Podcast helped nail wife-killer free for 40 years

Fiend jailed after global hit series put cold case of missing Lynette Simms in spotlight

- GAIL SHORTLAND

He wed JC after his first wife vanished

Lynette Joy Simms and Chris Dawson started out as childhood sweethearts and ended up as a crime case that would grip Australia for 40 years.

They met at school when they were both 16 and married five years later, having two daughters. Dawson had a twin brother and between 1972 and 1976, they both played professional rugby league football for the Newtown Jets. After their sporting careers ended, the brothers became PE teachers.

Dawson worked at Cromer High School, near Sydney, and settled with Lynette in Bayview on the city's northern beaches. Towards the end of 1981, he asked Lynette if one of his pupils could stay with them occasionally, so she could concentrate on her studies. The 16-year-old, known as JC, had baby-sat for the Dawsons and was having issues at home with a violent family member. Lynette agreed. Their daughters were two and four, and the 33-year-old had a strong maternal instinct to look after others.

Lynette and Dawson met at high school aged 16

On 8 January 1982, Lynette called her mum and arranged to meet her and other family members the next day at Northbridge Baths, a tidal swimming area where Dawson was a part-time lifeguard. But she never showed up.

When they spoke to Dawson, he said he'd dropped his wife at a bus stop earlier that day, so she could return some clothes. He said she'd then called him and said she needed some "time away", so she'd gone up the coast to visit friends.

It was out of character for Lynette to leave her children, but Dawson insisted she was still in touch with him. Meanwhile, the day after Lynette vanished, JC moved in with Dawson permanently. It turned out he'd been having a sexual relationship with the teen.

The couple had two children