The disappearance of Lynette Dawson was the subject of the global podcast phenomenon The Teacher’s Pet

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Chris Dawson has been released on bail from a Sydney prison almost three weeks after he was arrested over the alleged murder of his wife.

Dawson smiled from the front seat of his brother Peter’s Porsche as he left Silverwater prison on Monday, chased by a pack of photographers.

The 70-year-old was granted strict conditional bail on 17 December but a series of complications delayed his release by a week.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chris Dawson, left, with his brother Peter Dawson, after Chris was released on bail from Silverwater jail. Photograph: Brendan Esposito/AAP

Dawson was arrested on the Gold Coast earlier this month and extradited to New South Wales, where he was charged with murdering wife Lynette Dawson, who went missing in 1982.

Dawson intends to plead not guilty to killing his wife, who was 33 when she disappeared from Sydney’s northern beaches. Her body has never been found.

Dawson’s arrest followed the re-examination of Lynette Dawson’s disappearance in the global podcast phenomenon the Teacher’s Pet.

The podcast, which was created by the News Corp-owned Australian newspaper and which has been downloaded more than 25 million times around the world, uncovered fresh witnesses that police say helped lead to his arrest.