Chris Dawson’s outburst at podcast journo caught on police wire tap
Chris Dawson was overheard on a police phone tap referring to an award-winning journalist as a “w***er”, his Supreme Court murder trial has heard.
Police & Courts
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With public pressure mounting, his name in the national media and knowing police were listening in on his calls via a phone tap, Chris Dawson decided to send a pointed message to journalist Hedley Thomas.
“Hedley, you’re a f***ing w***er,” Chris told his twin brother Paul on the phone in September 2018.
Mr Dawson’s Supreme Court trial murder has entered its closing stages, with Justice Ian Harrison hearing from the final prosecution witness.
The 73-year-old former teacher and rugby league player has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Lynette, who disappeared from their Bayview home on Sydney’s northern beaches in January 1982.
On Wednesday afternoon, the court was played a series of police phone intercepts recorded in 2018, just months before Mr Dawson was arrested.
In them, he complained about his treatment at the hands of the media and statements made by Mr Thomas, who created the award-winning podcast The Teacher’s Pet, which examined Lynette’s disappearance.
The podcast, which has racked up over 60 million downloads internationally, has played a major part in the trial, with defence counsel Pauline David arguing it tainted and coloured several witnesses against Mr Dawson.
In one of the phone calls, Paul Dawson was heard complaining about statements made by Mr Thomas on a television program broadcast that night.
“How can a journalist go on national television and basically say you’re a murderer and you should be charged, the DPP has got it wrong?” Paul said to his brother.
“How can he say that when they’ve got all of the facts.”
Before adding: “Don’t forget we’re being taped.”
At the time, police had phone taps in place to catch their conversations.
“Hedley, you’re a f***ing w***er, if police want to pass that onto Hedley Thomas,” Chris said.
“He’s a w***er … Try to get me to be a part of his podcast telling me he’d give me a fair hearing and all the rest of it. Total bulls***.”
In another call three days later, with a person who was only named as “Justin”, Mr Dawson explained his version of Lynette’s disappearance.
According to Mr Dawson, Lynette walked out on their home, leaving behind her two young children.
Her body has never been found and she has never contacted any of her family and friends.
Mr Dawson claims he spoke to her several times over the following weeks before she finally told him she would not return.
The Crown prosecution has alleged Mr Dawson killed his wife so he could be with JC, a then teenage former student and babysitter, who moved into his Bayview home following Lynette’s disappearance.
“What happened was, the wife who left, was a really nice person and it seemed out of character for her to take off and not have contact with people,” Mr Dawson said.
“She did have contact with me for a little while, but she didn’t contact her mother or other family members.
“With advice from police friends, I had to wait six weeks or whatever and then report her missing because I couldn’t report her missing because she was still in contact.”
Mr Dawson claimed allegations he had murdered Lynette only emerged after he went through an acrimonious separation from JC in 1990.
“When my second wife left me on the Gold Coast and went back to Sydney and said that I was supposed to be domestically violent, that I kept her as a prisoner, that I had this dark side,” Mr Dawson told Justin.
“She’s supposed to have gone down (to Sydney) because she’s in fear for her life. She said she’d gone with me and I’d gone to get a hit man to kill my first wife and all this sort of carry-on.
“All proved to be incorrect and total bulls***. But they don’t print that it’s all bulls***.”
Mr Dawson claimed that Ms Dawson’s family wanted closure and that “they’ll only get closure if someone is found guilty of murdering their sister and that’s me.”
Meanwhile, the officer in charge of the investigation has told the court that in 2018 he was concerned about the impact of The Teacher’s Pet Podcast on a potential prosecution.
Detective Senior Constable Daniel Poole said he told Lynette Dawson’s family he would not participate in the podcast.
Detective Poole on Wednesday told the court he was not necessarily concerned about “prejudice” against the accused.
“I was concerned about how any publicity would then interact with the consideration by the DPP and any potential prosecution,” he said.
Asked if he was concerned about the contamination of witnesses, Detective Poole said: “Absolutely yes.”
Asked by Ms David: “Were you concerned to ensure witnesses were impartial when they prepared statements for this case?”
“Yes,” Detective Poole said.
He was further asked if he was concerned about “unconscious contamination of witnesses”.
“Yes,” he said.
The trial continues.
Bizarre way Hugh Jackman dragged into trial
The journalist behind The Teacher’s Pet podcast has denied dropping movie star Hugh Jackman’s name to persuade people to talk to him about the disappearance of Lynette Dawson.
Hedley Thomas also denied flattering witnesses or inducing them to chat with the podcast “with the promise of walking on the red carpet”.
He was in the witness box for the second day in the trial of Ms Dawson’s husband Chris Dawson, 73, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his first wife on January 8 or 9, 1982 when she was aged 33.
Dawson claims she had walked out on him and their two daughters.
The prosecution alleges Dawson murdered her so he could move his young lover, known only as JC, who he met when she was a year 11 student, into their Bayview home on Sydney’s northern beaches.
The defence has claimed that Mr Thomas’ award-winning podcast influenced witnesses who have been called to give evidence.
“You were trying to poison their minds against Chris Dawson,” Dawson’s counsel Pauline David put to him in cross-examination on Tuesday.
Mr Thomas denied that.
He also denied a suggestion by Ms David that he had “held out” the possibility of being involved in a TV miniseries or film production to witnesses.
The Supreme Court heard that Mr Thomas told one person who contacted him after the podcast and was not sure whether to be interviewed: “Maybe this will help you decide … There’s a lot of happening I couldn’t have predicted, including the fact that Hugh Jackman has been talking to me today.”
Mr Thomas denied using that as an inducement.
He told the court that his employer News Corp, which is also the owner of The Daily Telegraph, had signed an agreement for a screen adaptation of his podcast but said that it was unclear if that would ever happen.
The trial before Justice Ian Harrison without a jury continues.
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