Chris Dawson verdict clears way for series to return

After more than three years, The Teacher’s Pet podcast is again available to Australian audiences.

After more than three years, The Teacher’s Pet podcast is again available to Australian audiences.

But this version of the podcast, available to subscribers of The Australian and The Weekend Australian, will be slightly different from the original. Christopher Dawson’s murder trial is over, but he is still facing legal proceedings. Some changes have been made to the podcast to prevent interfering with this matter.

The names of some people who were children at the time have also been removed to comply with their request for anonymity, and further changes have been made for legal reasons.

However, the podcast still tells the same chilling tale of a man who murdered his wife in cold blood so that he could marry his teenage babysitter. It tells the story from the people who lived through the shocking events in the early 1980s and the decades of frustrating police inaction that followed.

When the podcast first aired, Dawson was a free man. He had never been charged with a criminal offence and he was entitled to the presumption of innocence. He is now a convicted murderer.

The podcast was initially quarantined from Australian audiences, following a request from the Director of Public Prosecutions to reduce the risk of interfering with Dawson’s murder trial.

Australian contempt laws are very strict. They prevent media outlets from publishing material that could interfere with the fair trial of a person charged with a criminal offence.

The law aims to protect potential jurors from information that might poison their minds against the accused. The podcast delved deeply into the facts and circumstances that were the subject of the trial.

In Dawson’s case, the podcast had been downloaded by millions of people before charges were laid. However, many millions more had not yet listened to it. The DPP requested the podcast be taken down so that remaining potential jurors could keep an open mind if they were ever called to serve as a juror in Dawson’s murder trial. Out of an abundance of caution, The Australian complied.

As it turned out, Dawson elected to have his trial heard by a judge alone. Supreme Court judge Ian Harrison found Dawson guilty of murder. He pronounced extensive reasons in open court and has published a written judgment. As a result, the story told in the podcast is now a matter of public record.

Finally, The Teacher’s Pet can be re-released to Australian audiences.