Stunning guilty plea in 1982 cold case murder

A man charged over murder of Elizabeth "Betty" Dixon in the NSW Hunter Valley more than three decades ago has today pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact.

Rodney Lawrence was due to stand trial today, however the 66-year-old entered his plea to the alternative charge before proceedings began this morning.

The body of Ms Dixon, 31, was found slumped over the steering wheel of her car in bushland at Ashtonfield, near Maitland, on April 6, 1982.

She had suffered 27 stab wounds and head injuries, and her hands had been tied behind her back.

The Crown alleges another man, who died in 2011, was responsible for her murder.

In an interview with police and a separate phone conversation with his son, Lawrence claimed the alleged killer threatened him with a knife and demanded he help move Ms Dixon's body. 

Lawrence admitted he tied Ms Dixon's hands behind her back and wrapped the body in a blanket.

Lawrence said the alleged killer told him he murdered Ms Dixon after she rejected his sexual advances.

"Because she called me an old man, no one calls me an old man," Lawrence claimed the alleged killer told him.

The alleged killer was never charged with any crime in connection to Ms Dixon's death.

Lawrence was charged with Ms Dixon's murder in October 2015 and initially pleaded not guilty to both charges.