Bronwyn Winfield was focused on the future: Coroner

Missing Lennox Head woman Bronwyn Winfield had firm plans for the future, and none of them included going away one night without a word to her children or taking her belongings, a coroner found.

Bronwyn Winfield had plans for the future that did not include walking out on her children, a coroner found.

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Missing Lennox Head woman Bronwyn Winfield had firm plans for the future, and none of them included going away one night without a word to her children, a coroner found as he recommended her estranged husband Jon Winfield be prosecuted over her alleged murder.

After a week-long inquest, NSW deputy state coroner Carl Milovanovich was satisfied despite the absence of a body that Bronwyn died on or about Sunday, May 16, 1993, when Mr Winfield was the last known person to see her alive.

Bronwyn was separated from Mr Winfield and had briefly moved into a townhouse, but days before she went missing made the very “bold” and “brave” decision to return to the family home to live with daughters Chrystal, 10, and Lauren, 5, the coroner said.

“This woman had plans. She had plans for the future,” Mr Milovanovich said of the 31-year-old. “She had appointments with solicitors. She was going to disconnect the telephone at the flat. She was going to get the car registered. And if she was going to go away, it certainly wasn’t on the night of 16 May with no clothing, no suitcases and without telling her children.”

The inquest was held in the Lismore courthouse in 2002 and has been recreated in The Australian’s investigative podcast, Bronwyn, over recent weeks.

Bringing proceedings to a close, the coroner said the case was not like most traditional matters where somebody dies and there is a body, suspicion and a crime scene.

“The fact that she was very devoted to her children, the circumstances in which she left without taking any clothing, without there being any operation of her bank accounts, the fact that there’s been no affirmative sightings or confirmed sightings or any (contact) that she’s made with any member of the families, satisfy me to the requisite level that she is in fact, deceased,” he said.

Bronwyn and Jon Winfield.

Bronwyn wrote in letters that there was going to be a change, and there were calls to CountryLink indicating she sought out timetables for public transport, particularly trains.

But these were consistent with Bronwyn planning a trip with her children during “perhaps the most difficult time in her life”, the coroner said.

“She knew solicitors were writing letters. She knew that those letters were going to contain matters on her instructions to her solicitor, which included that she wanted a property settlement, that she wanted sole ownership of the family motor vehicle. And maybe she thought this is a good time to take the children away for a couple of weeks while all those things are happening.”

The podcast has revealed another explanation for Bronwyn calling CountryLink – she was making plans to host her sister Kim Marshall, who needed to take public transport as part of her trip to Lennox Head from Tasmania.

Coroner Carl Milovanovich recommended a known person, Jon Winfield, be prosecuted over Bronwyn’s alleged murder.

As further evidence of Bronwyn’s focus on the future, Mr Milovanovich made special mention of a note in her diary about a modelling and self improvement course to be held at the Lismore Workers Club in June, a month after she disappeared.

Nicholas Cowdery, who was the then director of public prosecutions, declined to prosecute Mr Winfield, citing insufficient evidence. Mr Winfield, now 70, has always maintained his innocence.