Following a reopened police investigation that was sparked by a well-known podcast, an Australian man was found guilty on Tuesday of killing his wife 40 years before. The 74-year-old Christopher Dawson might get a life sentence.
Due to his fame from “The Teacher’s Pet” podcast, which 60 million people have listened to since 2018, he chose to have a judge preside over his trial in the state Supreme Court of New South Wales as opposed to a jury. The podcast presented evidence that Dawson had killed his wife Lynette.
Four months after the podcast’s conclusion, according to the Reuters news agency, Dawson was charged. Reuters quotes the authorities as saying that additional witnesses had come forward.
Greg Simms, Lynette’s brother, pleaded with his brother-in-law to divulge the location of her remains outside of court.
“The trip is not over yet. She has not been found. She has to be sent home, still. To finally act honorably and for us to return Lyn home to a quiet rest, we would implore Chris Dawson “said Simms.
According to Justice Ian Harrison, Dawson murdered his wife in 1982. At the time, Dawson was a high school teacher who had a sexual connection with J.C., a teenage former pupil who also looked after his two kids.
The court concluded that the husband murdered his wife out of concern for his lover’s safety.
Harrison ruled out the idea that the woman left her husband and kids and disappeared without a trace. Additionally, he denied rumors that the wife had made touch with her husband or that she had been seen alive after January 1982.
According to the court, all circumstantial evidence indicates that Lynette Dawson is deceased, that she passed away on or around January 8, 1982, and that she did not willingly leave her house.
On August 30, 2022, Christopher Dawson appears in Sydney, Australia at the New South Wales State Supreme Court. Getty Images/Lisa Maree Williams
The woman was no “shrinking violet,” had little money to support herself, but had a close bond with her husband and kids. The judge thus disregarded the theory that she had just the clothing on her back when she departed.
The court stated, “The idea is absurd.
Harrison concluded that Dawson had lied about the phone calls he claimed to have received from his wife after her abduction in his grounds for the guilty finding.
Dawson and J.C. wed in 1984, although they later divorced.