Bronwyn podcast: Ex-wife says Jon Winfield would ‘accuse me of looking at other men’

A woman who was married to Jon Winfield before the disappearance and suspected murder of his next wife, Bronwyn Winfield, left him because of his possessiveness.

Jon Winfield surfing at Sharpes Beach, Skennars Head, between Ballina and Lennox Head. Picture: Liam Mendes

A woman who was married to bricklayer Jonathon Winfield, before the sudden disappearance and suspected murder of his next wife, left him because of his possessiveness and his constant accusations that she was looking at other men.

Speaking after listening to the opening episodes of The Australian’s new investigative podcast into the vanishing of Mr Winfield’s third wife, Bronwyn Winfield, 31 years ago, his second wife said he did not harm her physic­ally or threaten her with violence, but he wore her down with questioning of her faithfulness.

Asked why they split up, she said: “Because he was possessive … If I walked down the street, he would say ‘Why are you looking at that guy?’

“You felt like you couldn’t look sideways. He was just accusing you of looking at other men.”

After they separated, she had to fight to gain her share of their assets because he didn’t want to give her anything, she said.

That resulted in them dividing proceeds from the sale of a house they built together in Sandstone Crescent, Lennox Head, on the NSW far north coast.

Mr Winfield later built another house in the same street, just a few doors away from his earlier house, with third wife Bronwyn before they too separated.

Bronwyn, 31, was in the process of divorcing Mr Winfield and was seeking a division of their assets, including the Sandstone Crescent family home, when she vanished from the town.

Identified as “Dee” on the Bronwyn podcast, Mr Winfield’s second wife said she helped build their original house in Sandstone Crescent and put her own money into it, so she sought a fair division of assets when they separated.

Losing the house at his favourite beach was a “big disappointment” for Mr Winfield, she says in a new episode of the podcast.

“I’ve always been a saver and I had money. What I put into the house was only what I took out.

“I wasn’t taking more than what I actually put in.”

Asked if she had a view about the disappearance before police spoke to her, she said: “I thought, well, he won’t be happy about ­losing another house.

“I thought if something actually had happened to her, that maybe he had pushed her, maybe (she’d) been killed, like, accidentally. Some people can push someone and then they hit their head and they didn’t mean to do it, but they’ve done it. That was the thought that went through my mind.”

Bronwyn Winfield. Picture: NSW Police

For decades now, Mr Winfield has been a police suspect in the sudden disappearance of Bronwyn, a devoted mother of two girls then aged 10 and 5.

He has always emphatically denied any involvement, and has never been charged with any ­offence connected to it.

Dee told the Bronwyn podcast there had been no issues in their relationship that could have caused him to mistrust her.

“I loved him so much. That’s what sort of grates on you after a while,” she said.

“You’re so devoted (and) he just keeps telling you that you’re looking at other people and you’re not.

“If anyone does that, they must be insecure.”

Dee met Mr Winfield when she was 21 and living in the Cronulla area in Sydney’s south.

In a 1998 police statement, she said Mr Winfield looked after his young daughter, Jodie, from his first marriage. Jodie lived with Mr Winfield’s parents.

“Jon picked out Lennox Head to buy land as he liked the beach and he said Lennox Head had the best surf on the coast,” her statement reads.

Buying a block of land in Sandstone Crescent, the couple lived in a caravan for 12 months while Mr Winfield built their house.

They would never live in it, despite it reaching lock-up stage. ­

Instead, they moved into a granny flat in Caringbah in southern Sydney.

Their initial happiness rapidly faded, and a few months later they split up and never got back together. The marriage lasted about 18 months.

Jon Winfield “was quite bitter about the settlement” that followed and “didn’t want to give me anything”, she told police.

“I had to get a solicitor … to get my share of the property,” she said.

Speaking on a new episode of the Bronwyn podcast, she said Mr Winfield “was never violent to me and I wasn’t fearful of him” but there were things in the relationship that weren’t healthy.

She tore up pictures of former boyfriends, and felt isolated from friends.

“All of a sudden I realised I hadn’t gone out with the girls, with girlfriends or anything, like the years that we were together,” she said.

She last saw Mr Winfield when they reached a settlement in their divorce, but she had met Bronwyn at a mutual friend’s barbecue.

“I got introduced to her that night, and she was asking me all (these) questions about why I had to split up with my husband.

“I just remember telling her that he was possessive and it just made it feel like he didn’t trust you.

“And that wears on you after a while, and you know you’re not going to do anything to break that trust.”

A former workmate of Mr Winfield, Ian Gluyas, has said that Jon was adamant as his relationship with Bronwyn crumbled that he was not going to lose another house after two previous failed marriages.

Do you know something about this case? Contact Hedley Thomas confidentially at [e-mail]

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