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.
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