The journalist who created a successful podcast about Lynette Dawson has denied using Hollywood stars Hugh Jackman and Joel Edgerton to attract witnesses.
The journalist who created a successful podcast that examined the disappearance of Lynette Dawson has denied inducing possible witnesses with the promise to walk the red carpet and rub her elbows with movie stars, a court has said .
Chris Dawson is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court, where he has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife Lynette Dawson, who disappeared from his home on the beaches of northern Sydney in January 1982.
Hedley Thomas investigated the case as part of the podcast The Teacher’s Pet, which garnered more than 60 million downloads internationally and earned him the Gold Walkley.
The prosecution has alleged that Mr Dawson was motivated to kill Mrs Dawson so he could be with JC, a former student and teen kangaroo who moved into his Bayview home after Lynette’s disappearance.
Thomas has told Judge Ian Harrison, who is listening to the trial without a jury, that he thought Dawson should be tried, but denied the podcast was tantamount to an attempt to prejudice witnesses against the former league teacher and player. of rugby.
An audio recording of Mr. Thomas telling one of Mrs. Dawson’s sisters that her interviews with the witnesses were longer and more exhaustive than some conducted by police.
During the recording, he told Patricia Jenkins that producer Jason Blum and actor Joel Edgerton were preparing to announce that they were working on an adaptation of the podcast.
Defense attorney Pauline David told Mr. Thomas who was part of an attempt to portray that he knew more than the police and “poisoned their minds” against Dawson.
“So they could try a little harder on their tests to get the conviction they wanted so much to see,” Ms. David said.
“They were smart people with their own independent minds,” Thomas said.
David further asked if Thomas had “flattered” potential witnesses by telling them about a possible TV series.
“You induced them to say things … with your promises to walk the red carpet,” Mrs. David said.
“That is wrong,” replied Mr. Thomas.
The defense has argued that Mr. Thomas and speaking with potential witnesses influenced their views and harmed them against Mr. Dawson.
Ms David said that by the time Thomas started work on his podcast in 2018, a summary of evidence had been sent to the director of the prosecution.
But Thomas argued that it was the fifth piece of evidence in two decades and that Mrs. Dawson’s family had little expectation that the case would go to trial.
During another conversation with a man, who can only be known as a PS, Thomas talked that he was talking to movie star Hugh Jackman about the possible interest in turning the podcast into a movie or TV series.
PS previously told the court that he was threatened by Mr. Dawson while working at a Coles supermarket when he was a teenager after asking JC.
PS has told the court he was pushed against a concrete ramp and said words to the effect of “staying away from it”.
Thomas denied the defense’s proposals that he be using his contact with Jackman as an incentive for PS to talk to him.
“(PS) got in touch with me and certainly before I had any knowledge of anything involving Hugh Jackman,” Thomas said.
According to Crown prosecution, Mr. Dawson killed Lynette on January 8, 1982, when he last spoke to his loved ones.
Dawson has stated that he left Mrs. Dawson at a Mona Vale bus stop on the morning of January 9, 1982 before not meeting him in the Northbridge restrooms, where he worked part-time as a lifeguard.
Dawson told police in a 1991 interview that he had several phone conversations with his wife during the following weeks in which he said he needed time out, before finally saying he would not return.
He filed a missing person complaint at the Mona Vale police station on February 18, 1982.
In a phone call intercepted in court on Tuesday, Mr Dawson was heard saying he did not report his wife’s disappearance because he was still in contact with her six or eight weeks after others last saw her.
“When I asked the police to find her, and I also asked three or four other private police officers to see if they could find out something for me … But you couldn’t report the disappearance of a person while you were still there. contact them. I still had contact with Lyn for six or eight weeks, ”Dawson said in the intercepted phone call in September 2018, just weeks before he was arrested.
Senior Detective Daniel Poole, the chief investigative detective, told the court Tuesday that as part of his investigations, he sought the 1982 police protocol on missing persons.
“We obtained through the NSW police library a copy, in the absence of a better deadline, of the operating procedures in relation to the missing persons around the year 1982 … Of memory no mention is made specific period of time in which to wait to report someone’s disappearance. ”Detective Poole said.
He told the court that there was no evidence, other than the statements and interviews made by Mr. Dawson, that they were able to verify that Ms. Dawson had any contact with Mr. Dawson after January 8, 1982.
“There is no other independent evidence regarding any contact,” Detective Poole said.
The trial continues Wednesday.