Ex-professional rugby player found guilty of murdering wife four decades ago

A retired teacher and former professional rugby league player has been found guilty of murdering his wife more than four decades after she went missing.

Chris Dawson has denied involvement in the disappearance of his first wife Lynette after she vanished from Sydney's northern beaches in January 1982.

The 74-year-old claims she abandoned him and their two children, suggesting she left her family to join a religious group.

Her body has never been found and Dawson has protested his innocence at every point, though Justice Ian Harrison said the evidence against him was 'persuasive and compelling'.

The case shot to prominence in 2018 when true crime podcast The Teacher's Pet investigated Lynette's disappearance, with millions of listeners fascinated by the decades old crime.

Dawson's legal representatives have said they will appeal the verdict.

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During the trial Justice Harrison said Dawson had become 'positively obsessed' with the family's teenage babysitter, referred to as JC for legal reasons, and wished to make her a 'replacement' for his wife.

The judge said the former teacher became desperate as JC wanted to end the relationship and his plans to leave his marriage to Lynette failed.

Justice Harrison said: "I'm satisfied that the prospect that he would lose [JC] so distressed, frustrated, and ultimately overwhelmed him that... Mr Dawson resolved to kill his wife.

"I am left in no doubt... I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the only rational inference [is that] Lynette Dawson died on or about 8 January 1982 as a result of a conscious or voluntary act committed by Christopher Dawson."

Dawson would go on to marry JC in 1984, two years after his wife's disappearance, the couple divorced in 1993.

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The judge said Dawson had told many lies over his wife's death, including to JC about their relationship, to others about wanting to keep his marriage going, suggestions that she was still alive and claims she had left the family of her own accord.

While the evidence in the case was described as 'circumstantial', it was enough for the judge to be 'satisfied beyond reasonable doubt' that Dawson killed his wife in a 'conscious or voluntary act'.

Justice Harrison said Dawson's claims that his wife abandoned her family and walked out on the suddenly were 'ludicrous'.

He also said claims from the 74-year-old about receiving phone calls from his wife after her disappearance were lies, and dismissed claims that Lynette had been spotted on several occasions after she disappeared.

The judge delivered the verdict after Dawson successfully applied for his trial to be judge-only.

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