True crime podcasts play an interesting role in our media consumption and perceptions of justice – whether it is investigations into unsolved mysteries, alleged wrongful convictions or a glimpse into the underworld of crime and deceit which most of us rarely get to see, there is something Australians find truly captivating about a true crime podcast.

The Teacher’s Pet podcast, first released in 2018, thrust into the spotlight the 1982 unsolved mystery of the disappearance of Lynette Dawson, wife to former football player and Sydney high school PE teacher, Christopher Dawson. The launch of the first episode of the podcast sparked immediate global interest in the case, ultimately resulting in Christopher Dawson’s arrest in December 2018 and conviction in August 2022.

The Teacher’s Pet podcast, produced by journalist Hedley Thomas, who later went on to win awards for his investigative journalism, delved deep into detail about Christopher Dawson and his relationships at the time, casting further doubt on his innocence. Of particular interest was Christopher Dawson’s relationship with 16-year-old student and babysitter turned alleged girlfriend and lover.

Supreme Court of NSW Justice Harrison, the presiding Judge in Dawson’s 2022 murder trial, would later go on to cite various interviews provided in the context of the podcast, and compare those with the statements given by these same witnesses to Police during the course of the investigation.

This gives rise to an interesting phenomenon and line of questioning – can media outlets, and particularly, true crime podcasts, really influence and pervert the course of justice?

The answer – absolutely. While Police investigators had long focused on Christopher Dawson and his role in his wife’s disappearance – in 2001, a Coroner’s Inquest found most likely Lynette Dawson knew her killer, in 2003 another inquest recommended Christopher Dawson be charged with her murder, and in 2015 further material evidence was uncovered. It was not until the Podcast was released however that this cold case could finally be reopened one last time.

The evidence uncovered in the chart-topping podcast Police say was not “crucial” to the investigation, but it brought to light fresh information and gave credence to existing evidence which previously would not have been sufficient to cause a conviction.

In the five-hour-long Judgement which was handed down on 30 August 2022, Justice Harrison found that “… None of the circumstances considered alone can establish Mr Dawson’s guilt… But when regard is had to their combined force, I am left in no doubt. The only rational inference [is that] Lynette Dawson died on or about 8 January 1982 as a result of a conscious or voluntary act committed by Christopher Dawson.”

Justice Harrison in delivering his verdict stated “Christopher Michael Dawson on the charge that, on or about 8 January 1982 at Bayview or elsewhere in the state of NSW, you did murder Lynette Dawson, I find you guilty.”