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Speaker 1: This is gam Nation with Jones.

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Speaker 2: It was the story that had the world obsessed. Forty

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Speaker 2: years ago, Sidney mother, Lynd Dawson, disappeared and was never

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Speaker 2: heard of again. Many of her close friends and family

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Speaker 2: were convinced that her husband, Chris Dawson, had murdered her. Yesterday,

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Speaker 2: there was finally justice. Chris Dawson was convicted of murdering

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Speaker 2: his wife. This whole push for justice was given the

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Speaker 2: biggest leg up by journalist Hedley Thomas and his podcast

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Speaker 2: The Teacher's Pet. We have him joining us.

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Speaker 1: Now, Hedley Thomas, Hello, Hi, Amanda, Hedley.

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Speaker 2: How did you feel when this verdict was read out yesterday?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it was a really weird feeling because

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Speaker 3: we had been hoping for a result like this for

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Speaker 3: a long time, for many years, in Lynn's family's case

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Speaker 3: and in right situation. I thought that four and a

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Speaker 3: half years ago when I started doing the podcas this

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Speaker 3: was this would be a just result. But when it

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Speaker 3: finally happened, it was I think sorrowful. You just thought

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Speaker 3: about all the incredible sadness that had been inflicted upon

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Speaker 3: Lynn's family and her daughters and her friends, and the

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Speaker 3: fact that Chris had got away with this for forty years.

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Speaker 3: I don't think there was a sense of elation, at

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Speaker 3: least in the core room where I sat. I think

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Speaker 3: in the overflow courtroom the crowd was almost cheering. But

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Speaker 3: we just saw an old man being led away, limping

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Speaker 3: in calfs like a wounded animal.

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Speaker 1: And he will never admit to it, though.

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Speaker 3: Do you think that's a good question? Greg Sims, Lynn's brother,

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Speaker 3: has pleaded with Chris, who was the best man at

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Speaker 3: their wedding. At Greg's weddington, Marlan has pleaded with him

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Speaker 3: to tell the family where Lynn is. Is there any

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Speaker 3: way they can probably put her to rest, But Chris

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Speaker 3: might go to his grave denying that he killed her.

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Speaker 3: He told so many lies in the scheming and manipulating

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Speaker 3: cover up that he affected over the years. But you know,

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Speaker 3: if he came clean now, I know it would put

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Speaker 3: Lynn's siblings and so many others at ease.

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Speaker 2: It's one of the hardest things is thinking about her daughters,

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Speaker 2: who grew up being told that their mother had left them.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if you believe something for so many years,

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Speaker 2: I don't know what difference this will make to them.

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Speaker 2: But from the outside, you think, surely this will make

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Speaker 2: them feel better.

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Speaker 3: It's an incredibly cruel lie to be raised believing that

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Speaker 3: your mother cared so little about you that she took

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Speaker 3: off and didn't even bother to check in or ask

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Speaker 3: her after you or renew contact over forty years. That's

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Speaker 3: an awful thing to grow up with. Chanelle Dawson, Linn's eldest,

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Speaker 3: who is a beautiful woman with her own child, and

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Speaker 3: so warm and decent and friendly and loving. You know,

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Speaker 3: she has seen through the subterfuge, I believe and knows

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Speaker 3: what's gone on here. I've had a lot of contact

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Speaker 3: with Chadelle, the younger daughter, with whom I've had no contact.

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Speaker 3: I can't know what she's feeling, but there must both

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Speaker 3: be a lot of pain because they've lost both parents.

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Speaker 1: And JC as well. She was a victim in this.

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Speaker 3: He was.

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Speaker 4: She was pretty much effectively groomed by Chris Dawson, that's right.

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Speaker 3: I mean she was a high school student when he

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Speaker 3: made a beeline for her. He was the pe teacher

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Speaker 3: at Cromer High and he became, as the judge said,

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Speaker 3: completely obsessed with her girl half his age. And Lynn

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Speaker 3: Dawson tried to do the right thing. She saw JC

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Speaker 3: as a kid who needed support. She came from a

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Speaker 3: difficult family environment, and Chris said she would benefit from

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Speaker 3: spending a lot more time at their house as a

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Speaker 3: babysitter and then effectively moving into the house. But Lena

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Speaker 3: eventually worked out what was playing to everybody else, that

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Speaker 3: Chris and JAC were in this incredible situation, and it

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Speaker 3: must have sped up her demise when she refused, when

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Speaker 3: Linn refused to sell the house, and when JC didn't

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Speaker 3: want to start a new life with Chris and Queen plans.

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Speaker 3: I think she wanted to live her own life. She

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Speaker 3: wanted to go out with boys her own age. The

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Speaker 3: relationship I had become so complicated for you can understand

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Speaker 3: as a seventeen year old, as she was sixteen year old,

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Speaker 3: she was utterly just completely out of her depth with

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Speaker 3: a man in his early thirties.

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Speaker 1: And then he wouldn't let a guy.

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Speaker 4: And you brought it to the four because poor old Lynn,

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Speaker 4: as you said earlier, was accused as a bad mother,

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Speaker 4: a mother that left her two children, and she never

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Speaker 4: would have done that. So thanks to you and the

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Speaker 4: Teacher's Pet podcast, you brought this to the light.

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Speaker 1: You have made a difference. One man has made a

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Speaker 1: big difference here.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks very much, Jamesy. I think the renewed effort

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Speaker 3: by the police from the unsold homicide squad over the

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Speaker 3: last six or seven years has been remarkable, and the

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Speaker 3: prosecutor Craig Ibson did an extraordinary job through the murder

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Speaker 3: trial over major What the podcast did, I think was

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Speaker 3: raised for millions of people at a disgusted and anger

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Speaker 3: that the system, the criminal justice system until recent years,

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Speaker 3: had failed repeatedly to prosecute Chris Dawson over what most

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Speaker 3: people could see were his bare faced lies. And the

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Speaker 3: judge yesterday took a very narrow pathway to conviction. He

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Speaker 3: really focused on Chris's lies, which he said were born

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Speaker 3: of a consciousness of Chris's guilt, and those lies were

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Speaker 3: repeated and then, of course it's very difficult to remember lies.

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Speaker 3: People remember truth, but how do you remember lies over year?

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Speaker 3: So he told more lies as things as time wore on.

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Speaker 3: But the podcast I think highlighted so many issues that

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Speaker 3: were wrong and alarming and needed to be properly looked at.

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Speaker 3: And we will probably never know exactly what prompted the

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Speaker 3: prosecution the DVP to finally launched a prosecution where they

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Speaker 3: had repeatedly said they would not. But the family is

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Speaker 3: really glad they did. We had a number of drinks

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Speaker 3: last night and it was a really nice time.

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Speaker 1: Actually, and deserve it.

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Speaker 2: Deserve absolutely well Headley. I know. Also we can find

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Speaker 2: out more at the teacher's trial dot com dot Au

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Speaker 2: still following the case there. Extraordinary work, Headly.

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Speaker 1: Good work, Headly. Thank you much, Okay, Josh, thank you

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Speaker 1: very much.