Former Sydney school teacher Chris Dawson has been sentenced to a maximum 24 years in prison for murdering his first wife Lynette in 1982.
The 74-year-old has been in custody since he was found guilty in August, following a judge-only trial in the NSW Supreme Court.
Ms Dawson’s body has never been found, but the judge was satisfied Ms Dawson died at the hands of her husband, who had a “possessive infatuation” with the family’s babysitter JC, who he later married.
Justice Ian Harrison today said Ms Dawson was “faultless and undeserving of her fate” and the fact her body has not been recovered was an aggravating circumstance of the “objectively very serious crime”.
He sentenced Dawson to a maximum 24 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 18 years.
Dawson maintains his innocence and has flagged an appeal.
He will be eligible for parole in August 2040.
More to come.
