Cold case podcast suspect convicted of 1982 murder

IT WAS an Australian true crime podcast that transfixed a nation and attracted a global audience of millions.

And yesterday, the teacher it accused of killing his wife after forming a relationship with a schoolgirl more than 40 years ago was found guilty of murder.

The case against Chris Dawson, now 74, stemmed from the disappearance of his wife Lynette, 33, from her Sydney home in January 1982.

The verdict concludes a cold case that has gripped Australia since the 2018 podcast, Teacher’s Pet, put pressure on police to revisit their inquiry.

When Dawson, a PE teacher, invited a 16-year-old pupil to babysit for the couple’s two daughters, Lynette became suspicious but did not want to destroy her marriage. The podcast heard how Dawson claimed Lynette rang him to say she had gone away for a few days and “not to worry about her”, because she needed to be by herself.

Soon afterwards, he moved his teenage lover into the marital bed. There has been no sighting of Lynette since then.

Although no body was found, inquests were held in 2001 and 2003 both of which recommended that Dawson be charged with murder. However, the Director of Public Prosecutions decided there was insufficient evidence. In 2015, police decided to reopen the case and, three years later, provided the DPP with a new brief of evidence.

Police charged Dawson in 2018, four months after the final episode of the podcast, which slated the law enforcement response to Lynette’s disappearance and featured witness interviews.

Outside New South Wales supreme court, Greg Walsh, Dawson’s lawyer, told reporters his client would appeal.