On 30 August the New South Wales Supreme Court found Chris Dawson, 74, guilty of murdering his wife, Lynette, in 1982. At the time Dawson was having an affair with a high school student he taught named JC. The court heard that in January 1982 Dawson picked up JC and told her: “Lyn’s gone, she’s not coming back, come back to Sydney and help look after the kids and live with me.” He has not yet been sentenced.
Before the case was reopened the murder of Lynette, whose body was never found, was the topic of a chart-topping podcast in 2018 called The Teacher’s Pet, by the Australian journalist Hedley Thomas. In it, Thomas exposed the failings of police and prosecutors, who did not charge Dawson at the time despite coroner’s reports that Lynette was most probably dead and that he was a suspect. His conviction is not only vindication for Lynette and her friends and family, but for the podcast’s dedicated following.
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