POLICE have long suspected former rugby league star Chris Dawson murdered his first wife Lynette, who disappeared on January 8, 1982.

Yet despite two coronial inquests saying Mrs Dawson was murdered by a known person, no charges have ever been laid – something Nowra’s Graeme Dudgeon is trying to have overturned.

A relative of Mrs Dawson, Mr Dudgeon is circulating a petition calling for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to reopen the case and hopefully launch a prosecution.

He described Mrs Dawson as “a lovely person”, whose family members had been subjected to constant heartache for more than 28 years.

“If you have someone go missing, and there’s no closure, that would be an absolute hell,” Mr Dudgeon said.

That came to a head at the 2001 funeral of Mrs Dawson’s father Len. During the service Mrs Dawson’s mother Helena stood in the aisle, waiting and watching for her missing daughter to arrive, certain she would be there if she was still alive.

The fact Mrs Dawson’s body has never been found remains one of the puzzling aspects of the case.

In 2003 a coronial inquest heard Mr Dawson, who with identical twin brother Paul played for the Newtown Jets in the NRL and rugby with Eastwood, was living a double life.

Charming and good looking, Chris and Paul were both physical education teachers having sex with students, including 16-year-old Joanne Curtis who moved into Chris and Lyn Dawson’s northern beaches home as a baby-sitter, while continuing a relationship with Mr Dawson.

At one stage Mr Dawson and Ms Curtis left Sydney heading for Queensland to start a new life together, but Ms Curtis got cold feet and they turned around.

Days later Ms Curtis was asked to hide in a car while Mr Dawson walked inside a hotel, retuning a short time later.

“He said to me, ‘I went inside to get a hitman to kill Lyn but I decided I couldn’t do it because innocent people would be killed’,” Ms Curtis told a coronial inquest in 2003.

Her presence in the home caused tensions between Mr and Mrs Dawson, resulting in her leaving and the couple seeking marriage counselling.

On the way to the counselling appointment Mr Dawson grabbed his wife around the throat and told her, “I’m only doing this once. If it doesn’t work, I’m getting rid of you,” the inquest was told.

The next day Mrs Dawson was gone, not keeping an appointment to meet her mother for lunch, with Mr Dawson saying she had called him to say she was going to the North Coast for a while to think.

Two days later Ms Curtis was back in the family home, with police later claiming Mr Dawson killed his wife so he could “solidify his relationship” with Ms Curtis.

Two years after Mrs Dawson disappeared they married, although the marriage ended after a decade with Ms Curtis claiming Mr Dawson was violent and manipulative.

Lyn Dawson also suffered at the hands of her husband, with the inquest told of incidents of abuse that left her bruised and battered.

Mr Dudgeon is asking for people to sign a petition calling for police to reopen the case.

The petition is available at Shoalhaven Realty, 24 Berry Street, Nowra.