Chris Dawson has been sentenced to 24 years in prison after he was found guilty of murdering his wife, Lynette Dawson, in 1982.
Chris Dawson, a 74-year-old former professional rugby league player and Sydney teacher, was accused of killing his wife in 1982. In August, he was found guilty of the murder.
Lynette’s body has never been found.
The trial was decided by a judge, instead of a jury, after his lawyers successfully argued that publicity around the case would have influenced jurors.
The case was the subject of The Teacher’s Pet podcast in 2018 and Dawson was arrested in December 2018.
Chris and Lynette Dawson’s daughter, Shanelle Dawson, said in her victim-impact statement last month:
“The night you removed our mother from our lives was the night you destroyed my sense of safety and belonging in this world for many years to come… I had to explain to my beautiful, innocent daughter why her grandfather killed her grandmother.”
