Detectives told to prove sightings of Lynette Dawson were false, court told

Homicide detectives dropped a previous investigation into the disappearance of Lynette Dawson because they couldn’t disprove a claim that she had been seen alive, her murder trial has been told.

Homicide detectives dropped a previous investigation into the disappearance of Lynette Dawson because they couldn’t disprove a claim that she had been seen alive, her husband Chris Dawson’s murder trial has been told.

Veteran detective Paul Maygur, who was handed the investigation in 1990 eight years after the mother-of-two went missing, said the inquiry was suspended on the advice of prosecutors with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions or the office of the State Coroner.

Retired Detective Inspector Maygur began the investigation into Ms Dawson’s disappearance in May 1990, three months after he arrested the North Shore Granny Killer John Wayne Glover.

Chris Dawson, 73, has pleaded not guilty to killing his wife who disappeared on January 9, 1982 aged 33.

Dawson has said that she walked out on their marriage leaving their two daughters behind.

The prosecution claims that he killed her so he could move his teenage babysitter and lover, known as JC, into their house.

Chris Dawson pictured as he arrives at the Supreme Court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

The Supreme Court has been told that during his first recorded interview with police in 1991, Dawson told them that a family friend Sue Butler has seen Lynette a few days after she went missing at the Kulnurra fruit market on the Central Coast.

Mr Maygur said that he did not interview Ms Butler, whose husband managed a rugby club at Gosford which was coached by Dawson, but someone from the missing persons unit may have done.

Crown prosecutor Craig Everson SC asked Mr Maygur why the investigation was suspended in May 1992.

Composite image showing Chris and Lynette Dawson and an image of JC. Pictures tendered to the NSW Supreme Court

Mr Maygur said the homicide squad regularly had discussions with Crown prosecutors about the process of their cases.

“I raised the issue of eyewitness testimony that Lynette Dawson had been seen a week after her supposed disappearance and I was advised that unless we could refute that evidence, them the investigation probably should not proceed.”

He said that Ms Butler has known Ms Dawson well and had been “adamant” that she had seen her.

The trial has heard how when now-retired Detective Sergeant Damian Loone was asked to reopen the investigation in 1998, all he could find was a one-page missing persons document, a VCR tape and three cassettes of the police interview with Chris Dawson.

Retired Detective Damian Loone leaves Federal Court after giving evidence in the trial of Chris Dawson. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Mr Maygur, who was stationed at the regional crime squad north at Chatswood at the time, said that not long after his investigation ended, the regional crime squads were scrapped and merged into Crime Agencies based at Strawberry Hills in the city.

He said they were told to box up their years of files and briefs of evidence and clear out their offices. The documents were all stored at warehouses in Rosebery or Alexandria.

When he subsequently went to look for some documents, he found that the storage of them was a “disaster” with boxes piled four or five high, the top ones squashing those on the bottom which in turn had become damp from the concrete floor.

The trial before Justice Ian Harrison continues.