An Australian teacher has been found guilty of murdering his wife 40 years ago while having an affair with his teenage student.
Christopher Dawson, 74, was convicted in the judge-only trial of killing wife Lynette in January 1982, after the hit true crime podcast series Teacher’s Pet triggered renewed public interest in the case.
A 2003 inquest had recommended charging Christopher Dawson with his wife’s murder but prosecutors declined, citing a lack of evidence.
Australian teacher Christopher Dawson has been found guilty of murdering his wife 40 years ago while having an affair with his teenage student
The former teacher was convicted in the judge-only trial of killing wife Lynette in January 1982 (pictured together)
Today, Supreme Court judge Ian Harrison found Dawson deliberately killed his wife to pursue a relationship with a teenage student he was having an affair with, known as JC, and who had babysat and lived in his Sydney home.
JC told the court repeatedly Dawson had ‘groomed’ her, then ‘installed’ her in the house and the marital bed, where she became ‘a sex slave’, as well as housekeeper and mother to his two daughters, before a divorce.
Lynette’s body has never been found and Dawson has maintained his innocence, saying she left him and subsequently telephoned him to say she needed space, but the judge called his defence fanciful and riddled with lies.
The judge noted there was no record of Lynette contacting family or friends since her disappearance, nor of making credit card payments or working.
Dawson’s lawyer, Greg Walsh, told reporters outside court that his client would appeal the conviction.
‘I can confirm that it’s probable of course that he will appeal against his conviction,’ he said outside of court.
‘Mr Dawson has always asserted, and he still does, his absolute innocence of the crime of which he’s been convicted.
Dawson deliberately killed his wife to pursue a relationship with a teenage student he was having an affair with (pictured together), court ruled
‘And he will continue to assert that innocence. And he’ll certainly appeal.’
Police charged Dawson with Lynette’s murder in 2018, four months after the final episode of Teacher’s Pet, which criticised the law enforcement response to her disappearance and featured multiple witness interviews.
Harrison, the judge, noted that the case against Dawson had been wholly circumstantial since Lynette’s body had never been found and there was no known cause, location or exact time of death.
But the combination of small pieces of evidence, including inconsistencies in Dawson’s defence, was persuasive and compelling, he said.
‘I am left in no doubt, I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, that the only inference is that Lynette Dawson died … as a result of a conscious and voluntary act by Mr Dawson with the effect of causing her death.’
When police reopened their investigation they said only that it was because new witnesses had come forward, but media reports said law enforcement sources confirmed they were motivated by publicity generated by the Teachers Pet, which has been downloaded 30 million times.
Dawson’s defence argued that the podcast, produced by News Corp’s The Australian newspaper, denied him a fair trial because of the way he was depicted.
Harrison agreed the podcast had cast Dawson in a negative light but said he did not factor that into his verdict.
Dawson, who was on bail, was taken into custody while he awaits sentencing.
In his decision, Justice Harrison said that potentially losing JC in early 1982 was a motive for murder: ‘I am satisfied he resolved to kill his wife’, and that there was also the financial motive of potentially losing his investments.
Chris Dawson arrives at the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday to hear the verdict from Justice Harrison on his trial for the murder of his wife Lynnette in 1982
Lyn’s brother Greg Simms and his wife Merilyn are seen outside court on Tuesday
‘The evidence does not reveal how he killed Lynette Dawson, nor where her body is now,’ he said.
He said that the accused told a series of lies about his wife still being alive after her disappearance and about his missing her afterwards.
Lynette’s brother Greg Simms said his sister had been ‘betrayed by the man she loved’, and plead for her killer to reveal where her body is.
‘This is a milestone in our journey of advocating for Lyn, however the journey is not complete, she is still missing,’ he said outside court after the verdict was handed down.
‘We still need to bring her home, we’d ask Chris Dawson to find it in himself to finally do the decent thing and allow us to bring Lynnette home to a peaceful rest, showing her the dignity she deserves.’
Reading through his written reasons for his verdict, Justice Harrison described some of the evidence in Dawson’s defence during the trial as ‘fanciful, absurd and lies’.
‘I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt Lynette Dawson never telephoned Christopher Dawson after 8 January 1982 and … that she did not leave her home voluntarily,’ Justice Harrison said.
Dawson was described during a summary of the crown case by His Honour as ‘an unfaithful and violent man’.
The judge also said one of Dawson’s relatives, his brother-in-law Ross Hutchins, had falsified an alleged sighting he had made of Lynette at Gladesville, just months after her disappearance, and that the sighting was a ‘fabrication’.
Discounting all other alleged sightings, His Honour said: ‘I am satisfied that none of the sightings were genuine.
‘She was not mentally unstable, she adored her children…she was still hopeful. She was still talking in affectionate terms about her unfaithful husband.
‘That she would step from her husband’s car … and decide to evaporate forever is not a reasonable possibility. The proposition is ludicrous.’
Justice Harrison also found that Dawson’s accounts of purported phone calls from his wife after her disappearance ‘beyond reasonable doubt … are lies’.
Dawson has been found guilty of murdering his wife Lyn
Chris Dawson with his daughter in the 1970s, when he was married to first wife Lynnette a few years before her mysterious 1982 disappearance
Chris Dawson’s daughter Shanelle – who was four years old when her mother vanished – showed her support by attending her father’s Sunshine Coast home at the weekend before he flew out to meet his fate
The judge described the evidence of the schoolgirl babysitter JC, with whom Dawson had an affair as mostly reliable, and that her account of being groomed for a sexual relationship as believable.
Dawson gave JC secret love notes when she was a schoolgirl half his age, and he later violently ripped off her G-string and left her ‘fearing for her life’.
Speaking in a strident and at times angry voice, the onetime babysitter to Dawson’s children – who slept in his wife’s marital bed days after she was murdered – defiantly refused to accept she was anything other than a ‘groomed’ child.
At times, JC just gave Dawson’s lawyer Pauline David’s pointed suggestions about her intentions toward Dawson in the early 80s a forceful ‘NO’.
At other times JC made scathing suggestions about Dawson’s pursuit of her as a schoolgirl.
She described the romance between 32-year-old teacher Dawson and 16-year-old student JC as a ‘relationship’ and asked her if Dawson was like a boyfriend to her.
But JC countered: ‘It wasn’t a relationship. I object to that … I was a child!’
‘The grooming process started very early on in 1980 – I suppose he felt like a boyfriend even though he was twice my age – it wasn’t an equal partnership, it was a power imbalance.’
Ms David asked: ‘You wanted an exclusive relationship (with Dawson)?’
JC replied: ‘I wanted him to leave me alone.’
The judge said that Dawson’s contention that his sexual relationship with JC did not recommence in 1982 until April of that year ‘cannot be true’.
‘She had been swept up … and was confused and conflicted,’ he said and found that JC’s evidence had not been corrupted by her subsequent divorce from him years later.
However Justice Harrison rejected the evidence of JC, and of a former football team mate Robert Silkman, that the accused had conversations with them about hiring ‘a hitman’ to murder Lynette.
Justice Harrison said the crown had established beyond reasonable doubt that Dawson determined he would leave the relationship with his wife and enter a substituted relationship with JC.
He added he found the account by Lynette’s next door neighbour, Julie Andrew, of seeing Dawson pushing Lynnette up against a trampoline and screaming at her shortly before she went missing to be true.
The creepy obsession that brought down Chris Dawson: How schoolgirl who swam topless in their pool turned on The Teacher’s Pet killer
By Candace Sutton and Padraig Collins for Daily Mail Australia
Teacher Chris Dawson, who has been found guilty of murdering his wife Lynette 40 years ago, wanted ‘unfettered’ access to his teenage lover, known as ‘JC’ for legal reasons.
Dawson, 74, was found guilty by Justice Ian Harrison in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday, finally answering a mystery that haunted Lynette’s family for four decades.
There were gasps in the courtroom when Dawson was found guilty, after Justice Ian Harrison spent 4.5 hours reading out his reasons before getting to the verdict.
In dramatic testimony during the judge-only trial, JC, who swam topless in Dawson’s pool, told the court she had been Dawson’s ‘sex slave’ in events that took place in Bayview, on Sydney’s northern beaches.
Dawson gave JC secret love notes when she was a schoolgirl half his age, and he later violently ripped off her G-string and left her ‘fearing for her life’.
Speaking in a strident and at times angry voice, the onetime babysitter to Dawson’s children – who slept in his wife’s marital bed days after she was murdered – defiantly refused to accept she was anything other than a ‘groomed’ child.
The Crown claims Dawson killed his wife Lynette (pictured together) to pursue an affair with JC, who is half his age
Dawson’s lawyer Pauline David suggested to JC during cross examination her relationship with her teacher was romantic (Chris Dawson and JC on their wedding day)
The now middle-aged woman, who became Dawson’s second wife, rejected suggestions she wanted Lynette Dawson dead, or out of the picture, so she could pursue her romance with Chris Dawson, who sat just metres away as she gave testimony.
He listened as JC claimed Dawson had at one point treated her like a ‘prisoner’ and his ‘slave and sex slave’.
At times, JC just gave Dawson’s lawyer Pauline David’s pointed suggestions about her intentions toward Dawson in the early 80s a forceful ‘NO’.
At other times JC made scathing suggestions about Dawson’s pursuit of her as a schoolgirl.
Ms David claimed, and it was denied, that it may have been JC who had betrayed Lynette.
She described the romance between 32-year-old teacher Dawson and 16-year-old student JC as a ‘relationship’ and asked her if Dawson was like a boyfriend to her.
But JC countered: ‘It wasn’t a relationship. I object to that … I was a child!’
‘The grooming process started very early on in 1980 – I suppose he felt like a boyfriend even though he was twice my age – it wasn’t an equal partnership, it was a power imbalance.’
Ms David asked: ‘You wanted an exclusive relationship (with Dawson)?’
JC replied: ‘I wanted him to leave me alone.’
The babysitter, who later married Dawson and is known legally as JC, is pictured holding their daughter with his two children he had with Lynette
David asked: ‘Did you ever say to Lynette Dawson on any occasion you wanted to get rid of her, or convey to Lynette Dawson that you wanted to have her out of the way so you could have an exclusive relationship with Chris Dawson?’
‘Absolutely not,’ JC said.
Other suggestions, such as that JC may have made up a story about a hit man, were rubbished as ‘ridiculous’.
Ms David tried to shoot down every point JC had made in her evidence, including her assertion Dawson called his wife ‘Fatso’ and sang cruel songs about her unattractiveness behind her back.
Ms David said: ‘He referred to her as Fatso, rather than her name – I suggest that it is a lie.’
JC replied that ‘He did, often.’
Ms David said: ‘That is not a lie? It’s your mission to destroy Mr Dawson?’
JC said: ‘No.’
JC on the day she left Sydney with Chris Dawson to start a new life in December 1981
JC, who was brought into the family home as a babysitter, is pictured colouring in with Lynette’s two daughters
JC, pictured in recent years, told the court she was a ‘groomed child’ and refused suggestions she wanted Lynette out of the home
Asked by Ms David whether she had a ‘healthy and loving relationship’ with Dawson, she said she’d never had any previous relationship to compare it with.
‘I don’t think I was ever an adult in that relationship. I didn’t make any decisions. They were made for me under threat of violence every day,’ she said.
JC also denied she had gone ‘out of her way to find time’ to be with Chris Dawson as a schoolgirl or that he had initially had an ‘entirely appropriate teacher-student relationship’ with her.
‘I think his behaviour towards me was inappropriate for a teacher’.
Chris Dawson, 74, has been found guilty of murdering his ex-wife Lynette Dawson 40 years ago
Dawson told JC his wife Lyn (above with their daughter) had voluntarily left the marital home but JC found her diamond rings and a wardrobe full of her clothing, the court heard
Asked if she fell in love with Mr Dawson, she said it was ‘after he groomed me and abused me and insisted that I marry him.’
David: ‘He fell in love with you and you fell in love with him?’.
JC: ‘Not so much, I was a child.’
Asked if Dawson had ‘developed genuine affection towards you that was not of a sexual nature’, JC insisted it ‘absolutely was’.
Asked whether she was making up ‘lies’ to try to destroy Chris Dawson, JC replied, ‘I’m not going to destroy him.
‘He will destroy himself for what he has done to people, to me and to Lyn.’
