GUILTY: Chris Dawson convicted of murder of wife Lynette in 1982

Chris Dawson, 74 years old and now a convicted murderer, looked catatonic as officers handcuffed him in the Supreme Court and led him out through the dock.

Chris Dawson’s face got redder and redder as Justice Ian Harrison tore his ­defence to shreds, one lie after another.

By the time the judge ended five hours of pulling apart Dawson’s 40 years of deception and secrets and pronounced him guilty of murdering his wife so he could move his schoolgirl lover into their home, the former rugby league player and sports teacher looked catatonic.

Dawson, 74, barely moved as two corrective service officers immediately handcuffed him in the Supreme Court and led him out through the dock to the police cells on his way to custody pending an application for bail on ­Thursday as he foreshadows an appeal.

“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 January 8, 1982, as a ­result of a conscious or voluntary act committed by Christopher Dawson,” Justice Harrison said.

“I find you guilty.”

Chris Dawson walking into the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Picture: John Grainger

It was over four decades since Dawson set off a destructive chain of events with his first kiss with his schoolgirl lover, JC, then 16, in his Toyota Corolla car overlooking Sydney’s Dee Why beach.

Within a week Dawson developed an “uncontrolled obsession” with her, the judge said.

Chris Dawson, right, arrives at Supreme Court with his brother, Peter, alongside him, left. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard.

He peppered her with proposals of marriage even as he remained married to Lynette and told Lynette he was studying at a library when they met in his car at Manly.

Dawson’s solicitor Greg Walsh said outside court that his client, who maintained his innocence, had not been well.

“He’s been suffering from cognitive problems,” Mr Walsh said. “He’s obviously shocked, he’s upset, he wanted me to ring his wife Sue.”

Dawson’s third wife Sue was not in court but other family members, including his twin Paul gasped, held hands and openly wept as the verdict was read out.

Meanwhile in an overflow courtroom extended family and their supporters erupted in applause.

Peter and Paul Dawson with police after the verdict. Picture: Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Lynette’s family, friends and workmates formed a sea of pink, her favourite colour.

One former workmate clutched a pot holder Lynette had given her on the last day of her life.

Justice Harrison said that by January 1982, Dawson had got to the point when he became “tortured” by the thought of losing control of JC, leaving him “shackled” to his wife. He had planned to move out of the family’s Bayview home and into a rented flat in Manly with JC.

The court has heard he had put down a deposit but abandoned the plan after being told that moving out of the family home would jeopardise his rights to the property.

Chris Dawson and JC is on their wedding day.

In late 1981, Dawson planned a new life in Queensland with JC. He packed up his car and left a note for his wife which read: “Don’t paint too black a picture of me to the children.”

But on the way to Queensland, JC became sick and wanted to return to Sydney.

They arrived back on Christmas Day 1981 when Dawson spent the day in bed with her instead of spending Christmas with Lynette and their daughters.

Dawson and JC spent New Year’s Eve in the gym at Forest High School.

The judge said Lynette, a trained nurse and childcare worker, continued to “idolise” her husband despite his cheating with JC, who had also become their babysitter.

Justice Ian Harrison delivers his verdict on Chris Dawson. Picture: Sky News

Things came to a head in early 1982 when JC gained a measure of independence by moving out of home into a flat with her sister and went camping with friends of her own age at South West Rocks. She was beyond his physical and emotional influence, the judge said.

“Dawson was in Sydney hundreds of kilometres from JC … while he remained shackled to his wife,” the judge said. “Tortured from her absence up north, he killed his wife.”

Dawson had come to the stark realisation that he could not continue his relationship with JC and at the same time remain married, Justice Harrison said.

Chris Dawson and Lynnette on their wedding day.

Lynette’s body has never been found and it is unknown how she was killed, but on her last night alive, January 8, she had spoken to her mother Helena Simms who thought she sounded “half sozzled”.

Justice Harrison said that by January 9, he was satisfied that Lynette was dead. Dawson claimed he dropped her off at a Mona Vale bus stop at 7am and she never turned up to meet him at Northbridge Baths later that day, but claimed she had telephoned him there and said she ­wanted time to herself.

Chris Dawson and Lynette Dawson in a Simms family photo album tendered to the NSW Supreme Court.

Lynette Dawson in 1980.

Dawson had a friend, Phillip Day, take the couple’s two daughters, aged two and four, to stay with Ms Simms that afternoon and evening, claiming his wife had requested it.

“No one has given evidence about what Chris ­Dawson did that night,” the judge said.

Dawson’s twin brother Paul and his wife Marilyn were camping at Lake Munmorah in a caravan, the judge said.

“The Crown case is that (Dawson) used that time to dispose of the body,” Justice Harrison said.

Lyn Dawson’s brother, Greg Simms, right, and his wife, Merilyn Simms, left, walking into court ahead of the verdict. Picture: Adam Yip

He said he was “fortified” in his guilty verdict by the lies the former Newtown Jets rugby league star had told since claiming his wife disappeared. Dawson had lied about getting telephone calls from her, lied that she had an emotional episode that led her to walk away from her family, and even lied about lying awake crying at night wanting her to come home, Justice Harrison said.

There was no evidence Dawson had planned the murder until those final days when JC was at South West Rocks and he decided that killing Lynette was the only way he was going to get to move his lover in.

On January 11, he told JC “Lyn’s gone, she’s not coming back” and JC moved into in the Bayview home.

On the day he killed her, January 8, 1982, with their two daughters in their beds, the couple had been to marriage counselling and Lynette had been happy as they held hands for the first time in six months, the court heard.

Originally published as GUILTY: Chris Dawson convicted of murder of wife Lynette in 1982