The Teacher's Trial

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Episode 12 - Sue

Sue Strath is that rare, loyal friend who never turns away, who never gives up. Her efforts to poke and prod police into action over the disappearance of Lyn Dawson makes Sue one of the few heroines of a tragic story. Sue kept agitating for 16 years, although she was sure that Lyn was dead. The facts and chronology of the case show that Sue's persistence caused the police investigation in the late 1990s which led to much of the evidence presented in the murder trial. Sue was in the witness box a...

Jul 22, 2022•59 min

Episode 11 - The Defence Closes

Chris Dawson is a man of good character, badly let down by police and unfairly tainted over the disappearance of his wife: that's the essence of the Defence's closing address on behalf of the accused. Finally, the court got to hear Dawson's side of the story. Through barrister Pauline David, he admitted having behaved 'horribly' towards Lyn by beginning a relationship with babysitter JC, leaving his wife in such despair she walked out and cut off all contact with her family. We heard from a surp...

Jul 15, 2022•2 hr 53 min

Episode 10 - The Crown Closes

Obsessed with teenage babysitter JC, Christopher Dawson murdered his wife Lyn in terror of losing what he so deeply desired. That was the powerful thrust of a meticulous and forensic closing address, delivered over two days by Crown prosecutor Craig Everson SC. Everson said Dawson made four separate plans to escape his marriage before ultimately killing Lyn, disposing of her body and racing to South West Rocks to collect JC and install her in the family home, wearing Lyn's clothes and her rings....

Jul 08, 2022•1 hr 9 min

Episode 9 - ’She Took Off’

Police taps on Chris Dawson’s phone in 2018 as episodes of The Teacher’s Pet were unfolding reveal him and his twin brother Paul raging over the former babysitter-cum-wife JC, as well as journalists, TV crews and homicide cop Damian Loone. In one intercept Chris discloses he was still hearing from Lyn some ‘six or eight weeks’ after she disappeared - although in 1982 he told police his contact with Lyn ceased after a week. He says of Lyn: 'she took off'. The evidentiary value of bruises describe...

Jul 03, 2022•1 hr 6 min

Episode 8 - The Reporter And The Cop

Hedley Thomas, the award-winning journalist behind The Teacher's Pet podcast, enters the witness box in the trial's eighth week. Thomas mounts a fiery defence of investigative journalism amid a fierce cross-examination by defence barrister Pauline David. Detective Damian Loone also returns to the witness box for a grilling over his investigative methods and integrity. The former cop stands firm under the onslaught, defending his actions in seeking justice for Lyn and answers for her family. To r...

Jul 01, 2022•2 hr 48 min

The Front - Daily updates as Hedley Thomas appears at the trial

This week Hedley Thomas will be in the witness box in the trial of Chris Dawson. The Australian's daily news podcast The Front will be publishing daily updates. Search for The Front in your podcast app, and hit the follow or subscribe button to get daily updates on the trial of Chris Dawson and Hedley's appearance as a witness. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 26, 2022•14 min

Episode 7 - Fruit Barn

A retired cop makes an explosive revelation that an unverified and fleeting purported sighting of Lyn Dawson at a fruit barn closed down the first homicide investigation in the early 1990s. The court hears investigative files were left to decay in a damp storage facility, never to be found again. An author and confidante of family babysitter `JC’ speaks of her motivations for writing a book about her friend’s saga with Chris and Lyn Dawson, and her transition from student to teenage bride and “s...

Jun 24, 2022•1 hr 20 min

Episode 6 - Gangland

The names and reputations of Sydney’s most notorious crime figures are connected to Chris Dawson’s murder trial, as the focus turns to the gangland milieu surrounding the Newtown Jets rugby league club. The crown’s criminally-connected witness Robert Silkman speaks of his friendship with heroin trafficker and Newtown teammate Paul Hayward, and his drinking buddy and brother-in-law, psychopathic contract killer Neddy Smith. Silkman’s claims that Dawson asked him to help &l...

Jun 17, 2022•2 hr 36 min

Episode 5 - Intercepted

The voices of Chris and Paul Dawson echo through the court once more as intercepted phone calls from the late '90s are played publicly for the first time. Members of the Dawson family, including twin brother Paul and sister-in-law Marilyn, recall the events leading up to and following Lynette Dawson’s disappearance decades earlier and mount a fierce defence of the accused. The Crown bolsters evidence from former Dawson family babysitter JC, calling on former school friends and fellow ...

Jun 10, 2022•1 hr 24 min

Episode 4 - Sex, Lies and Videotape

The court hears Chris Dawson's story in his own words as video of his first and only police interview on the topic of his wife's disappearance is played in full. His brother, Peter Dawson, remembers the crucial weeks and months following Lynette Dawson's disappearance and a teenage co-worker of JC recounts a frightening encounter with Chris Dawson, who allegedly warned him to stay away from JC. And this decades-old cold case hits a very modern road bump thanks to COVID-19.   To read Th...

Jun 02, 2022•1 hr 17 min

Episode 3 - Bruises

It’s an intense and emotional week in court as Lyn’s workmates and friends tell of a steady deterioration of her marriage to Chris Dawson. Witnesses are tested on allegations of bruising on Lyn and violence and aggression in the home. The evidence takes us from the school grounds of Cromer High to seaside village South West Rocks, to the backdrop of a chart-topping song. To read The Australian's ongoing coverage of the trial search  The Teacher's Trial  or click here. For d...

May 27, 2022•1 hr 23 min

Episode 2 - Groomed

Chris Dawson’s former babysitter “JC” gives evidence that he groomed her, then turned her into his “sex slave” and a substitute mother for his children after his wife Lyn’s sudden disappearance. Lyn’s friend and neighbour Julie Andrew and siblings Greg Simms and Pat Jenkins tell of the trauma of the past 40 years, as their nightmare is brought to life through diaries, letters and photographs. To read The Australian's ongoing coverage of the trial search&...

May 20, 2022•1 hr 26 min

Episode 1 - Court

Four decades after former star footballer and high school teacher Chris Dawson allegedly murdered his wife Lyn, a murder trial her family feared would never happen has begun. The prosecution revealed that a new witness - a former Newtown Jets team-mate of the accused wife killer - will allege Dawson asked him in 1975 to help 'get rid' of Lyn. Dawson strenuously denies wrongdoing. And in the leadup to the trial for the most high profile cold case in Australia's history, judges gave their verdicts...

May 13, 2022•1 hr 3 min

Introduction

From Hedley Thomas and the journalists at The Australian, The Teacher's Trial follows the events in the trial of Chris Dawson, who is accused of the murder of his wife Lynette Dawson. To read The Australian's ongoing coverage of the trial search  The Teacher's Trial  or click here. For daily updates on the trial of Chris Dawson search for  The Front  in your podcast app. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....

May 12, 2022•54 sec

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