This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The journalist behind the popular podcast The Teacher’s Pet, about the disappearance of Sydney woman Lynette Dawson, has denied claims by the alleged killer’s lawyer that important documents may have been “shredded”.

Former rugby league player and teacher Chris Dawson has been charged with murdering his then wife, Lyn, in 1982 on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Dawson’s lawyer, Greg Walsh, took aim at News Corp Australia journalist Hedley Thomas on Thursday for interviewing witnesses relevant to an ongoing police investigation.

Walsh told Sydney’s Downing Centre local court that Thomas had not disclosed all relevant material to investigators and may have destroyed some. He referred to a comment by Thomas at a question-and-answer style event about the podcast in Brisbane before Dawson was charged in December 2018.

Dawson’s lawyer said the journalist told the crowd parts of his podcast had to be “shredded” because someone could “go to jail if it airs”.

“This material is vitally important to the defence,” Walsh told chief magistrate Graeme Henson.

But Thomas says the lawyer “egregiously” misrepresented his comments, which related to a part of a draft script being withheld “for legal reasons”.

“There was never any suggestion that any underlying document had been destroyed,” Thomas said in a statement on Thursday.

He said his exact words were: “The lawyers ... got back to me today and said ‘We, ah, we think chapter 5 of episode 7 needs to be significantly shredded, cut out, and I was like ‘Oh why?’ and they said ‘Well you’ll go to jail if it stays’.”

Thomas stressed he had handed over to prosecutors 100 gigabytes of audio and hundreds of documents.

The journalist said he was in the process of identifying and providing further relevant material.

Thomas and News Corp urged all parties “including Mr Walsh” to confine their comments to the courtroom in the interests of justice.

Walsh earlier told the magistrate he would apply to have Thomas give evidence at Dawson’s committal hearing. Prosecutors said they would want to cross-examine the reporter if he did appear.

If New South Wales police cannot obtain all relevant material, Walsh said, he may issue subpoenas to Thomas.

Dawson, who is on bail after being charged, travelled from Queensland to be in court on Thursday as his lawyer secured a minor variation to his police reporting conditions. The 70-year-old sat silently in the back row next to his brother Peter.

Dawson was arrested on the Gold Coast in early December and extradited to NSW where he was charged with murdering his wife.

Lynette Dawson was 33 when she went missing in early 1982, leaving behind two young daughters.

The matter is expected back before the same court on 20 June.