UPDATE: Chris Dawson walked out of Silverwater Jail at approximately 2:30pm this afternoon, according to footage from the prison.
Accused murderer Chris Dawson has been released on bail. He is leaving Sydney’s Silverwater prison after confirming his bail surety.
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— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) December 24, 2018
EARLIER: Accused murderer Chris Dawson is expected to walk out of prison this afternoon, after paperwork concerning his bail application was filed with the courts and accepted earlier today.
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Dawson is accused of the murder of his wife Lyn in 1982, after she disappeared without a trace, sparking a long-running investigation. The case remained cold until authorities formally re-opened it in 2015, and the case drew international attention after being the subject of the wildly popular podcast The Teacher’s Pet.
Dawson was arrested and charged on December 5, before being extradited to New South Wales for formal processing. He’s been held in Silverwater Prison since then.
Last Monday, a court granted Dawson bail under strict conditions, pending a $1.5 million surety.
Paperwork filed with the court on Friday was rejected due to irregularities with a property deed provided as part of that amount.
Since then, lawyers for Dawson have been working tirelessly to secure a release for their client in time for Christmas, which appears set to occur today. Dawson’s chief lawyer Greg Walsh commented that the paperwork issues had forced to him to travel to Coolangatta in the hopes of resolving it.
We’ve gone to a lot of trouble and a lot of effort. I went to Coolangatta to meet with [Dawson’s third wife] Susan and get all the documents that she had.
We were stuck on the tarmac for seven and a half hours. In any event hopefully he’ll get bail today and he should get bail.
As part of the $1.5 million surety, both Dawson’s house and the Sydney house of Dawson’s brother Peter have been put up as collateral.
The strict bail conditions require Dawson to surrender his passport and report daily to Queensland police. It also prevents him from travelling outside a 20km radius from a pre-determined property in Coolum (except to travel to and from court), and forbids him from making contact with anyone who provided statements to police during the investigation.
