Sniffer dog joins dig for Lyn Dawson evidence at Bayview

A labrador has joined about ten homicide detectives at a Bayview property in a revived search for the body of Lyn Dawson.

A sniffer dog arrives at 2 Gilwinga Dr, Bayview on Day 2 of the renewed search at Lyn Dawson's former home. Picture: Hollie Adams

Detectives have finished a second day of digging at a property on Sydney’s northern beaches as part of a revived search for the body of Lyn Dawson.

The homicide squad, police rescue team and a blood sniffing labrador left the home in Bayview about 3pm on Thursday.

Police made no announcement of whether they found anything so far, as detecives cars pulled out of Gilwinga Drive.

A Forensic Services van remains parked at the entrance to the property’s driveway, and the gates will be guarded overnight.

It is understood that the search will continue tomorrow and into the weekend.

Since work began about 6:45am today, wheelbarrows full of rocks, dirt and soil have been taken from near the swimming pool by officers wearing dust masks and sifted through by electronic machinery.

Police have erected tents around the four digging sites on the property, under which any recovered objects and rocks are being brushed and sorted through by hand.

The sound of drilling and the gyration of the sifting machines has been a constant since digging began yesterday.

Media crews have packed out the normally quiet Gilwinga Drive, as residents from around the northern beaches area pass by to catch a glimpse of the scene.

Lyn’s family is anxiously awaiting news from the dig.

Her brother, Greg Simms, says relatives “didn’t get much sleep” after the new forensic search began yesterday.

A labrador joins homicide detectives in Bayview. Picture: Hollie Adams

“We were a bit busy yesterday with all the activity that was going on,” he told ABC NewsRadio today.

“We’re surviving, only just. It’s exciting to see what they’re doing on the block, and let’s hope that there is some sort of result this time.”

Mr Simms said the family had been “mesmerised” by Lyn’s husband and suspected killer, the former Newtown Jets rugby league star Chris Dawson, who says his wife simply left home and never returned.

He noted that the commander of the NSW Police Force homicide squad, Detective Superintendent Scott Cook, had yesterday said police would go ahead with things whether they found a body or not.

The police case had been given a boost by The Australian’s investigative podcast, The Teacher’s Pet, by national chief correspondent Hedley Thomas.

“They believe they have a very strong case, even though it is circumstantial,” Mr Simms said.

“We also have a couple of new leads that Hedley came forward with through the podcast. “That might just bolster it up and the DPP looking at it might just decide yes we have to go ahead with it.

“I think with the public support behind it something has to be done.”

Lyn was “our organiser … she was the one who knew all the birthdays, all the special events.

“She was organising Mum’s surprise 66th birthday at her home. She’d even written up mud maps for all the aunties, Mum’s siblings, to come to her place to have the party.

“Someone who was doing that wouldn’t just up and leave. We’ve lost the rudder off our boat. “We’ve been suffering without her.”

The family had contact with Lyn and Chris Dawson’s elder daughter, Shanelle Dawson.

“We don’t try to influence her in our line of thinking. We’ve always let her understand that she has to make her own decision and she has done that.”

Lyn’s relatives had no contact with her younger daughter, Sherryn, who believed her father was “being persecuted by us”.

Schoolchildren from the Northern Beaches Secondary College were among locals who watched as detectives continued to dig.

“We never see anything like this here,” one student told The Australian.

The boy worked casually as a pizza delivery driver in the area, and said it was “crazy” to think that a house he walked onto for work could have had a body buried beneath.

Another onlooker told The Australian that she had driven to the street from a neighbouring suburb to see if police had discovered anything.

“Everyone’s listening to (The Teacher’s Pet) podcast and we all want to see what’s happening,” she said.