Witness says former Dawson teammates spoke of getting rid of Lyn for years

Chris Dawson’s ­alleged approach to a teammate for help to ‘get rid’ of his wife had been discussed in private for more than four decades, court hears.

Chris Dawson’s former Newtown Jets teammate, witness Ray Lee. Picture: NewsWire/Monique Harmer

Former teacher and professional footballer Chris Dawson’s ­alleged approach to a teammate for help to “get rid” of his wife Lynette had been discussed in private for more than four decades, his murder trial has been told.

Ray Lee was mostly a third-grade player for the Newtown Jets when Mr Dawson and his twin brother Paul were stars at the rugby league club. Mr Lee testified on Friday that his longtime friend, former Newtown Jets second-grade hooker Robert Silkman, first spoke in the 1970s about comments Chris Dawson had allegedly made to him. “He said that (Mr Dawson) wanted to get rid of his wife,” Mr Lee said.

Chris Dawson leaves the supreme court, Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw

Mr Silkman alleges that Mr Dawson approached him on a plane in October 1975 after an end-of-season trip to the Gold Coast, asking for help to get rid of Lyn. The defence team for Mr Dawson has suggested that the claims from Mr Silkman are lies, seeking to portray him in court as a convicted thief and accused fraudster who may be motivated by a $200,000 reward for information that solves the case.

Mr Silkman in his evidence said he had spoken about the incident to several people, including Mr Lee, who he said was sitting next to him on the plane when it happened. Mr Lee told the court he had gone to the Gold Coast with Mr Silkman and other players from the club at the end of the 1975 season. Mr Lee couldn’t remember seeing Chris and Paul Dawson on the trip, let alone Chris approaching Mr Silkman on the plane.

But he said Mr Silkman had spoken to him over the years about Mr Dawson’s alleged comments about wanting to get rid of his wife. How Mr Silkman’s allegations came to the attention of police was detailed in the evidence of Detective Senior Constable Mark O’Reilly.

Constable O’Reilly said he was patrolling Sydney’s Qudos Arena for alcohol-related activity on September 13, 2018, as part of “user pay” work that he’d done for at least two years. In that time he’d come to know Mr Silkman, who worked at the venue for a private security firm. Constable O’Reilly said Mr Silkman started talking about twins who played for the Newtown Jets, Chris and Paul Dawson. Mr Silkman mentioned he’d previously played for Newtown, and recalled a time Chris ­approached him on a plane and said words to the effect of “do you know how to get rid of my wife”.

Robert Silkman is giving evidence in the Chris Dawson case. Picture NCA NewsWire/David Swift

Podcast series The Teacher’s Pet had been launched earlier in the year and was drawing widespread attention to Lyn’s 1982 disappearance.

Constable O’Reilly said he was unaware at the time of an ­operation known as ­Scriven, the name for the unsolved homicide team’s investigation into the case. He contacted the NSW police state crime command and spoke with lead investigator Daniel Poole. Prosecutor Craig Everson SC asked Constable O’Reilly if the topic of a reward had ever come up in his discussions with Mr Silkman. “No,” he replied.

Police officer Karen Dawson – no relation to the Dawson family – gave evidence that she conducted proof-of-life checks relating to Lyn more than 20 years ago, when she was in the NSW police missing persons unit.

She prepared statements on these checks in 1999 and again in 2001, which recorded there being no record of Lyn being alive. It emerged that the officer used the wrong date of birth for Lyn when conducting these searches – using October 25, 1948, instead of September 25, 1948.