GUILTY AT LAST

THE TRIAL THAT HAS GRIPPED THE NATION REACHED A STUNNING CONCLUSION WITH A GUILTY VERDICT

- Michael Crooks

A few days after mother-of-two Lynette Dawson went missing in early 1982, her husband Chris Dawson ushered their 18-year-old babysitter, known only as JC, into the family home in Sydney's Northern Beaches. Walking inside the master bedroom, JC noticed that the wardrobe was "bursting" with Lyn's clothes, the underwear drawer was full and Lyn's jewellery, including her wedding rings, were still there neatly stored in a small basket. Dawson, a teacher who became infatuated with JC when she was still a teenage student at his school, now wanted her to live with him and the children and told her she could have whatever she wanted of Lyn's belongings.

“I said, ‘Where’s Lyn? When’s she coming back? Have you heard anything?’” JC told the NSW Supreme Court during Dawson’s trial earlier this year. “He would say, ‘Oh, she’s been seen in the Central Coast.’”

It was one of the many lies Dawson spread in the aftermath of killing his 33year-old wife on or about January 8, 1982, that would ultimately bring him down.

In finding him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on August 30, Justice Ian Harrison accepted the Crown case that Dawson, 74, killed Lynette in order to pursue an unfettered relationship with JC, who Dawson groomed to be his lover since meeting her as a student.

Justice Harrison said Dawson had lied about receiving telephone calls from Lynette in the days and weeks after her disappearance. He also dismissed evidence of various sightings of Lynette in the years following, saying they were not “genuine sightings”.

The case has gripped the nation and made headlines overseas, thanks in large part to a hugely popular podcast The Teacher’s Pet by journalist Hedley Thomas.