Bronwyn podcast: Husband Jon Winfield’s phone calls story doesn’t ring true

Flight records have cast doubt over Jon Winfield’s claim in his only police interview that he made two phone calls from his family home the night his estranged wife Bronwyn vanished | LATEST EPISODE

Jon Winfield pictured at Sharpes Beach in March. Picture: Liam Mendes

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Flight records have cast doubt over murder suspect Jon Winfield’s claim in his only police interview that he made two phone calls from his family home the night his estranged wife Bronwyn vanished.

Mr Winfield told detectives he called his adult daughter and brother to let them know he made it safely to the house in Lennox Head on the far north coast after travelling from Sydney.

But a new episode of the Bronwyn podcast, released on Saturday, reveals flight timetables and witness statements indicate he could not have arrived in time to make the calls.

It raises a theory canvassed in the podcast that a panicked Bronwyn made the calls herself after finding out Mr Winfield was on his way home.

Bronwyn had been living in a rented unit but moved back into the property with daughters Chrystal, 10, and Lauren, 5, while Mr Winfield was away working in Sydney.

He had changed the locks in her absence, so she used a locksmith to gain entry.

When Mr Winfield discovered Bronwyn was living in the home again, he gathered his belongings in Sydney including a surfboard and travelled back to Lennox Head on Sunday, May 16, 1993.

Bronwyn, 31, vanished that night.

Matthew Condon retraces Jon Winfield's route

Mr Winfield, now 69, denies any involvement in her disappearance, and sat down with detectives at Ballina police station in 1998 to give his side of the story.

He said that by the time he entered the couple’s home in Sandstone Crescent, after flying from Sydney to Ballina, it was night.

“It was after 7 o’clock, it might have been even after 8 o’clock by that time, I can’t remember,” he said.

“Honestly, all I know is it was dark. It was probably at least an hour or maybe an hour and a half after the plane landed, whatever time that was, and that was dark cause I remember I got off the plane in the dark.”

The Bronwyn podcast reveals a call was made from the Sandstone Crescent home phone to the Sydney home of Jodie Winfield at 6.53pm.

Jodie is Mr Winfield’s daughter from a previous relationship and was 19 years old when Bronwyn disappeared.

Another call was made from the home to Mr Winfield’s brother Peter’s home in Sydney at 7.06pm.

As the calls were long distance, they were included on the paper telephone bill for Sandstone Crescent that month.

Mr Winfield at first said in his police interview that he didn’t make any calls that night.

His story changed after a detective read out his daughter Jodie’s number.

“Oh, I see, yeah, I rang that one, yeah, to tell Jodie I was at home, yeah, that’s right,” he said.

“I rang my brother too, yes, that’s my brother’s number, yeah, I forgot about that. I rang them to say I’d arrived home safely. I made the phone calls from, from the telephone in the kitchen.”

Jodie Winfield echoed her father’s story when police showed her phone records and took her statement a week after Mr Winfield’s recorded interview.

“I can recall that my father rang me at that time from the home at Lennox Head to tell me that he had arrived there safely,” she said.

“I don’t recall much of the conversation but I believe that Bronwyn must have been in the house at that time. I did not speak to Bronwyn and as I said before, the phone call was very short. My father told me that he would ring me later and that was about it.”

Bronwyn had previously told her “she’d moved back into the house with the kids”, she said.

“She also told me that Dad was not welcome there and that he can stay in Sydney with me. She told me that she was going to get a restraining order so that he couldn’t come near the house.”

Detectives also showed Mr Winfield’s brother, Peter, a record of a call to his home at 7.06pm.

Peter Winfield said in his subsequent police statement: “I can confirm that this is our phone number and (that) would have been the call that Jon made to me from Lennox Head. I don’t remember much about that phone call that Jon made on that evening.”

Flight schedules retrieved from the Australian Timetable Association and Sir Reginald Ansett Transport Museum conflict with these versions of events.

The schedules were obtained by podcast listeners who have joined the hunt for answers, and show now-defunct airline Ansett had two scheduled flights from Sydney to Ballina that day.

One was due to arrive at 3.10pm, well before dark, and the other at 7.25pm.

Flight records obtained by listeners who have joined the hunt for answers.

If Mr Winfield was on the later flight, it would have been impossible for him to make the two calls from the family home.

Further evidence examined in the podcast challenges Mr Winfield’s claim to have made the calls.

Mr Winfield’s friend John Watson told police he arrived at the airport at 6.30pm to pick him up.

Both men said they then drove to Ballina police station, where Mr Winfield wanted to confirm there were no orders stopping him returning home.

Mr Winfield said he talked to an officer and was in the station for 15 minutes, while Mr Watson estimated he was inside for about five minutes.

Next they picked up a family friend, Becky McGuire, in Lennox Head, a drive of about 15 minutes, before going to the Winfield family home.

According to Becky’s account to police, on his arrival home Mr Winfield still would not have had an opportunity to make any calls straight away.

Instead, he was greeted by two packed suitcases at the entrance. It appears Bronwyn, intending to stay in the home, packed them for Mr Winfield.

Becky said Mr Winfield put the bags in the boot of the car he shared with Bronwyn.

“Jon must have had a set of keys to the car because we then got into the car and he drove me home. Jon didn’t go inside the house at all while I was in the house with him,” she said.

Mr Winfield must have then returned on his own to Sandstone Crescent.

The Australian’s senior writer Matt Condon retraced Mr Winfield’s journey and discovered it would have taken about an hour at least before he was finally in his home.

That is consistent with Mr Winfield’s estimate that it would have taken an hour to an hour and a half.

If Mr Winfield arrived at Ballina airport after 6.30pm, as his friend Mr Watson said, he would not have been able to make the various stops and then reach home in time to make the two phone calls.

There is evidence Bronwyn knew Mr Winfield was returning to Lennox Head on the Sunday evening.

Mel Taylor, who was 12 years old at the time and lived next door to the Winfields, was playing with Lauren and Chrystal in the park around 5.30pm to 6pm that day.

“I came home before the girls came home,” she told the podcast.

“Bronwyn came to our door, and she’s like, ‘oh, hey, is Lauren and Chrystal here?’ I’m like, ‘no, they’re at the park’. And she said to me, ‘can you go get them because their father’s coming home’.”

Mr Winfield said Bronwyn left the home later that night in a mystery car driven by an unknown person, and that he never saw her again. Later the same night, Mr Winfield drove the two girls to Sydney.

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