Received

Housing security for Queensland sex offenders will be overhauled after the alleged assault of a teenage girl at a residential complex.

A 36-year-old offender was on supervised release, living at the Wacol complex southwest of Brisbane when the girl was allegedly assaulted, Queensland Correctives Services confirmed.

The man has been charged with several offences, including making child exploitation material and he has been returned to custody under the Dangerous Prisoner (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003.

"These offenders are deemed by the courts to be suitable for release to stringent supervision in the community," Corrective Services Commissioner Paul Stewart said on Friday.

"Sadly, however, we're dealing with incredibly complex and challenging individuals who have committed abhorrent crimes and can be well-versed in avoiding scrutiny.

"We deeply regret that, in this instance, it appears that our best efforts were not successful in preventing the alleged offences."

Commissioner Stewart confirmed the alleged incident was under full investigation, with extra measures considered to protect the community.

"We are also engaging with our stakeholders to see if there is more that can be done to prevent further instances," he said.

"We've received a risk analysis of the contingency housing from an external agency and have a range of work already underway and planned to further improve the management of offenders - that includes upgrades to fencing, lighting and CCTV."

"We are committed to doing everything we legally can to protect community safety, noting that these offenders are not in custody."

The commissioner said that visitors were allowed at the precinct, but only after approval and under specific supervision.

"From time to time, obviously visitors are able to go into the precinct in order to provide either medical support for psychologists or psychiatrist support."

"A child wouldn't be approved to enter the premises, no."

© AAP 2022

Murderer Chris Dawson will probably die in jail, but his wife's family hopes he lives a long life and endures every day of his sentence.

Four decades after killing his wife Lynette and disposing of her body, the former Sydney schoolteacher will spend at least 18 years in jail.

On Friday, Justice Ian Harrison delivered a maximum sentence of 24 years, noting the 74-year-old would likely die behind bars after being found guilty of murder in August.

"Mr Dawson is not old by contemporary standards, but the reality is that he will not live to reach the end of his non-parole period," the judge said in the NSW Supreme Court.

"I am nevertheless required to impose a sentence that satisfies the community's expectations of punishment, retribution and denunciation."

He called the murder, which occurred in the couple's Bayview home in January 1982, an objectively serious crime inspired by Dawson's "uncontrollable desire" to be with his teenage lover, known as JC.

JC was Dawson's former high school student and also worked as babysitter for the couple's two daughters in 1980 and 1981. The pair eventually married in 1984 and divorced in 1991.

The crime was an "objectively very serious offence" because he planned to kill his wife and did so in her own home, the judge said.

Mrs Dawson would not have known what was coming on that fateful night, he added.

"Lynette Dawson was faultless and undeserving of her fate. Despite the deteriorating state of her marriage to Mr Dawson, she was undoubtedly also completely unsuspecting," he said.

"Tragically her death deprived her young daughters of their mother so that a significant part of the harm caused to others as a consequence of her death, is the sad fact that Lynette Dawson was treated by her husband, the father of the very same girls, as completely dispensable."

Her body has never been found.

Claims media hype behind the four-decade-long mystery served as some extra punishment which should shorten the jail sentence were rejected by the court.

"Mr Dawson has now been convicted of the crime which attracted the publicity in question. In those circumstances Mr Dawson is now the author of his own misfortune," Justice Harrison said.

Dawson did not react and sat stony-faced as he was given a non-parole period of 18 years, expiring on August 29, 2040.

He was taken away to Silverwater prison, where the court heard he had already suffered threats and taunts from other inmates, including being referred to as the "Teacher's Pet".

Dawson will be 92 before he can apply for release and his maximum jail term will expire on August 29, 2046.

Outside court, Mrs Dawson's brother Greg Simms spoke of the impact this final chapter had on the family.

"Today marks the end of a very long, painful and challenging journey. At last we have justice for Lyn and that was our main aim."

"Chris Dawson discarded her, the Dawsons disregarded her. From today on we would like her to be known and remembered as Lynette Joy Simms."

He said he hoped Dawson would live a long life so that he could serve the sentence imposed on him.

"We really didn't believe this day would ever come. What we need now is to find Lyn and put her to rest. It's our time to begin living our lives without having this hanging over our heads. Chris Dawson has had 40 years of freedom. Now it's our turn."

Dawson's lawyer Greg Walsh said his client still maintained his innocence despite the guilty verdict and his daughter's plea to reveal where her mother's body was.

"I'm innocent. I don't know where she is because I didn't murder her," Dawson allegedly told Mr Walsh

The solicitor said there were no winners in a case like this, with Mrs Dawson's family and the community suffering and Dawson himself likely to spend the rest of his days in jail unless he is successful in appealing the conviction.

"It's a very, very sad case indeed. You see the family there and they're suffering. They're feeling it and they've felt it for a number of years."

Mr Walsh, who has been representing Dawson for four-and-a-half years, said he would be stepping down from the role and public defender Belinda Rigg SC would be taking his place.

Dawson has filed an appeal of his conviction.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

Lifeline 13 11 14

© AAP 2022

Almost 40 years after killing his wife Lynette and disposing of her body, former Sydney schoolteacher Chris Dawson will now spend at least 24 years in jail.

On Friday, Justice Ian Harrison delivered the sentence in the NSW Supreme Court after finding the 74-year-old guilty of murder in August.

"In my opinion the murder of Lynette Dawson is an objectively serious crime," Justice Harrison said while sentencing Dawson.

"Lynette Dawson was faultless and undeserving of her fate."

The decision concludes a four-decade long wait for justice for Mrs Dawson's family, who are still pleading with the convicted wife-killer to reveal the location of her body.

Dawson was given a non-parole period of 18 years, meaning he will be aged in his 90s before he can apply for release from jail.

Dawson murdered his wife in January 1982 to have an unfettered relationship with a high school student who was also his babysitter, known as JC.

During the sentence hearing in November, crown prosecutor Craig Everson SC said Dawson had planned a "deliberate and conscious act" of domestic violence with an intention to kill.

He said a crime of "very great heinousness" required a term of life imprisonment.

Dawson's lawyer Greg Walsh disputed claims the crime was at the high end in terms of objective seriousness.

Mr Walsh said the former Newtown Jets rugby league player had already suffered under the "most constant and egregious publicity" for four decades.

His health was also deteriorating, the court heard, with Dawson showing signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain condition often experienced by those who play contact sports.

Dawson has filed an appeal of his conviction.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

Lifeline 13 11 14

© AAP 2022