Mr Dawson appeared in the dock of the Southport Magistrates Court court on Wednesday wearing prison greens - a short-sleeved top, shorts and no shoes - as police applied to extradite him to NSW. He kept his hands together in his lap and stared at the magistrate or down at the ground as his lawyer, Rachel Barnes, applied for bail on his behalf. Chris and Lynette Dawson on their wedding day. Credit:Sean Davey Ms Barnes argued that her client had a brother in NSW with whom he could live if bail was granted and said Mr Dawson was happy to check in at a local police station regularly. She said her client had co-operated with detectives in the past and was happy to comply with any bail conditions imposed.

"He is concerned about the stigma that is attached to an extradition," she said. "He does understand the seriousness of the allegations." Queensland Police arrest Chris Dawson at a home on the Gold Coast on Wednesday morning. Credit:NSW Police After some deliberation, magistrate Dennis Kinsella decided the court did not have the power to grant bail due to the case being in NSW. Mr Dawson is due to appear in Paramatta Local Court on Thursday. Details of the police case against Mr Dawson were revealed in court. He held his head in his hands while the allegations against him were read out.

Police allege Mr Dawson was in the process of divorce from his wife and he was having an "illicit affair". They also allege there was evidence of domestic violence and the pair had been struggling to work out issues over outstanding property in the separation. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Police will use previous interviews they had conducted with Mr Dawson since his wife's disappearance as evidence in the case. Detectives allege Mrs Dawson was having financial trouble when she disappeared and will argue that, because she had organised a family portrait and her children were due to return to school, she did not plan to disappear suddenly of her own accord.

Mrs Dawson's brother Greg Simms said he was "quite emotional" after hearing of the arrest. "We’ve had a cry, we’ve cuddled, we’re just completely over the moon that something has finally happened," he told The Australian. Her nephew David Jenkins tweeted: "I'm shaking. There is a long road in front of us in bringing Lyn home, but this is a big step". Just weeks before her daughter was due to start kindergarten, Mrs Dawson disappeared and has not been seen or heard from since. Despite that, Mr Dawson did not report his wife missing for almost six weeks.

Loading Two days after Mrs Dawson went missing, Joanne Curtis, a 16-year-old student at Cromer High School where Mr Dawson was a teacher, moved into the family's home. She later became his wife. The NSW Coroner has twice found that Mr Dawson most likely killed his wife, but the then director of public prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery, QC, declined to prosecute due to a lack of evidence. Mr Cowdery told the ABC's Australian Story the case against Mr Dawson was "weak" without a body. "Without a body, without knowing first of all whether in fact she is dead, without knowing secondly if she is dead, how she died, it's very hard to mount a case of a reasonable prospect of conviction just on motive and the undefined existence of means and opportunity. That makes it very weak," he said.

In 2015, NSW homicide detectives established Strike Force Scriven to reinvestigate the circumstances surrounding Mrs Dawson's disappearance and suspected murder. Following extensive investigations, detectives requested the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions review their brief of evidence in April this year. Earlier this week, the ODPP provided advice to police, and following further inquiries, NSW Police detectives applied for an arrest warrant before travelling to Queensland. Just before 8am on Wednesday, Mr Dawson was arrested by Queensland Police detectives in the presence of Strike Force Scriven investigators. In September, police dug up the Dawsons' old home in Bayview on Sydney's northern beaches, but did not find any trace of Mrs Dawson's body.