The Chris Dawson trial just got much worse

Shocking tale kept a secret - until now.

Shocking tale kept a secret - until now.

The Supreme Court judge who decided Chris Dawson’s fate wasn’t told the shocking story of a schoolgirl allegedly passed around for sex by his twin brother Paul.

Defence counsel Pauline David asked journalist Hedley Thomas during the trial whether he pursued the idea that there were “sex rings” involving teachers on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Thomas agreed.

“It’s something you embraced, and encouraged witnesses to tell you about it,” Ms David said.

Thomas answered: “I didn’t encourage them to tell me about it, they came forward of their own volition.”

Yet the judge was not told a disturbing story involving Chris Dawson’s twin and a schoolgirl, “Alice”. Paul Dawson has denied wrongdoing, previously telling police his relationship with Alice started just after she left school.

In July 1982, when Alice was 17 but still at school, he allegedly began arranging for her to have sex with other men. It’s alleged Alice once went to Paul Dawson’s home when his wife, Marilyn, and the couple’s young children weren’t home.

Alice was allegedly told to dress in seductive clothing and to perform oral sex on a carpet cleaner who would be arriving. In another instance, the girl ­allegedly performed a strip show for at least 10 men, then had sex with them.

On another occasion, Paul Dawson allegedly called her to his office to perform oral sex on him during school hours. He had been her sex education teacher.

The Dawsons played rugby union before switching codes and joining rugby league’s Newtown Jets. One of the sexual encounters arranged by Paul Dawson is alleged to have involved a former union international.

The girl made a statement to police about the alleged events, but it was the subject of a non-publication order by a coroner in 2003.

Paul Dawson was also allegedly having sex with another teenage girl who’d been one of his students.

Judge Ian Harrison said during the trial that he had quarantined himself from media reports associated with the case.

Several of the girls, now women in their 50s, have suffered mental health problems or breakdowns attributed to their relationships with teachers.

Dawson’s murder trial was told underage students commonly congregated with teachers at the local Time and Tide Hotel.

One former student said it was a notorious spot and a favourite of the teachers. “They knew we gathered there to celebrate our birthdays, our graduations or simply to get together and socialise.”

Paul Dawson arrived at court with his brother Chris to hear Justice Harrison’s verdict on Tuesday.

It was the first time he had attended the trial in support of his brother, having previously been granted permission to give evidence via audiovisual link.

His absence from his brother’s side throughout the trial surprised many people associated with the case and has not been explained.

When Paul Dawson left the court after the verdict, some ­observers mistook him for his brother Chris, so similar are their looks.