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Notorious killer Chris Dawson has requested a transfer from NSW to an interstate prison to serve out his 24-year sentence for murdering his wife.
The former rugby league player and school teacher was living on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast when he was arrested in 2018 over the death of his first wife, Lynette Simms, on Sydney’s northern beaches in 1982.
Dawson was convicted and jailed in 2022 and is not eligible for release until 2041, when he will be aged 93.
But the 77-year-old, who suffers from dementia, has requested to return to Queensland to serve out his sentence closer to family, a source with knowledge of the application confirmed to Nine News on Tuesday.
Lynette Simms’ family has been notified of Dawson’s request. Her body has never been found.
A Corrective Services NSW spokesperson said the department cannot comment on individual applications.
“Inmates can apply to transfer interstate for welfare and medical reasons,” they said.
“Applications are considered on a case-by-case basis, and the Corrective Services NSW commissioner and minister for corrections make the ultimate decision.”
The request for an interstate transfer came almost a year after Dawson lost a bid to overturn his conviction for sexually abusing a student in the 1980s.
The conviction added another year to Dawson’s non-parole period. But the state’s “no body, no parole” laws enacted after his conviction for murder – sometimes referred to as “Lyn’s law” – could prevent him being released until his full 24-year sentence expires in 2046, if he doesn’t reveal the location of Simms’ remains.
Queensland has a similar law.
NSW Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison acknowledged when sentencing Dawson for murder that he would “not live to reach the end of his non-parole period” or would be “seriously disabled well before then even if he does”.
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Jack Gramenz is a breaking news reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners
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