Chris Dawson jailed 24 years for murder of wife Lyn, with a minimum term of 18 years, Justice Ian Harrison rules

Chris Dawson will be 92 when he is eligible for parole after being jailed for 24 years over the 'self-indulgent' murder of the mother of two, Supreme Court judge rules.

Chris Dawson has been jailed for 24 year over the murder in 1982 of wife Lyn. Picture: File

Former teacher Chris Dawson will likely die in jail after being sentenced to 24 years’ imprisonment for the “selfish and cynical” murder of his wife Lyn.

The 74-year-old’s plea for a reduced sentence due to publicity associated with The Teacher’s Pet podcast was rejected by Justice Ian Harrison SC, who declared Dawson was “the author of his own misfortune”.

Justice Harrison said he was obliged to “impose a sentence that satisfies the community’s expectations of punishment, retribution and denunciation”, and set a non-parole period of 18 years.

“A just and appropriate sentence must accord due recognition to the human dignity of the victim of domestic violence and the legitimate interest of the general community in the denunciation and punishment of someone who kills his spouse,” the judge said.

“Even though such expectations must be tempered by the need to extend mercy where appropriate, I recognise that the unavoidable prospect is that Mr Dawson will probably die in jail.”

@theoz.com.au

Outside the court where #ChrisDawson is being sentenced #TheTeachersPet

♬ original sound - The Oz

MOTIVATION FOR MURDER

More than 40 years after Dawson murdered Lyn to continue a relationship with his teenage former student JC, he was sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court in just under 30 minutes.

Justice Harrison said it was unnecessary to detail all the facts, but ran through a brief summary beginning with Chris and Lyn’s marriage in March 1970.

A decade later, Dawson had commenced a sexual relationship with JC, who had been his student at Cromer High School and became the family’s babysitter.

After Boxing Day 1981, Dawson started losing his influence on JC.

She had just finished high school and had gone away with friends to South West Rocks, 450km north of Sydney.

“JC had communicated her desire to end their relationship around this time,” Justice Harrison said.

Dawson had a “possessive infatuation” with JC and did not want that to happen.

He planned to kill Lyn after JC’s departure to South West Rocks.

Those plans included contriving to have a friend Phil Day, attend the Northbridge Baths on January 9, 1982, to facilitate the care of his daughters that evening after the murder.

LYN WAS 'AN INCONVENIENT OBSTRUCTION'

The murder of Lyn Dawson was “an objectively serious crime”, Justice Harrison said.

She was murdered for a “selfish and cynical purpose”, he said.

Her husband Chris wanted to eliminate her because she was an inconvenient obstruction, the judge said.

Dawson must have known and appreciated the injury, emotional harm and loss that murdering his wife Lyn would cause.

Dawson maintained his innocence, and consistent with that had “expressed no remorse for his crime”.

He was highly unlikely to reoffend, especially due to his age.

“I consider that Mr Dawson has good prospects for rehabilitation,” Justice Harrison said.

The judge had taken into account several testimonials that spoke to him being a “loving father, a doting grandfather and a loving and loyal husband”.

Dawson’s crime was “inspired by an uncontrollable desire” to be with his teenage former student JC, Justice Harrison said.

“It was neither spontaneous nor unavoidable,” he said.

Justice Harrison said it was a crime that “should never be permitted to have the slightest encouragement to any person similarly placed or similarly minded”.

He added: “It is not acceptable to take someone’s life mainly because they represent an inconvenient impediment.”

KEY ROLE OF TEACHER'S PET PODCAST

Justice Harrison has discussed the effect of The Teacher’s Pet podcast, saying the publicity “has undoubtedly been intense”.

He added: “That is to some extent a function of the several decades over and during which speculation about Lynette Dawson’s fate has managed to foment.

“I would be sympathetic to Mr Dawson’s concern that the media attention will continue to have an adverse impact upon him if it were not for the fact that I am unable to agree that, whatever may have been the position before his trial, it will continue to be unfair following his conviction.

“Simply put, Mr Dawson’s crime is a matter of intense public interest and the attention he has received is directly referable to that interest.

“It would be otherwise if media reports had significantly misrepresented his crime in a way that created a false perception of what he had done.

“His major complaint, when properly understood, is that the publicity improperly made assumptions about his guilt at a time when he was entitled to the presumption of innocence.

“Mr Dawson has now been convicted of the crime which attracted the publicity in question. In those circumstances, as harsh as it may sound to say so, Mr Dawson is now the author of his own misfortune.”

HUSBAND KILLED 'UNSUSPECTING' LYN

Lyn Dawson had been completely blindsided by her husband, the judge concluded.

“Lynette Dawson was faultless and undeserving of her fate,” he said.

“Despite the deteriorating state of her marriage to Mr Dawson, she was undoubtedly also completely unsuspecting.

“Tragically her death deprived her young daughters of their mother."

A significant part of the harm caused to others was "the sad fact that Lynette Dawson was treated by her husband, the father of the very same girls, as completely dispensable".

Recap our live blog on Dawson's sentencing below: