Man who killed his wife to pursue relationship with teenage babysitter found guilty of murder

An Australian man has been found guilty of murdering his wife 40 years ago after a popular podcast triggered a new police investigation.

Chris Dawson, 74, was accused of killing Lynette Dawson in January 1982, but her body was never found and Dawson has maintained that he was not involved in her disappearance.

The case gained public attention in 2018, after it was featured in The Teacher’s Pet, a true-crime podcast, and pressure grew to reopen the investigation.

The podcast set out a circumstantial case that the ex-rugby league player had murdered his wife.

On Tuesday, New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison found the former high school teacher guilty of deliberately killing his wife to pursue a relationship with a teenage former student, who had babysat his two daughters at his home in Sydney.

In 2018, media reports, citing police sources, suggested the investigation was reopened after the publicity generated by the podcast, which has been downloaded 30 million times.

However, police said at the time that it reopened the investigation after new witnesses came forward.

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Dawson opted for a trial by judge instead of a jury, with his defence team saying the podcast, which 60 million people have listened to, denied him a fair trial because of how he was depicted.

The judge agreed the podcast had painted Dawson in a negative light, but said he did not factor that into his verdict.

In 2003, an inquest had recommended charging Dawson with murder, but prosecutors declined, citing a lack of evidence.

Dawson, who made over 50 appearances for Newtown Jets in the 70s, maintained his wife left him and told him over the phone that she needed space, but the judge called his defence fanciful and riddled with lies.

Judge Harrison said that there is no record of Mrs Dawson contacting family or friends since her disappearance.

Greg Walsh, who is Dawson’s lawyer, said after the verdict that his client would appeal against the decision.

Police charged Dawson in 2018, four months after the final episode of the podcast, which was critical of their response to Mrs Dawson’s disappearance.

The judge noted that the case had been circumstantial since Mrs Dawson’s body was never found and there was no known cause, location or time of death.

But he said that a combination of small pieces of evidence, including inconsistencies in Dawson’s defence, was persuasive.

“I am left in no doubt, I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, that the only inference is that Lynette Dawson died… as a result of a conscious and voluntary act by Mr Dawson with the effect of causing her death,” he said.

Dawson, who was on bail, was taken into custody.

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