1970: Lynette Joy Simms marries footballer Christopher Michael Dawson. They are both 21 and later have two daughters, first Shanelle and then Sherryn
1980: Mr Dawson, who retired from playing rugby league to become a PE teacher, starts affair with 16-year-old pupil Joanne Curtis at Cromer High School on Sydney's northern beaches
1981: Mr Dawson persuades Mrs Dawson to let Joanne move in to their home to get away from her violent stepfather and finish her Higher School Certificate
December 1981: Mr Dawson and his young lover run away together to Queensland but Ms Curtis changes her mind and they return to Sydney
January 8, 1982: Mrs and Mrs Dawson go to marriage counselling. Mrs Dawson's mother speaks to her daughter, who is not a big drinker, on the telephone and thinks she sounds 'sozzled'.
January 9, 1982: Mr Dawson says he dropped his wife at a Mona Vale bus stop
