Police believe they know where Lynette Dawson is buried – but “there is no possible way to search” the area.
On Tuesday, Justice Ian Harrison SC found former teacher and rugby league player Chris Dawson guilty of the murder of his wife Lynette in 1982.
He said he had three motives to kill his wife Lynette: a deep animosity to his wife, a desire to have “unfettered” access to his teenage lover and a determination to avoid the financial implications and custodial arguments of a divorce.
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Delivering his findings, Justice Harrison said his lover’s wish to end their affair had pushed Dawson, now 74, to kill his wife.
“I am satisfied that distressed, frustrated and ultimately overwhelmed and tortured by her absence up north Mr Dawson resolved to kill his wife,” he said.
He will be sentenced at a later date. Dawson’s lawyers have said he is likely to appeal.
The judgment follows earlier rulings that Ms Dawson had died on or around January 1982, and a claim that she left the family home voluntarily was not true.
The 33-year-old nurse was last seen on Friday January 8, 1982, when she spoke to her mother on the phone. She was never seen or heard from again, and her body was never found.
However police believe Ms Dawson’s remains may be somewhere in the Central Coast region, north of Sydney.
The couple lived in Bayview Heights, on Sydney’s northern beaches, within easy reach of the Central Coast.
Police dug up that property but Ms Dawson’s remains were not found.
“There was the theory that he travelled to the Central Coast on January 9,” a police source told The Daily Telegraph.
But the police said the was no evidence that suggested the body was in any particular location. The Central Coast is a large area, around 550 square kilometres in size.
“The problem is that there is a lot of regional bush area between their home and when he went up the coast.
“There is no possible way to search it, it’s so vast,” the source told the Telegraph.
Justice Dawson said in his marathon five-hour judgment that Dawson had ample time to dispose of his wife’s body as his children were staying with a friend on January 9.
No one can vouch for his whereabouts during that time.
“The Crown case is that (Dawson) used that time to dispose of the body,” Justice Harrison said.
Without Dawson himself giving up her resting place, Police are doubtful they will be able to find Ms Dawson’s remains.
The family of Ms Dawson remain pessimistic that she will be found
“This is a milestone in our journey, however she is still missing,” Lynette’s brother Greg Simms told reporters outside court.
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“We would ask Chris Dawson to find it in himself to do the decent thing and allow us to put Lyn to rest.”
But speaking on Channel 7’s Sunrise, Ms Dawson’s niece Renne Simms said she had little faith that would occur.
“I don’t think he will, no. I feel like he’s convinced himself he didn’t do it”.
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