Australian (74) who was exposed by popular podcast sentenced to 24 years in prison for murdering his wife | Abroad

Chris Dawson, who worked as a high school teacher, has been found guilty of murdering his wife Lynette Dawson. According to judge Ian Harrison, Dawson was driven by his crush on a 16-year-old student who was also his children’s babysitter. Chris would later marry her. He saw her as his wife’s “replacement”.

Because Lynette’s body was never found, her disappearance remained a mystery for a long time. According to Chris, Lynette, who was 33 in 1982, left him and their young children without explanation, possibly to join a religious cult. However, she left behind all her belongings, including her jewelry and even her contact lenses, which raised questions with journalist Hedley Thomas, who devoted the podcast ‘The Teacher’s Pet’ to the case. When the podcast became popular worldwide, the Australian police reopened the investigation.

The journalist eventually made a breakthrough with his podcast: Chris Dawson is said to have killed his wife. In 2018 he was arrested. In the hope that media attention would subside, the trial was postponed. During the hearing, daughter Shanelle Dawson, who was barely four years old when her mother disappeared, begged her father to reveal the location of the body. “Why didn’t you just divorce her? Let us, we who love her and need her, love her?”

Dawson’s lawyers, who still maintain his innocence, have already said they will appeal. After 18 years, the man could be paroled, but according to Judge Harrison he will most likely die in jail.