Last updated 05:00, June 20 2018
SUPPLIED
Medical researcher Dr Shelagh Dawson, of Christchurch, died about six weeks ago while being investigated by police and ACC.
Medical researcher Dr Shelagh Dawson, of Christchurch, died about six weeks ago while being investigated by police and ACC.
A Christchurch medical researcher has died in a suspected suicide as police investigated claims she poisoned her partner last year and also whether she fatally poisoned her husband nine years ago.
Dr Shelagh Isabella Dawson, 60, an epidemiologist, diabetes researcher and former Otago University School of Medicine lecturer, died at her Medway St, Richmond home about six weeks ago.
Before her May 9 death, police had approached her about her partner collapsing at home three times last year. The partner, who Stuff has decided not to name, was rushed to hospital in June, July and August after falling unconscious. Tests eventually revealed his blood contained five different types of prescription medicine.
Police interviewed Dr Shelagh Dawson over allegations she poisoned her partner with prescription medicine. Police were also looking into the death of her husband nine years ago, who died with similar symptoms.
All five were found in a large stash of drugs – described as "literally a suitcase full" – discovered at Dawson's home. They were all prescribed to her, a hypochondriac, by her own doctor for a number of conditions she claimed to have. The Medical Council of New Zealand is now investigating.
The partner grew suspicious when he woke in his hospital room to find Dawson wearing gloves and administering what appeared to be a yellow substance to his IV line through a needle.
She claimed she wore the gloves because he was infectious and that he had seen a yellow pen.
Graham Edward Dawson, 54, died in Christchurch Hospital from multi-organ failure in September 2009. There was no autopsy, a doctor signed off on the death and his body was cremated three days later.
After being discharged, the partner consulted his lawyers who advised making a complaint to the police.
Police discovered Dawson had taken out a $350,000 insurance policy on her partner's life before the suspected poisoning began. He thought he was paying for travel insurance. The couple had been together for about three years before they split last year.
Detectives interviewed Dawson twice before her death. She was also under investigation by ACC and another agency over benefit fraud. She died soon after ACC interviewed her about her claiming compensation for a fictitious accident.
The Medway St, Christchurch property where Dr Shelagh Dawson lived with her partner, who suddenly collapsed several times last year.
Police found the partner's symptoms were almost identical to those suffered by Dawson's husband Graham Edward Dawson, 54, before his September 2009 death. He also experienced a sudden collapse.
Graham Dawson, a retired firefighter, died in Christchurch Hospital after suffering multi-organ failure. There was no autopsy and his body was cremated three days later. His ashes were scattered at sea.
A hospital doctor signed off on his death, no coronial inquiry occurred and no death notice appeared.
Her husband's insurance company paid her $350,000 and she claimed a widow's pension from England.
The couple had been married for 32 years.
The couple – Shelagh Dawson was born in Scotland and Graham Dawson was from Kent, England – emigrated to New Zealand in 2002. They had three children, who are now aged in their 30s.
Police have declined to comment on the investigation, dubbed Operation Medway.
Dawson's former partner declined to comment when approached by Stuff. He wanted the matter kept private to protect all those concerned, including her children.
A source close to the case said the full facts would show it was "much worse" than Christchurch's infamous Black Widow saga.
Black Widow was the name given to Helen Milner, who was convicted in 2014 of poisoning her husband Phil Nisbet, 47, with anti-allergy medicine in 2009.
Police began investigating the murder after Nisbet's sister made her own inquiries and raised serious questions.
The Crown said Milner probably mixed phenergan into her husband's dinner and then may have suffocated him once he was sedated. She then manipulated the scene and fabricated suicide notes and a cellphone text message to throw investigators off the track.
A spokesperson for the coroner's office confirmed the Dawson case was active and investigations were continuing.
- Additional reporting by Martin van Beynen
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