Major update in the Teacher’s Pet murder case cracked after the bombshell podcast

An Australian judge has jailed the husband of a Sydney woman whose disappearance was the subject of a popular crime podcast in 1982.

Chris Dawson, 74, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison after the Teacher’s Pet podcast and media interest helped gather evidence against him in connection with Lyn Dawson’s murder 40 years ago.

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A judge ruled that Dawson killed his wife so he could continue his relationship with his teenage lover and babysitter.

Mrs Dawson was just 33 years old when she disappeared from her home in Sydney.

Her body is still missing and all of the evidence at trial was circumstantial.

A 2003 inquest had previously recommended charging Dawson with his wife’s murder, but prosecutors declined, citing a lack of evidence.

However, the cold case against him only resumed after the 2018 podcast put pressure on police to reopen their investigation.

Dawson was eventually found guilty in August of killing Lyn to cover up a secret affair with his babysitter after a seven-week trial with new witnesses and evidence.

Due to the publicity surrounding the case, he was tried without a jury – during which time a series of chilling clues surfaced.

Earlier, NSW Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison said there was “no doubt” that housewife Lyn died sometime around 8 January 1982 “as a result of a conscious or voluntary act on the part of Christopher Dawson”.

And he later threw out claims that Lyn had abandoned her husband and children to disappear without a trace, or that she had been discovered alive trying to contact her husband.

Harrison sentenced him to the New South Wales Supreme Court this week, saying: “Dawson spent 36 years in the community, unchecked by the taint of a conviction for, or punishment for, his wife’s murder, prior to his arrest,” he said.

“In practical terms, his denial of responsibility for this crime has served him well in obvious ways.”

Dawson has pleaded innocent and says he was not involved in his wife’s disappearance.

His lawyer confirmed that he would appeal the verdict.

Dawson is eligible for parole in 2040 – when he is 92 – and the judge has conceded he would likely die in prison.

In a statement, Greg Simms, Lynette Dawson’s brother, said the family welcomed the verdict.

“We respect and thank Judge Harrison for his sentence and hope Chris Dawson has a long life to serve that sentence,” he said.

MYSTERY

In an earlier hearing, the 74-year-old former Sydney rugby league player and teacher was accused of murdering his wife and disposing of her body because he was “in love” with one of his teenage babysitters.

Dawson had entered into a consensual relationship with his babysitter, known only as JC, and had repeatedly asked her to marry him.

JC moved into his home within days of her disappearance and the couple eventually married in 1984 and separated six years later.

Dawson reportedly tried to sell his Bayview home without his wife’s permission and briefly relocated to Queensland to start a new life with JC before returning to Sydney.

Judge Ian Harrison was told Dawson was considering hiring a hitman to get rid of his wife but decided against it because “innocent people would be hurt”.

Dawson, who now lives in Queensland with his third wife, bizarrely claimed he saw Lyn in the background of an episode of the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, which was filmed in Padstow, Cornwall.

Much of The Australian-produced podcast The Teacher’s Pet focuses on Chris Dawson’s relationship with his former student known as JC, with whom he began dating when she was just 16 years old.

Dawson brought the schoolgirl into the family home to look after his and Lyn’s two children while she was still alive.

The husband announced that his student would be staying with them, which reportedly sparked a heated argument.

In a 1998 police interview that appears on the podcast, JC describes how Dawson allegedly took advantage of her and how she eventually agreed to marry him after he continued to harass her.

JC started sharing Dawson’s bed just two days after Lyn’s disappearance.

It took him six weeks to report that his wife was missing and explained her absence by implying she had joined a religious sect.

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