Rodney Lawrence walks free over role in murder of Elizabeth “Betty” Dixon

A MAN involved in the brutal 1982 murder of Elizabeth “Betty” Dixon — who was stabbed 27 times and left slumped in her car in bushland — has walked free from court.

Rodney Lawrence walks out of Newcastle Court a free man. Picture: Peter Lorimer.

A MAN involved in the brutal 1982 murder of Elizabeth “Betty” Dixon — who was stabbed 27 times and left slumped in her car in bushland — has walked free from a NSW court.

Justice Ian Harrison jailed Rodney Lawrence, 66, today for a minimum term of 18 months but he was released for time already served after his arrest.

The judge told the NSW Supreme Court in Newcastle there’d been a tragically re-occurring theme in the decades since 1982, with Ms Dixon’s family in a state of anguish and torment not knowing what had happened to her.

Elizabeth “Betty” Dixon was brutally murdered in 1982.

Lawrence, who spent 18 months in jail after his arrest in October 2015 before being granted bail in May 2017, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to Ms Dixon’s murder.

He claimed he was “tortured” by keeping such a terrible secret for decades but told police his life had been threatened by the killer — who died in late 2010 — if he dared tell anyone about the murder.

Ms Dixon’s sister, Ann Martin, had told the judge that Betty, a 31-year-old secretary and squash centre worker, hoped to get married and have children after moving from Northern Ireland to start a new life in Australia.

Rodney Lawrence pleaded guilty of being an accessory after the fact. Picture by Peter Lorimer.

Outside court today, Ms Martin’s daughter, Danielle Martin, said the family was gutted by the sentence which she said was “nowhere near enough”.

Ms Martin said there were too many inconsistencies in Lawrence’s story and the family did not believe he had revealed everything.

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She said Lawrence did a lot of things that were very wrong before “getting away scot-free”.

Ms Dixon’s fully clothed body was found in her car with her hands tied behind her back at Ashtonfield in April 1982. There was no evidence she had been sexually assaulted.

Lawrence was due to face trial for her murder in the NSW Supreme Court in Newcastle in November but the Crown accepted his guilty plea to the accessory charge.

Justice Harrison suppressed the name of the deceased man who the Crown and Lawrence say killed Ms Dixon.

Betty’s niece Danielle Martin was disgusted with the decision to allow Rodney Lawrence to walk out a free man. Picture: Peter Lorimer.

According to the agreed facts, Lawrence told his son the man had killed the secretary because she wouldn’t have sex with him. She reportedly told the man he was old.

Lawrence admitted helping the killer shift the body to the bush and throwing Betty’s car keys away at the man’s request.

Crown prosecutor Brad Hughes SC had argued the 18 months Lawrence had already spent in jail was not enough punishment for a crime that had allowed the killer to escape justice.

AAP