Dawson twin loses his cool, he’s got a lot on his plate
Twins Chris and Paul Dawson have stuck together their entire lives, sharing an unbreakable bond. But the strain is showing.
Identical twins Chris and Paul Dawson have stuck together their entire lives, sharing an extraordinary and unbreakable bond.
Allegations of murder against Chris have not divided them. Nor have accusations against both men of sex with teenage schoolgirls when the brothers, both star footballers with the Newtown Jets, were married teachers in the 1980s.
This week, 36 years after Chris is suspected to have killed his wife, Lyn, so that he could be with a teenage lover, he turned to the person he has always turned to in a crisis — Paul.
For days the two men, now 70, were observed hanging out together on the Gold Coast, at two homes in the same suburb. They drive cars with matching numberplates. Chris, the younger of the two, is “2 Twin”. Paul is “1 Twin”.
It’s a bit of a problem, those recognisable plates, when you’re trying to avoid a media maelstrom.
As a result of The Weekend Australian’s investigative podcast series The Teacher’s Pet, the world is now watching the Dawson brothers. And the attention is not going away any time soon, with NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller revealing police will, in time, conduct a new dig for Lyn’s remains at her former home at Bayview on Sydney’s northern beaches.
“There’s a lot of emotion around this for good reason,” Mr Fuller says in the podcast’s latest, and final episode for now, released last night. “There is lots of information that’s come forward through the podcast and it means we’ve got to rethink the dig.
“We have to do more. It just has to be done. If we don’t dig again and don’t dig in the areas of concern then it will be an open wound for lots of people.”
Of the twins, Chris is the one people say has a temper. But it was “Passive Paul” who lashed out at a sound recordist who he said had struck him when the brothers were bailed up together by a crew from A Current Affair, which is preparing a story to be aired on Monday.
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As he has always done, Chris denied any involvement in his wife’s 1982 disappearance from Bayview. “She left,” he insisted.
“I won’t make a comment. I’m not going to make a comment.”
But when journalist Chris Allen asked him about the DPP’s unfolding review of the case, which could see a charge of murder brought against him, he was upbeat. “Good. Good,” he said. Asked if he was worried, he replied: “Not at all. I’m very pleased.”
Paul Dawson has emphatically denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Fuller said the case had “captured so many people because the stories almost don’t seem believable around teachers sleeping with schoolgirls”.
“The story is a compelling one. The benefit of that is that you have generated so many fresh leads for us. All I can do for Lyn Dawson and the family is deliver justice for her and that has to be my focus.”
Following revelations in The Teacher’s Pet about alleged historical sex assaults and student-teacher relationships, Mr Fuller set up Strike Force Southwood to investigate. “Since then the investigation has been progressing extremely well,” he said.
Police were “eagerly awaiting the outcome” of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ review of a new brief of evidence, prepared by detectives who started reinvestigating in 2015. The DPP has in the past rejected a prosecution, citing insufficient evidence.
“Regardless of what happens with their decision, this matter is certainly not over from the NSW Police perspective,” Mr Fuller said.
Cost had “nothing to do” with decisions around a future dig at Lyn and Chris Dawson’s former home at Gilwinga Drive.
“The challenge for the homicide unit and the advice that they provided me is that we need to be absolutely sure that Lyn Dawson is not buried there,” Mr Fuller said.
“So if we need to go back and we need to dig some more, if we need to use absolute modern technology around radar and cadaver dogs, then I give an absolute commitment we will do that.”
If you know more about this story, contact thomash@theaustralian.com.au
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