A fruit market sighting by the wife of a footy mate of Chris Dawson may be the key to his defence after he was charged with his former spouse’s murder.
Ray Butlin, who first met Dawson in the 1970s, told a coronial inquiry in 2003 his wife had told him she thought she saw Lyn at a fruit market, The Australian reported.
He told investigators his wife Sue was working at a fruit barn at Kulnura, on the New South Wales central coast, when she allegedly saw Lyn in person after her disappearance in 1982.
‘She believed that she’d seen Lyn Dawson in the fruit barn itself, and she went to approach her and Lyn walked out of the place, got into a car, and left’, Mr Butlin told the coronial inquiry.
Ray Butlin (pictured centre), knew Chris Dawson and his brother Paul when they played for Gosford after leaving the Newtown Jets
Chris Dawson (pictured left) has been charged with the murder of his wife Lyn Dawson (pictured right) in 1982
Mr Butlin, who knew Dawson and his brother Paul when they played for Gosford after leaving the Newtown Jets, also said his wife had a tendency to exaggerate things.
He said Sue had a soft spot for the twin brothers and in an interview with police in 2001, he said she ‘at times liked to be the centre of attention and that may have affected her perception of what she saw on that particular day’.
The former manager at Gosford Rugby Leagues Club also told the 2003 inquest Dawson and his brother Paul were ‘more or less stars’ to his wife Sue.
‘If she had seen somebody that may have been of a like appearance to Lyn – and she knew Lyn extremely well – then she may have wanted herself to see Lyn,’ he said.
Despite the allegations, Sue Butlin died in 1998 without ever giving evidence or a statement to corroborate claims she saw someone she believed to be Lyn Dawson.
The re-emergence of the allegation comes less than a day after it was revealed Dawson allegedly misled detectives by creating a series of ‘false leads’ to show his wife had left him.
Fresh allegations that Chris Dawson (pictured) misled detectives by creating a series of ‘false leads’ to show his wife had left him will form the basis of the prosecution’s case
Chris and Lyn Dawson (pictured on their wedding day) had two daughters aged four and two when she disappeared in 1982
The 70-year-old Dawson was on Thursday driven from Sydney Airport to the Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills, where he was charged with Lyn’s murder
A source close to the investigation told The Australian the decision to charge Dawson came after detectives allegedly found inconsistencies in his stories.
The prosecution will first need to ‘close off all the holes and systematically dismantle this story that Lyn just walked out of his life,’ the senior source said.
Dawson has always maintained his former wife Lyn Dawson walked out on him and their two daughters, Shanelle and Sherryn, on Saturday January 9, 1982.
Outside court this week, his lawyer Greg Walsh said there was evidence Lyn had been ‘observed by a number of people’ after her disappearance in 1982.
‘Unfortunately, two of those people are deceased,’ Mr Walsh said.
‘One of the witnesses who died, her daughter gave evidence at the second inquest, and she said that “my mother told me [and] if she was here today, she’d say she saw Lyn Dawson after her disappearance”‘.
‘Another witness also gave evidence to that effect.’
Chris Dawson (left with his children and one-time lover Joanne Curtis) was taken to Gold Coast airport on Thursday morning so he could be flown to Sydney, where he was charged with the murder of wife Lyn Dawson
Joanne Curtis, pictured with with her school teacher lover Chris Dawson’s children Shanelle and Sherryn, provided police with information that led to his arrest over the alleged murder of his wife Lyn
Mr Walsh said the defence would rely on ‘two very important Bankcard transactions on Lyn’s bank account in the weeks after her disappearance’.
Outside court this week, Mr Walsh said his client would be pleading not guilty to the murder of Lynette and ‘strongly asserts his innocence’.
Dawson was charged with Lyn’s 1982 murder shortly after he landed in Sydney on Thursday morning following his extradition from Queensland.
He faced Sydney Central Local Court via video link on Thursday.
On January 9, 1982 Lyn Dawson (pictured) made plans to meet her mother at Northbridge Baths, where her husband worked as a lifeguard. She did not arrive and is presumed to be dead
Chris Dawson is pictured arriving in Sydney after he was extradited from Queensland following his arrest on Wednesday morning
Joanne Curtis declined to speak to Daily Mail Australia when recently approached at her home. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t speak to reporters,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’ She lives near her daughter Kristen
When asked by magistrate Robert Williams if he was Christopher Dawson, the accused replied ‘Yes. Yes, I am sir’.
He was told his case would be adjourned until next Friday, to which he replied ‘Thank you’ after shaking his head slightly.
Police allege Mrs Dawson was killed some time between 9pm on January 8 and 7am on January 9, 1982.
The charge sheet states: ‘That Christopher Michael Dawson on or about 8 January 1982 at Bayview in the State of New South Wales did murder Lynette Joy Dawson.’
Mr Walsh, told the court the matter was ‘quite big’ and asked that a bail application be set down for December 14.
Dawson did not apply for bail, and it was formally refused.
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