Bronwyn podcast: ‘Devious’ Jon Winfield faces windfall challenge

A multimillion-dollar inheritance received by murder suspect Jon Winfield could be in jeopardy after a former sole beneficiary heard of developments in the Bronwyn podcast | NEW EPISODE

Clockwise from left: Cathy Hardy, left, with her cousin Beverley Brooker in 2017; Brooker at a gathering for her 50th birthday; Jon Winfield. Picture: Supplied/Liam Mendes

Murder suspect Jon Winfield’s shock inheritance of a woman’s multimillion-dollar estate could be challenged by a former sole beneficiary, who has labelled his actions “devious” and questioned his right to the windfall.

Cathy Hardy only discovered she was originally due to receive all of the estate of her cousin and lifelong friend Beverley Brooker after it was revealed in The Australian’s investigative podcast, Bronwyn, last week.

The podcast detailed how Ms Brooker secretly changed her will to instead leave most of her estate to her handyman, Mr Winfield, shortly before she died from cancer that had spread to her brain.

“I was gobsmacked. I really was speechless, I had no idea,” Ms Hardy says in a new episode of the series, released overnight Thursday.

Ms Brooker’s sudden decision to bestow her wealth on Mr Winfield alarmed and distressed her brothers.

Now, Ms Hardy and her husband, Les, have revealed more strange facts about Mr Winfield’s behaviour and raised their own suspicions.

In 2011, Ms Brooker had prepared a will that left everything to Ms Hardy and did not mention Mr Winfield.

It was in place for more than a decade before being changed in March 2022, to make Mr Winfield – the man in charge of renovating her house – both the prime beneficiary and sole executor.

Six months later, in September 2022, Ms Brooker lost her battle with mesothelioma and died in St Vincent’s Hospital in Lismore at the age of 71.

Cathy and Les Hardy, from regional Victoria, are considering their legal options and hope to help Beverley Brooker’s brothers.

Ms Hardy and her husband, Les, from regional Victoria, are subscribers to The Australian and first learned about the previous will when they read the paper on Friday, February 14.

They say they would have immediately questioned Mr Winfield’s right to inherit anything from Ms Brooker, had they known the circumstances surrounding her death.

But Mr Winfield had failed to even tell them Ms Brooker had died, the couple say.

That had denied them the chance to attend her funeral, or to contest the will at the time.

Instead, they received a curt voice message from a male caller using Beverley’s phone in October 2022, telling them to no longer call the number.

“It was quite gruff and it was abrupt. It didn’t say she was dead. It just warned me off using the number. There was no warmth in the voice. It was quite, almost, aggressive. They didn’t say who they were. We dismissed it and left it.”

It wasn’t until two years later, in October 2024, that the couple learned of Ms Brooker’s death through a call from a solicitor’s office advising Ms Hardy she was a beneficiary.

The office sent a copy of the final will, showing Ms Hardy was left $200,000 and Mr Winfield the remainder of the estate.

Beverley Brooker, right, at a gathering for her 50th birthday.

“I burst into tears. I was really upset because that’s the first time I really had clarification that she was dead, and that she thought enough of me to give me that much money,” Ms Hardy said.

By then, the Bronwyn podcast was in full swing and Mr Winfield was under growing public scrutiny.

Seeing Mr Winfield’s name in the will, Ms Hardy asked to speak to the lawyer who prepared the document.

“I asked, ‘So, this Jon Winfield person, is he the person that’s in the paper?’ And he said, ‘Yes, he is’,” she said

“And then I said, ‘So what was the relationship?’ And he said they were neighbours. As far as he knew, they weren’t in a relationship, but they were close.”

The podcast is examining the disappearance of Mr Winfield’s estranged wife, Bronwyn, 31, from their home at Lennox Head on the NSW far north coast in 1993.

Bronwyn Winfield vanished from Lennox Head in 1993. She bore a striking resemblance to Beverley Brooker, who died almost 30 years later in 2022.

Bronwyn was on the verge of divorcing Mr Winfield when she went missing, and they faced a likely bitter fight over the division of their shared assets.

Mr Winfield denies any involvement.

There is no suggestion he harmed Ms Brooker, but the inheritance has raised questions about his character, and particularly his behaviour when it comes to money.

Ms Brooker’s assets are estimated to have been worth several million dollars and included a double-storey, ocean-facing townhouse at Skennars Head in northern NSW, and two brand new cars.

She had toiled for more than 50 years in the same job in Ballina with the NSW government’s road and maritime service, but only eight people turned up at her funeral, which was organised by Mr Winfield.

He insisted to her family that she wanted to keep things quiet.

Mr Hardy, a retired Monash University accounting lecturer, said the couple would consider their legal options.

At the top of their considerations was whether they could secure a better outcome for Ms Brooker’s brothers, Geoff and Paul Outerbridge.

“It’s not just a legal thing. It’s a moral thing,” he said.

To Ms Hardy, it appears Mr Winfield tried to conceal Ms Brooker’s death from her.

“It’s quite devious really. It almost to me feels like a bit of a scam,” she said.

Mr Winfield, now 70, lived in his own home a short walk from Ms Brooker’s townhouse.

They met when she was in her garden one day, and he offered to do handyman work for her.

Cathy and Les Hardy say their own friendship with Ms Brooker had involved intermittent contact but was the kind of relationship where “we could take up from where we left off”.

They did not previously have contact details for Ms Brooker’s brothers, but have spoken to them over the last week after being put in touch by The Australian.

When the couple was told not to contact Ms Brooker’s phone, they had started to worry.

“There were no calls, no Christmas messages, no birthday messages, and we started to think something’s not quite right, but we couldn’t find a death notice, we couldn’t find anything. So we were just sort of at a loss to know what to do next. We did all we thought we could do to try and find her, but to no avail,” Ms Hardy said.

Mr Hardy added: “Out of all the people who could have challenged that will, Cathy is the person who could have. And she was denied the opportunity. And even worse, she wasn’t even informed of her cousin’s death.”