The Teacher's Trial

Two coroners examined Lyn Dawson’s disappearance and recommended a ‘known person’ - her husband Chris - be charged with her murder. We delve into how the inquests unfolded, finding out what one of the coroners had to say when Chris, his twin brother Paul, and Paul’s wife Marilyn did not attend. And we explore the interaction between podcasting and the criminal justice system, talking to two women who turned to audio investigations after all else failed, with remarkable results...

We revisit the volatile decade that was the 1970s, Chris and Paul Dawson’s heyday. They were at the peak of their celebrity as well known sporting figures and male models, exploiting the novelty of being identical twins in everything they did. Many years later as police close in over Lyn’s suspected murder, phone-taps capture more conversations between the brothers and within the Dawson clan...

From bewildered to furious, Chris and Paul Dawson vent their true feelings in tapped phone calls over two decades, as the lingering mystery of Lyn’s disappearance draws the attention of police, journalists and the wider world. Retired detective inspector of homicide Gary Jubelin takes us inside the emotion and suspense of a murder trial, and defence lawyer Karen Espiner breaks down the tactical decisions and judicial process at play...

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...

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...

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...

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'...

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...

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.

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...