Episode notes
After a bizarre last ditch bid by Jon Winfield to curry favour from a Ballina detective, the coroner heading the inquest into Bronwyn’s presumed murder sums up the case against the surfing bricklayer. He describes Bronwyn’s predicament in May 1993, the plans she was making for herself and her two girls, and her resolve to be free from Jon. The coroner weighs and rejects Jon’s claims – that a mentally befuddled Bronwyn had gone on an impromptu break and must have started a new life. Jodie’s protection of her father comes under closer scrutiny. Chrystal reveals…
Podcast
Bronwyn
The Australian · True Crime · English
The Teacher’s Pet creator Hedley Thomas returns with a new podcast investigation for The Australian. Bronwyn Winfield disappeared 31 years ago from the idyllic surf town of Lennox Head. She was a devoted mother of two little girls, and was going through a painful separation from her husband, Jon
More from Bronwyn All episodes →
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S3 · E36 · 22 Aug 2025 · 1 hr 29 min
Episode 36: Forever Loved
In the final episode for some time, the owners of a Sydney property learn that the missing mother’s remains may have been concealed under concrete there. Andy, Michelle and Madi reflect on some of the major milestones over the past 18 months of podcast investigation. New evidence is discovered by Karina who finds the former owner of the hair salon where Jodie Winfield worked in May 1993. She reveals that Bronwyn would telephone the salon to say Jon Winfield was going to kill her. Hedley and Karina go through the numerous clues which arouse suspicions over the Illawong property. Bev…
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S3 · E35 · 15 Aug 2025 · 1 hr 4 min
Episode 35: Home Truths
Megan performs a dramatic backflip by changing her evidence about Jon’s moves in Sydney in the hours after his wife Bronwyn’s disappearance. Megan expresses doubts about whether Bronwyn's body was in the car’s boot during a road trip from Sandstone Crescent to Sydney. Bronwyn’s brother Andy Read accuses Megan of inventing ‘fairytales’ in a bid to make herself more relevant in the investigation of the suspected murder of the mother of two. Megan denies she was helping Jon. Madi sides with Andy while a senior detective who ran an exhaustive cold case probe…
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S3 · E34 · 7 Aug 2025 · 1 hr 1 min
Episode 34: A Cautionary Tale
Retired detective Glenn Taylor who has worked harder on Bronwyn’s case than any other police officer faces a problem. Will his video-taped formal interview in Ballina’s police station in 1998 with murder suspect Jon Winfield be ruled out in the event of any prosecution? Lawyers and police say it is on the cards because Jon was not cautioned by police that he had a legal right to silence. Glenn believes that damning evidence from the interview ‘should’ be admissible in a future prosecution – but he agrees it will be up to a judge to decide. Legendary former…
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S3 · E33 · 31 Jul 2025 · 1 hr 1 min
Episode 33: The Legal Veil
After a break of almost three months between episodes, Andy and Michelle come away from a meeting for the loved ones of homicide victims with newly found patience and confidence in the restarted police investigation into Bronwyn’s 1993 disappearance. They explain why. A former insider from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions discloses concerns she has held for a quarter century about how the brief of evidence was handled behind closed doors in Lismore in 2000. The fallibility of prosecutors in significant cases where there is no formal external accountability comes under…
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30 May 2025 · 44 min
The Gangster's Ghost Episode 1: Dead Man Talking
The family of slain gangster Stewart John Regan has been frustrated by an unwillingness on the part of the NSW Police Unsolved Homicide Unit to share information about its investigation into his death. It's the same police unit leading the investigation into Bronwyn Winfield's disappearance – and they say they're reluctant to share important files because they're concerned publicity from podcasts like Bronwyn and The Teacher's Pet will compromise their investigation. Catch up on Episode 1 of The Gangster's Ghost now, and subscribe to hear new episodes first at gangstersghost.com.au The…
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8 May 2025 · 2 min
Listen to The Australian's new podcast The Gangster's Ghost
Johnny 'The Magician' Regan was a murderer, pimp and psychopath, gunned down by three assassins in a grimy back lane in 1974. He was 29. In this new investigative podcast, The Australian's Matthew Condon investigates gangland’s last great murder mystery. Subscribers to The Australian and registered users hear episodes of 'The Gangster's Ghost' first at gangstersghost.com.au . Plus, you can read more about this case, see exclusive stories, photos, videos and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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S3 · E31 · 1 May 2025 · 1 hr 14 min
Episode 31: The Memory Hole
Jon’s daughter Jodie returns to the witness box for a searching cross examination on Day 4 of the inquest.She volunteers that she looked in the boot of the Ford Falcon on the morning that she says her father arrived at the Shire hair salon, Intercutz, after the overnight drive from Lennox. If Bronwyn’s body was in the boot en route to be concealed somewhere in the Shire – a theory which Jon emphatically denies – Jodie didn’t see it. Her memory of events was generally vague. Jodie couldn’t recall anything to do with suggestions of violence against Bronwyn.…
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S3 · E30 · 24 Apr 2025 · 1 hr 3 min
Episode 30: Mountains And Molehills
Did Bronwyn have a secret boyfriend with whom she was having a clandestine relationship before he spirited her away from her daughters and her Lennox Head home? Was Jon’s neighbour Murray affected by painkillers or cannabis when he says he saw Jon leaving the house with his car’s engine and its lights off on the night Bronwyn disappeared? Was such a departure even unusual for Jon? The bricklayer’s lawyer Craig Leggat turns up the heat on witnesses on Day 3 of the inquest. Bronwyn’s close friend and neighbour Deb Hall answers the challenge as the legal strategy…
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S3 · E29 · 17 Apr 2025 · 1 hr 7 min
Episode 29: Out Of Character
Bronwyn’s state of mind and powerful maternal instincts for her two daughters face a determined challenge as Jon’s side depicts the missing mother in a negative light. Bronwyn’s care for Chrystal and Lauren comes into sharp focus when Jon’s lawyer asks if it would have been out of character for the Lennox Head mum to go to a Saturday night party, leaving the girls home alone. Witness after witness reject the suggestions. Andy’s wife Michelle is combative as Jon’s lawyer questions her closely. It’s decision time too – we decide whether to move…
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S3 · E28 · 10 Apr 2025 · 1 hr 8 min
Episode 28: The Lawyer's Picnic
Jon’s lawyer Craig Leggat does his homework, analysing witness statements and other documents to discover significant and inconsequential flaws in the evidence. He knows that if things go badly in the inquest, Jon faces a murder charge. But if defects in the evidence are properly highlighted, there’s a chance Jon can walk away. Bronwyn’s cousin Megan Read faces another torrid time in the witness stand because Jon and his lawyer see her evidence as the weakest link. Bruised but not beaten, Megan finally gets a reprieve, and then it’s the turn of Scruffy, his wife…
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