Murderer Chris Dawson has ‘split’ from his loyal third wife as he starts his lengthy prison sentence that will likely see him die in jail.
Former teacher Susan Constance Dawson, who has been married to Chris for almost three decades, did not attend his marathon murder trial, sensational verdict and sentencing hearings.
But Ms Dawson had stuck by the ex-footballer during years of media attention sparked by two inquests in 2000 and 2003, and the global spotlight caused by The Teacher’s Pet podcast.
Following Justice Ian Harrison’s sentencing last week of Dawson to a maximum 24 years in prison, journalist Hedley Thomas revealed on the podcast that Susan Dawson and Chris Dawson ‘were estranged, that the marriage has failed’.
Daily Mail Australia can also reveal that the Gold Coast house Susan and Chris Dawson shared leading up to his arrest for murder on December 2020 was sold on November 15 for around $1.1m.
Murderer Chris Dawson’s third marriage to wife Susan (above together in April this year) of three decades has failed as the wife killer starts his lengthy prison sentence that is expected to see him die in jail
Chris Dawson’s third marriage to Susan was his longest. His second marriage to schoolgirl babysitter (above) in 1984 lasted six years until she fled.
Dawson’s first marriage to Lynette (above) ended after 12 years when he murdered her in 1982. He officially divorced her a year later
The four bedroom classic beach house at Biggera Waters, which the Dawsons bought for $399,000 in 2011, was placed on the market exactly two weeks after Justice Harrison found Chris guilty of murder and he was carted off to jail.
It was at Biggera Waters where Dawson was arrested and charged with murdering first wife Lynette at their Bayview, Sydney home on January 8 or 9 in 1982.
Susan and Chris Dawson still appear to own another house together, at Mount Coolum on the Sunshine Coast.
In April this year, the month before Dawson’s murder trial began, he was photographed with Susan shopping for household items at Target, in Runaway Bay on the Gold Coast.
Earlier on the same day he was photographed reporting as per his bail conditions at Maroochydore Police Station, before driving the two hours south to have lunch with Susan and then go shopping.
Dawson had fought all the way to the High Court for a permanent stay on his murder trial proceeding, but in February 2020 he was committed to stand trial.
Chris Dawson’s marriage to Susan has been his longest.
His first marriage to Lynette ended after 12 years when he murdered her in 1982.
Chris and Lynette had two daughters, aged four and two at the time she was killed.
His second marriage in 1984 to schoolgirl babysitter JC, which produced a daughter in 1985, ended when she left him in 1990. The pair divorced in 1993.
Dawson is believed to have met Susan, who had separated from her husband and had two young children, in 1990 soon after JC fled with her and Chris Dawson’s five-year-old child.
Susan’s children took Dawson’s surname.
Susan and Chris Dawson’s house at Biggera Waters (above) was put on the market two weeks after he was found guilty of murder and sold in mid-November for around $1.1m
Chris Dawson was arrested for murder at Biggera Waters (above) in December 2018 and extradited to NSW, beginning four years of legal hearings culminating in his conviction and 24 year sentence
Susan was working as a science teacher at St Brendan’s Catholic Boys School on Queensland’s Capricorn Coast when she met Dawson, who was working as a PE teacher at St Ursula’s Girls College, also in Yeppoon.
Justice Harrison said in his sentencing remarks last week that Dawson’s relationship with Susan had ‘suffered’ under the weight of his circumstances, but that the marriage was still intact.
‘Mr Dawson has enjoyed 36 years in the community unimpeded by the taint of a conviction for killing his wife or by any punishment for doing so,’ Justice Harrison said, when considering the murderer’s plea for sentence mitigation.
Lynette Joy Simms (above with daughter Shanelle) and Chris Dawson were school sweethearts who married aged 21 until the age of 33 when he disposed of her, murdering the trusting mother of two to make way for his schoolgirl lover
Chris Dawson on April 22 this year, just 18 days before his murder trial began, dashing from Maroochydore Police Station before driving two hours to Runaway Bay on the Gold Coast to meet his wife Sue for one of their last face-to-face encounters
‘He married JC and they had a child. Not long after their divorce he remarried and remains so, even though that relationship has suffered in the events that have occurred,’ Justice Harrison said.
Chris Dawson’s reported marriage breakdown with Susan comes as he is also separated from his identical twin brother Paul for the longest time since their birth in 1948.
The Dawson twins, Paul being the first born, had their own childhood language, played football together, worked as PE teachers and at other jobs together, lived in the same street and once had car registration plates Twin1 and Twin2.
Twins Chris (left) and Paul Dawson in some of their last moments together before he was found guilty of murder, taken away to prison and then sentenced to probably die in jail
But since Chris was found guilty, handcuffed and led from courtroom 13A on the afternoon of August 30, sending Paul running from the room and saying ‘bulls***’, the twins have been apart.
Paul, who is believed to live at Paradise Point on the Gold Coast with his wife, Marilyn, would be among half a dozen contacts Chris Dawson is allowed to telephone from jail on a prison landline shared with other inmates.
In telephone intercepts played by Dawson’s defence counsel during the murder trial, the twins appeared to phone one another just after 9pm each day.
However in prison, inmates are usually given their dinner and locked in their cells by about 3.30pm.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk