Lyn Dawson allegedly seen at royal tour, family friend tells court

A 101-year-old family friend of Sydney murder-accused Chris Dawson believes she saw his missing wife Lynette at a parade for Princes Charles and Princess Diana a year after her 1982 disappearance.

Elva McBay told the Downing Centre Local Court she thought she caught a glimpse of Lynette Dawson at a royal parade in Sydney in March 1983.

Mrs McBay, who on Tuesday appeared via audio-visual link from Wyong Local Court, was a lifelong fan of the Newtown rugby league club for whom Dawson and his twin brother Paul played in the 1970s.

Lyn Dawson has been missing since January 1982 when, according to her then-school teacher husband Chris, she walked out for a short break from their marriage

She told a committal hearing she became friends with Paul when they both worked at Kogarah High School in the 1970s and was a visitor to both of the Dawson brothers’ houses on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Lynette Dawson disappeared from her family’s Bayview home on January 9, 1982 and was the subject of the popular Teacher’s Pet podcast which sparked international interest in the case.

Dawson has pleaded not guilty to her murder.

Mrs McBay said she was waiting in line outside Sydney Hospital to meet Prince Charles and Princess Diana on March 28, 1983.

She said a woman ducked under the barricade and ran in front of a police motorcade which was escorting the royal couple to the Sydney Opera House.

‘I saw her face for a few seconds as she ran straight across in front of the motorbikes … It was terribly dangerous. She could have been badly injured,’ Mrs McBay said.

‘And you said ‘I think that was Lyn Dawson’,’ Dawson’s defence barrister Phillip Boulten SC said.

Elva McBay told the Downing Centre Local Court she thought she caught a glimpse of Lynette Dawson at a parade for Prince Charles and Princess Diana in Sydney in March 1983 (pictured)

Mrs McBay replied: ‘I did think that.’

She had also received a photograph from one of the Dawson twins of a scene from television program Antiques Roadshow which purported to show Lynette alive and well.

‘I thought it looked very, very much like Lyn,’ Ms McBay said.

Mrs McBay also testified that she attended a children’s birthday party at Chris Dawson’s house in July 1981 and was told by Lynette that she had been involved in an ‘awful row’ with a teenager.

When Mr Boulten suggested the teenager had threatened to kill Lynette, Mrs McBay said she didn’t recall being told that.

She said she was told by Lynette that the teenager wanted to ‘get rid’ of her but she wasn’t sure exactly what it meant.

Dawson’s hearing was originally scheduled to kick off on Monday but was delayed after both the defence and prosecution sought a non-publication order. 

The hearing will determine whether Mr Dawson will face a Supreme Court trial over his wife’s alleged murder. The former footballer, 71, has pleaded not guilty