• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Teacher's Pet - the Chris Dawson case

lionking

In the Peanut Gallery
lionking
Joined
Jan 23, 2007
Messages
57,992
Location
Melbourne
I didn't originally post anything about this case because I thought it only resonates in Australia, but I read that "The Teacher's Pet" podcast reached number 1 in the UK, Canada and NZ as well as Australia.

A link to the podcast:

https://player.whooshkaa.com/shows/the-teacher-s-pet

I found the podcast compelling for two main reasons. Firstly, it is a very well investigated and told story. Secondary I was acquainted with the only suspect, Chris Dawson. We played for two different rugby clubs, he for Eastern Suburbs and me for Bondi. Both clubs trained together pre-season. Chris and his twin brother Paul were excellent footballers and very charismatic and I saw a fair bit of them in the early 1970s.

Two different coroners found that Chris Dawson killed his wife Lyn and recommended prosecution, but the Director of Public Prosecution declined to proceed. It seems clear that the DPP gave credence to incorrect testimony (that Lyn had been sighted after her disappearance) and was at the very least negligent in not proceeding. Much of the earlier police investigations also seemed to be tardy and half hearted.

This podcast has uncovered new evidence and I expect Chris Dawson to be charged reasonably soon and finally face a trial.

I have no doubt about his guilt.

This is a marathon podcast, 14 episodes of longer than an hour each. But of all the podcasts I've listened to, I looked forward to this most of all.
 
I haven't got 14 hours to spare, but am interested in this case. Is there a shorter version of Hedley Thomas' work available? I'm curious about his claim to have unearthed evidence which the police didn't have. Does this mean he has full access to police files on the matter? If not, how could he know that he knows stuff the police don't?
 
MikeG said:
I haven't got 14 hours to spare, but am interested in this case. Is there a shorter version of Hedley Thomas' work available? I'm curious about his claim to have unearthed evidence which the police didn't have. Does this mean he has full access to police files on the matter? If not, how could he know that he knows stuff the police don't?
Click to expand...

Hadley got nothing from the police, but he did interview a large number of people, including the coroners who undertook the inquests; teachers who confirmed the Dawson brothers’ predatory behaviour with students (this alone should be subject to police charges); footballers who played with the Dawson’s and on and on. Some of the most illuminating parts were re-enactment of testimony before the coroners (which showed how fiction could become fact if repeated enough). He did an incredibly thorough job.

I found the whole podcast so compelling that the hour went by in a flash. I do spend a lot of time in my car, and this beats anything playing on the radio.
 
lionking said:
I found the podcast compelling for two main reasons. Firstly, it is a very well investigated and told story. Secondary I was acquainted with the only suspect, Chris Dawson. We played for two different rugby clubs, he for Eastern Suburbs and me for Bondi. Both clubs trained together pre-season. Chris and his twin brother Paul were excellent footballers and very charismatic and I saw a fair bit of them in the early 1970s.
Click to expand...
Small world. I was in Chris Dawson's PE class at high school, he was playing for the Newtown Jets at the time.

I hadn't even heard about this until a couple of years ago, and still know next to nothing about it.

lionking said:
This podcast has uncovered new evidence and I expect Chris Dawson to be charged reasonably soon and finally face a trial.
Click to expand...

I'll be listening to this with great interest. Thanks lionking.
 
Last edited:
It's even made the BBC news. That would never have happened without the podcast.
 
MikeG said:
It's even made the BBC news. That would never have happened without the podcast.
Click to expand...
Really Mike? Who would guess that justice would collide with nonsense.

ETA too late I see hard cheese engaged,
serious brain so will retract.
 
Last edited:
Hard Cheese said:
Small world. I was in Chris Dawson's PE class at high school, he was playing for the Newtown Jets at the time.

I hadn't even heard about this until a couple of years ago, and still know next to nothing about it.



I'll be listening to this with great interest. Thanks lionking.
Click to expand...

You would be able to confirm Dawson’s charisma then. Do the allegations surprise you?
 
Samson said:
Really Mike? Who would guess that justice would collide with nonsense.

ETA too late I see hard cheese engaged,
serious brain so will retract.
Click to expand...

What on earth does this tosh mean?
 
lionking said:
You would be able to confirm Dawson’s charisma then. Do the allegations surprise you?
Click to expand...

No and yes. Ours was a rugby school, but in league-mad Sydney of the late 70's, playing first grade rugby league made him a bit of a celebrity with the kids, and he had a kind of rock star charisma to go with it. In hindsight, moving to a girls school was putting the wolf amongst the sheep. What is surprising is that he moves to a school where at least 5 teachers are also allegedly having affairs with female students. It's either an unlucky coincidence, or, shockingly, this sort of behaviour must have been prevalent in schools at the time. Perhaps the surf culture around the beaches made it more likely to exist at Cromer, I don't know. In any case, it seems that arriving at a school where student/teacher relations were somehow embedded in the culture pushed a man with the requisite personality and looks to take advantage of the situation, and he joined in.

Whether that also pushed him over the line of murder remains to be seen; I've only listened to the first 3 episodes. Will comment further as I progress.
 
Samson said:
Hard cheese is worth listening to.
Click to expand...

Whereas me pointing out that this little dig 12000 miles away, not involving any Brits or British interest, was on the BBC, and that this was a result of the podcast, was not worth listening to. Got it.
 
I've finished listening to the podcast from beginning to end. I didn't think much of it at all. Apart from being bloated and very repetitive, it's a completely non-objective look at the case. He starts with his conclusion, then collects science-free "evidence" supporting it - mainly conjecture and speculation from relatives and friends of the (assumed) victim. There's also some egregious conflation with the issue of teacher-pupil relations at Northern Beaches schools, and a lot of coverage of Joanne's relationship with other family members, which is by and large irrelevant.

In light of the result of the dig at the house

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/podcasts/teachers-pet-police-dig-for-lyn-dawson-over-but-the-pursuit-of-justice-carries-on/news-story/1f89217c4b30618d5361ec1ece459702

you'd have to question a lot of what he presented. The "soft soil" he kept banging on about turned out to be worthless "new evidence" - it's not possible to bury a body there. They didn't find any evidence of her on the property, which makes Dawson's questioning the new owner about where they were digging not so suspicious; ditto all the interviewees who were "sure" she was buried under the pool. Not to mention the psychic in episode 14 - that was comedy gold. IMO the neighbour who said the ground was too rocky was probably right, and she was never buried on the property at all - which explains the lack of forensic evidence and a null return from the cadaver dogs.

It also brings into question the cardigan, again treated without much logic. If her body isn't under the pool, and it has cuts in it claimed to be consistent with stabbing, surely she would therefore have had to have been wearing it at the time? Why isn't there blood all over it, or at the very least, a DNA match for Lyn? But there was no DNA match. And if her body isn't under the pool, why would he remove the stabbed cardigan from the body, lift the pavers around the pool, and bury just the cardigan separately from the body? Apparently he's able to hide her body successfully for 35 years without discovery, but not the cardigan he killed her in :rolleyes:

Not that I'm saying Chris Dawson is innocent. IMO he arranged the killing but was likely handled by a third party, who told him to say Lynette had run off. This gave him an excuse of plausible deniability, and explains the lack of forensice evidence on his property. His claims of phone calls and Bankcard spending after she had disappeared don't hold much water, but given the lack of investigation by the police, remain unlikely but impossible to disprove. I think it's just one of those cases where the alleged perpetrator has had a magical slice of luck - apathy from the police, combined with apathy from the victim's family, and the passage of time in which evidence is lost and witnesses pass away.

In saying that, I do defend his right to innocent until proven guilty. As long as the DPP are sitting on the pot, he should have this right - without trial by a social media kangaroo court and well-meaning amateur investigators.

EDIT: I had a sudden notion that I might still have an old school report from him. I do - I forgot he was our year master in 1977.

"Congratulations Hard Cheese on an outstanding effort. Keep up the good work in Year 8. C. Dawson"

That was a nice comment. In later school years, that would read like one of the highlights. Most of my teachers said that I was a sadpacker wasting my talents, and on the road to failure.
 
Last edited:
Quite harsh. Did you ignore the comments by police investigators and former coroners before dismissing “amateur investigators”? And also the comments by current police investigators that there is enough evidence without a body?

This still has a long way to go, and I’m convinced that Dawson will finally face a trial by jury.
 
lionking said:
Quite harsh. Did you ignore the comments by police investigators and former coroners before dismissing “amateur investigators”? And also the comments by current police investigators that there is enough evidence without a body?
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, I put myself firmly in the category of "amateur investigator" as well. I thought that the interviews with police and legal representatives were the most interesting in the podcast, because there was at least some semblance of objectivity and pragmatism. One said something to the effect of "there's a big gap between what we think, and what we can prove", which was the most sensible thing said in the whole podcast. Statements from relative and family were mostly conjecture, often preceded by "I know", "she would have never", and in one case that made me laugh, "I reckon". Which is completely understandable, but I'd never want to see anyone go to jail based on that sort of evidence, despite how likely it seems.

I find it hard to believe the police statement "there is enough evidence to proceed without a body". If there was, after two recommendations from coronial enquiries, the DPP would have done so already. Also the police have supposedly been working on the re-opened case for the last three years...if that statement were true they would have charged him already.

lionking said:
This still has a long way to go, and I’m convinced that Dawson will finally face a trial by jury.
Click to expand...
Oh, I'm sure you're right. But I'd like to think it wasn't social media and a podcast pressuring the DPP into a case where, partly because of their coverage, the defendant is unlikely to get an impartial jury and a fair trial.
 
Hard Cheese said:
Don't get me wrong, I put myself firmly in the category of "amateur investigator" as well. I thought that the interviews with police and legal representatives were the most interesting in the podcast, because there was at least some semblance of objectivity and pragmatism. One said something to the effect of "there's a big gap between what we think, and what we can prove", which was the most sensible thing said in the whole podcast. Statements from relative and family were mostly conjecture, often preceded by "I know", "she would have never", and in one case that made me laugh, "I reckon". Which is completely understandable, but I'd never want to see anyone go to jail based on that sort of evidence, despite how likely it seems.

I find it hard to believe the police statement "there is enough evidence to proceed without a body". If there was, after two recommendations from coronial enquiries, the DPP would have done so already. Also the police have supposedly been working on the re-opened case for the last three years...if that statement were true they would have charged him already.

Oh, I'm sure you're right. But I'd like to think it wasn't social media and a podcast pressuring the DPP into a case where, partly because of their coverage, the defendant is unlikely to get an impartial jury and a fair trial.
Click to expand...

The podcast addressed this. There was poor, perhaps corrupt, policing in the past and there are questions about the behaviour of the DPP.

The other thing I’m convinced will occur is that the Education Department will investigate abuse of students by the Dawsons and others. I expect charges to arise from this.
 
lionking said:
The podcast addressed this. There was poor, perhaps corrupt, policing in the past
Click to expand...
Sure, but as far as I can see there's been no compelling new evidence uncovered since those two enquiries. What would you say was the important "new evidence" uncovered by the podcast that changes the case between 2001/2003 and today?

lionking said:
and there are questions about the behaviour of the DPP.
Click to expand...
Behaviour of the DPP, or frustration at the lack of transparency? The only questionable thing I heard was the possible conflict of interest re Lloyd Babb, which was a bizarre coincidence but ultimately ruled out (not particularly well, mind you)

lionking said:
The other thing I’m convinced will occur is that the Education Department will investigate abuse of students by the Dawsons and others. I expect charges to arise from this.
Click to expand...
I would hope so too. It's not particularly germane to whether or not Chris Dawson murdered his wife, though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom