations. The judge found Dawson was "possessively obsessed" with his teenage babysitter, who is known as JC for legal reasons, and wanted her as a "replacement" for his wife.

One of Australia's longest-running cold cases documented in the popular "Teacher's Pet" podcast has ended with the conviction of Chris Dawson for the murder ...

"The circumstances point persuasively to a conclusion that Mr Dawson decided that he would end his marriage and move on with (JC)," Harrison said. JC said Dawson would sing "cruel songs" to his wife, and they would have sex when Lynette was in the shower or had fallen asleep. The charge of murder in this trial is unsupported by direct evidence," he said. The Crown's case contended that he was "not prepared to waste any time before installing her in his home." Dawson was also giving her driving lessons, and one day while they were in the car, he professed his love and kissed her. By the time she left school, they were in a sexual relationship and he had become infatuated with her, the court heard.

It's highly unusual for a journalist to pursue someone he thinks has been involved in foul play by publishing a popular podcast. But the trial verdict will ...

But it’s highly unusual for a journalist to pursue someone he thinks has been involved in foul play, and to do so by publishing a popular podcast that presents a particular view of the facts in dispute. While such a conversation is not damning of a prosecution case, it can be frowned upon for police to engage in familial interviews with persons who have had no direct evidence of the matters at hand and who have formed their own conclusions concerning guilt and innocence. The fearless case mounted by Stewart Cockburn in publishing a series of articles in May 1981 led to a Royal Commission and, finally, Splatt’s exoneration after he had spent more than six years behind bars. It reached an estimated audience of [60 million listeners](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-27/chris-dawson-murder-trial-teachers-pet-hedley-thomas/101186612) in which Thomas presented evidence that he maintained pointed clearly to Dawson’s guilt. Dawson’s defence counsel, Pauline David, argued, to the contrary, that there was no weapon, and nor was there any forensic or scientific evidence of any murder. After an acrimonious divorce, JC went to police and said she believed her former husband had murdered Lynette. Thus he found Dawson guilty of her murder. As he and his editors knew, the podcast would stray perilously close to being so prejudicial as to prevent the trial ever proceeding. Notwithstanding, Dawson’s defence team attempted, unsuccessfully as it turned out, to get a permanent “stay of proceedings” (meaning the prosecution is halted in its tracks) on the basis that the podcast was so prejudicial that their client would not be able to get a fair trial. [without the benefit of a jury](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-02/chris-dawson-to-face-judge-alone-murder-trial/101031408) because of a perception that the publicity in the lead up to Dawson being charged was so prejudicial that a jury could not have been able to exercise their fact-finding without bias. The podcast was taken offline in 2019 to avoid prejudicing the trial and influencing potential prosecution witnesses. The prosecution case was that Dawson murdered Lynette so he could have an “unfettered” relationship with JC whom he had met when she was a year 11 student.

Dawson, 73, pleaded not guilty to murdering his first wife Lynette, who disappeared on Sydney's northern beaches in January 1982. Although the case against him ...

He said circumstantial evidence suggested Ms Dawson was "in good spirits" and "optimistic" about her marriage, and that there was "no strong evidence" Lynette had "some sort of emotional breakdown". In handing down the verdict, Justice Harrison noted Chris Dawson was "once again the only source of information" for this claim. They argued she showed "signs of distress" the day before she disappeared and was so disappointed about her husband's relationship with JC that she "saw no other option" but to leave her entire life behind. But Justice Harrison said the evidence showed Dawson was "obsessed" with JC, and the "relationship" between the teacher and student underwent an "evolution" over a period of more than a year, during which it became "more and more intense". He said he accepted Dawson had become so "distressed" and "frustrated" at the prospect of losing JC, that he resolved to kill Lynette. "The only evidence Mr Dawson received a phone call from Ms Dawson comes from Mr Dawson," he said.

The 74-year-old denied involvement in Lynette Dawson's disappearance from the city's northern beaches in January 1982. During a judge-alone trial in the New ...

He was satisfied that by some time towards the end of 1981, Chris considered his marriage to be in "a state of incipient failure", however he was not satisfied the former teacher was also "physically violent" towards Lynette. But Justice Harrison variously rejected evidence of those sightings as "false", "a fabrication", "extremely fail" or "wholly unreliable". Justice Harrison said he was "not able to be satisfied" such a conversation took place, however, he otherwise found JC's evidence to be "truthful and reliable". JC, who moved into the Dawsons' home and went on to marry him, told the court she was "groomed" by her former teacher and was treated like a "slave" after Lynette vanished. The judge said he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Lynette died as a result of a conscious and voluntary act by Chris with the intention of causing her death. Justice Ian Harrison today said there was "a most compelling" body of evidence to support a rejection of that hypothesis.

Justice Ian Harrison SC has found Chris Dawson had three motives to kill his wife Lynette, finding him guilty of her murder after a marathon five-hour ...

But Justice Harrison said even after Dawson and JC had left together. "Lynette Dawson is dead ... Dawson was silent as he walked into the Sydney Downing Centre on Tuesday morning to hear the judge's final decision. The 33-year-old nurse was last seen on Friday January 8, 1982, when she spoke to her mother on the phone. Justice Harrison told the court on Tuesday he believed none of the five alleged sightings of Lynette Dawson following her death were "genuine" and ruled the mother-of-two was dead – and had not left her home of her own accord. In Justice Harrison's judgment, he said he found that "none of the alleged sightings were a genuine sighting of Ms Dawson". Justice Harrison found JC's evidence to the court to be "truthful and reliable", and said he did not believe the couple's acrimonious break-up had tainted her evidence. Justice Harrison said Dawson and JC were in an "energetic sexual relationship" before and after Lynette's disappearance, and that Dawson was "obsessed" with the teenager. "The heart of the crown's circumstantial case is said to be Dawson's very strong motive that flowed from what it said was his utter infatuation with JC and his desire to be with her," Justice Harrison told the court on Tuesday. JC told the court she had regularly had sex with her former teacher while his wife was asleep or in the shower, and claimed Dawson regularly fed alcoholic drinks to his wife that would make her fall asleep. None of her personal belongings appear to have been taken from the home, which Justice Harrison suggested was "unlikely" in the event Lynette had left of her own accord. Justice Harrison agreed with the crown's argument that Dawson had a deep animosity to his wife, wanted "unfettered" access to his teenage lover and was determined to avoid the financial implications and custodial arguments of a divorce.

During a judge-alone trial in the New South Wales Supreme Court, the Crown alleged he was motivated to kill Lynette in order to have an "unfettered relationship ...

He was satisfied that by some time towards the end of 1981, Chris considered his marriage to be in "a state of incipient failure", however he was not satisfied the former teacher was also "physically violent" towards Lynette. But Justice Harrison variously rejected evidence of those sightings as "false", "a fabrication", "extremely fail" or "wholly unreliable". Justice Harrison said he was "not able to be satisfied" such a conversation took place, however, he otherwise found JC's evidence to be "truthful and reliable". JC, who moved into the Dawsons' home and went on to marry him, told the court she was "groomed" by her former teacher and was treated like a "slave" after Lynette vanished. The judge said he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Lynette died as a result of a conscious and voluntary act by Chris with the intention of causing her death. Justice Ian Harrison today said there was "a most compelling" body of evidence to support a rejection of that hypothesis.

Chris Dawson was charged with the murder of his wife, Lynette, who disappeared in 1982. The case was investigated by the Australian podcast "The Teacher's ...

Dawson has always asserted](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-30/chris-dawson-verdict-live-blog/101385054?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web#live-blog-post-4009), and he still does, his absolute innocence of the crime of which he’s been convicted. He said Lynette was simply “treated as a runaway mother, when the circumstances were so gravely suspicious,” adding that it was “disgraceful.” And he will continue to assert that innocence. He called on Dawson to reveal the location of her remains so she could finally be put to rest. “Her story struck me as so unfair, so unjust, I did become obsessive about it,” he told reporters. Prosecutors alleged Dawson had killed his wife so he would be able to continue his relationship with JC. During the trial, prosecutors said Dawson had been in a relationship with a 16-year-old student of his who was also the family’s babysitter, identified only as “JC” in the trial, at the time of Lynette’s disappearance. Dawson with the intention of causing her death.” However, Harrison noted in his Tuesday judgment, it was probable that the series affected some of the evidence in the case. “When regard is had to their combined force, I am left in no doubt.” Dawson said his wife had chosen to abandon their family. Dawson, 74, a former teacher and rugby player, has long maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to his wife’s murder.

Justice Ian Harrison found Dawson was obsessed with the family's babysitter JC and so distressed at the prospect of losing her he 'resolved to kill his ...

“My opinion about whether the crown has proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Dawson murdered his wife is … The material, Harrison found, “contained lies and omissions that were intended to create by themselves, but also in combination, an impression that … The lies were designed “to deflect all or any attention away” from Dawson’s involvement in the death, Harrison found. This occurred in the context of her spending time on the trip with people her own age, including boys, at a time when the relationship was in flux, Harrison said. Dawson said his wife had called him multiple times after she disappeared, including on 9, 10 and 15 January. They were in a relationship and JC was also a live-in babysitter for the Dawsons’ two girls, two and four.

The story of Lynette Dawson's murder is notable not merely because it is sensationally grisly and impossibly sad.

Produced by Slade Gibson and published by the Australian newspaper in 2018, the dogged investigation made sophisticated use of the podcast format and earned an audience in the tens of millions. The world has even changed in less than 20 years. The claims of men who are described by those who knew them as “a monster, a domineering control freak”, are not believed as they once were. Chris Dawson did not give evidence at the trial. But the world has changed in 40 years. Lynette disappeared from their Sydney home in 1982 and her body has never been found.