The Teachers Pet

weldoninhio

Has anyone else listened to this podcast?? It's available on most pod sites. I'm halfway through, it is absolutely unbelievable. Don't want to give too much away for anyone that hasn't heard it. But this is the synopsis on the website:

A star footballer. His school girl lover.
A wife who vanishes.
Chris and Lyn appear to have the perfect marriage. But when Lyn goes missing, dark secrets are buried. This is no fairytale, but a sordid story of strangely close twin brothers, teenage student lovers, and probable murder.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/the-teachers-pet"

Crybabygeeks

I'm almost finished it with one episode to go. Felt it kind of dragged in the middle episodes but picked up again. Unbelievable story,how it all happened in Australia in the 80s.what the brothers got away with was insane!!

Pauliedragon

Anyone interested in that case might like to keep an eye on a radio journalist in Oz called Ben Fordham. He has an afternoon show on 2GB.com and does regular interviews with the police and family involved in the case.

weldoninhio

New episode came out last night, for anyone who had finished it months ago. I spoke briefly with Lyn's nephew and he told me there will be another episode due out next week and after that he's not sure what will happen.

Mantis Toboggan

Just downloading it now, going to listen to it over the next week.

Mantis Toboggan

https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/1070221477851602944?s=19

Pauliedragon

He's been arrested. The Aussie media are all over it.
https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/schoolgirl-at-the-centre-of-murder-case-that-gripped-the-world/news-story/1fa8663ee9a4eeae352a673cafd7dbf7

PropJoe10

Will be glad to see justice being done in the case. Hedley Thomas has done an incredible job with highlighting it.

Mantis Toboggan

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/1070221477851602944?s=19

I'd be fairly sure the brother is involved, will be interesting to see if he gets charged.

PropJoe10

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

I'd be fairly sure the brother is involved, will be interesting to see if he gets charged.

Considering how close the twins are, I'm sure the brother knows more than he's said so far. The daughters must be in bits today, so thoughts are mostly with them.

retro:electro

Just started this a few days ago. Shouldn’t have clicked in here cos, spoilers! It’s very good but dragging a lot in the middle. I feel like I’m just listening to the same episode over and over at times

GingerLily

retro:electro wrote: »

Just started this a few days ago. Shouldn’t have clicked in here cos, spoilers! It’s very good but dragging a lot in the middle. I feel like I’m just listening to the same episode over and over at times

I agree, the first episodes were excellent but they became unstructured.

I'm still so impressed with the power the podcast had. I hope that justice prevails, better late then never.

weldoninhio

GingerLily wrote: »

I agree, the first episodes were excellent but they became unstructured.

I'm still so impressed with the power the podcast had. I hope that justice prevails, better late then never.

I think they became so unstructured because it was a fluid thing, people were listening to the podcast when it came out, then coming forward with more and more information which Hedley wanted to get out there to put pressure on the DPP.

PropJoe10

Yeah I think the podcast was only due to be 7-8 episodes but as the last person said, a lot of new stuff kept coming to light, which then made it feel a bit unstructured in a few of the episodes. He's an outstanding journalist though. Did a great job. Looks like he'll end up giving witness testimony at the trial, if and when it happens.

Aidric

Investigative journalism at its very best. It took a while to get to the rhythm of the podcast, it felt a bit jumpy in the first few episodes and lacking in pacing. It didn't half pick up as the series progressed.

Through forensic presentation of the detail, Thomas let the facts speak for themselves. He didn't need to make any leading statements or guide the listener in a certain direction. A meticulous retelling of the case could only lead to one conclusion.

There was surely police collusion involved, hand in hand with a matey culture. The scale of grooming at the schools meant a lot of people had a lot of dirt on each other and so created an environment of secrecy.

All in all a wonderful series that may well deliver justice.

Green&Red

I’ll start by saying that I think Chris probably did it, almost definitely

BUT
Am I alone in thinking this was a terribly produced piece of journalism? Completely unbalanced and based on very, very little fact.

Below are what I see as the main points or what’s being presented as facts, I’m on episode 14, decision time:
- Lyn disappeared and the following day her replacement was brought in - the most powerful piece of evidence but circumstantial
- a jumper was found during a dig with what looks like stab marks - the ONLY piece of physical evidence - the only DNA it has on it does not belong to Lyn - if she was stabbed her blood would have been all over this surely? They never mention that FFS
- the main person who accuses him is his second wife - described as a reliable witness (I can’t remember who by but heresay) - she only does this after she leaves him and by all accounts (her own included) is an absolute c**t to her step daughters - and her only evidence is a half baked story about him saying he called off a hitman

Other than that it’s a series of interviews with people who now think he did it, none of whom did anything about it for 20 f**king years, her own family included

One episode is called “a lovely drink” where Headley makes a huge point of a supposed comment by her that her husband had made her a lovely drink! And her mother thinking she sounded groggy.

Another is about “soft soil” where a credible witness says there’s no way she’s buried at the house cause the ground is too hard. Two episodes later Headley has convinced her that she’s buried in some soft soil. He then goes on about the previous dig and how they maybe just missed her!

They whole thing seemed like a succession of him asking biased interviewees if they thought he did it. Making it sound like every policeman in the place was a buddy of Chris.

How has he been investigating this for 17 years?

I don’t know how the Australian justice system works but the only credible evidence sounded like the cororners reports, although I don’t understand how there could be two and still no DPP movement?

Lastly, I would like to see Headley under some soft soil, I like a good crime but he was painful!


Edit: I forgot about the brother, who was lumped in as an accomplaice to killing without literally one shred of evidence. Clearly all them teachers are scumbags for grooming kids but again it seems to have been legal to a certain point. I would like to see all of them in jail

retro:electro

It’s just all so sad. When you think about how much Lyn adored her children and now they don’t have even the faintest memory of her. How she was replaced by Joanne and so quickly referred to as their pretend mom. I’m still not finished and still haven’t wrapped my head around it all but my god heads should roll. A woman disappeared into thin air and nobody seemed to give the faintest of a fcuk about her. I can’t help but feel like her own family could have done more? Pushed for answers? I know they made contact with media and were being fed horseshlt by Chris but the only one who seems to have been relentless is the neighbour.
Chris is literally shlt on your shoe in human form. Typical sociopathic narcissist. It’s just so sad the injustice for Lyn and how the daughters she adored so much can’t even remember how much she loved them. A real shame.

Mantis Toboggan

@ Green and Red, the body hasn't been found, no murder weapon has been located and nobody who knows what happened has come forward so unfortunately the case is very much circumstantial and there's very little actual evidence. Only person with a motive was her husband who stood to pocket a wad of cash, custody of the kids and was having an affair with a schoolgirl who was in his class and had moved into the home house, his is a clear motive and it's why he's the number one suspect and has been arrested.

Green&Red

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

@ Green and Red, the body hasn't been found, no murder weapon has been located and nobody who knows what happened has come forward so unfortunately the case is very much circumstantial and there's very little actual evidence. Only person with a motive was her husband who stood to pocket a wad of cash, custody of the kids and was having an affair with a schoolgirl who was in his class and had moved into the home house, his is a clear motive and it's why he's the number one suspect and has been arrested.

Absolutely, the motive is huge but listening to the podcast you'd swear the jumper and the drink and the soft soil were damning pieces of evidence, they're not by any stretch. I just thought the whole thing was way too biased and way too many people being interviewed saying they thought she did it, that means f**k all!

Edit: They also make it sound like the body is 100% under the patio for the whole podcast, they treat it like its almost fact

Mantis Toboggan

Green&Red wrote: »

Absolutely, the motive is huge but listening to the podcast you'd swear the jumper and the drink and the soft soil were damning pieces of evidence, they're not by any stretch. I just thought the whole thing was way too biased and way too many people being interviewed saying they thought she did it, that means f**k all!

Edit: They also make it sound like the body is 100% under the patio for the whole podcast, they treat it like its almost fact

True but I think Hedley's reason for the podcast along with creating awareness was for justice for Lyn. He wanted to force a new trial and for the grounds to be dug in search of the body. He's convinced that Chris is guilty from the start. I think he gets a little caught up with trying to document the case and trying to prove Chris's guilt.

Green&Red

Just listened to the bit where one of his rugby buddies say the building he went to in south Sydney was the rugby club, absolutely no way that could be proven given the details Joanne gives. Then they spend five minutes discussing a hitman who was linked to a guy who used to go there, it’s an outrageous stretch. I know he doesn’t link them but he’s definitely associating them

Edit: and now they have a clairvoyant!!

weldoninhio

Green&Red wrote: »

Just listened to the bit where one of his rugby buddies say the building he went to in south Sydney was the rugby club, absolutely no way that could be proven given the details Joanne gives. Then they spend five minutes discussing a hitman who was linked to a guy who used to go there, it’s an outrageous stretch. I know he doesn’t link them but he’s definitely associating them

Edit: and now they have a clairvoyant!!

Generally if I don’t like something I stop listening to/watching it.

Green&Red

weldoninhio wrote: »

Generally if I don’t like something I stop listening to/watching it.

Generally if I don’t have something useful to say I don’t say it

weldoninhio

Green&Red wrote: »

Generally if I don’t have something useful to say I don’t say it

And yet here you are. :rolleyes:

PropJoe10

Green&Red wrote: »

Generally if I don’t have something useful to say I don’t say it

The irony is real! Why are you listening to this podcast if you so clearly think it's pointless and biased, hate the journalism and hate the presenter?

I'm enjoying it, I'm about 2/3 way through but I find a lot of the interviews awfully difficult to hear clearly. Maybe it's the ozzie accents or maybe it's the sound on my ipod but I seem to miss a lot of what they are saying.
Great story though. I wonder how the case will go considering the recent developments....

Pintman Paddy Losty

This whole story could have been told in 3 or 4 episodes instead of twelve. I can understand how people get bored and annoyed listening to Headley droning on about the same things over and over.

Do I think Chris did it?
Yes.

Is there any solid evidence to prove that claim?
No.

Too much time has passed. Unless they find her body or someone confesses there'll be no justice for Lynn.

Beersmith

Yeah but it was examining all the lack of a proper investigation and all these interesting links false information etc. You can sum up anything in a short time. I enjoyed the long tell anyway.

Kingp35

I finished this today. I feel it was an important podcast, not for any evidence uncovered regarding Lynn, but more for the scandals uncovered regarding sex abuse in the school and the unwillingness of the police to properly investigate Chris who is clearly the main suspect.

Having said that, despite the incredible story the podcast was painfully boring at times as it was way too dragged out with far too many interviews of little relevance. For all the investigating that was done, there was very little credible evidence uncovered. Although I am 99% sure Chris did it, I'm surprised he's been arrested and I can understand completely why the DPP didn't pursue the case for so long.

Let's just hope that the investigation continues and more damning evidence can be found.

Just in case anyone is listening to the podcast and has managed to avoid the news, I won't post a link. But there was a verdict in the case.

PropJoe10

There's also a new podcast on the trial, named The Teacher's Trial. Well worth tuning into if you're invested in this case!