Chris Dawson jailed for murder of his wife after hit podcast ‘The Teacher’s Pet’ helped reopen the case

A former Australian high school teacher who was the subject of the hit podcast “The Teacher’s Pet” has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for the murder of his wife 40 years ago.

Lynette Dawson, a mother of two, disappeared in January 1982 at the age of 33.

The unsolved case against her husband Christopher Dawson was reopened after veteran Australian investigative journalist Hedley Thomas’s 2018 podcast rocked the nation and put pressure on police to reopen their investigation.

The hugely popular series was titled “The Teacher’s Pet” because Dawson, while working as a PE teacher on Sydney’s northern beaches, had an affair with one of his teenage students, whom he moved into his home just days after Lynette’s disappearance.

The girl even wore Lynette’s clothes and her wedding rings. They later married, had children of their own, and divorced.

A 2003 investigation had recommended that Dawson be charged with Lynette’s murder, but prosecutors declined to do so, citing a lack of evidence.

“Dawson spent 36 years in the community until his arrest, untainted by the stigma of a conviction for the killing of his wife or any punishment for it,” New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison said during sentencing on Friday.

“In practical terms, it has obviously been to his advantage to deny responsibility for this crime.”

Dawson’s lawyer Greg Walsh said he intends to appeal the ruling.

“Our legal system and our democracy are based on the presumption of innocence,” he told the media on Friday. “He insists on his innocence.”

Lynette’s brother, Greg Simms, said the family welcomed the verdict.

“We respect and thank Judge Harrison for his verdict and hope that Chris Dawson has a long life to serve his sentence,” he told the media.

Dawson will be eligible for parole in 2040, when he is 92 years old.

Dan Doherty, a homicide detective involved in the prosecution, said while the verdict was a comfort to the family, the case was not closed because Lynette’s body had not been found.

In August, the Supreme Court found that Dawson had intentionally killed his wife in January 1982 in order to have a relationship with the underage student with whom he was having an affair.

Dawson, now 74, claimed his wife had left him – a defense that Harrison considered illusory.

Lawyers for Dawson, who was tried without a jury due to the publicity of the case, argued that the podcast produced by News Corp.’s The Australian newspaper had denied him a fair trial because of the way it was portrayed.

Harrison agreed that the podcast – a number one hit that the newspaper said had been downloaded over 50 million times – had cast a bad light on the show, but played no role in the verdict.