Bronwyn Winfield’s husband Jon Winfield ‘wants to sell home’

The husband of missing NSW mother Bronwyn Winfield has been trying to sell his home, prompting fears he could flee Australia, as a podcast and police investigation heat up, a coroner has been told.

Jon Winfield at his Skennars Head home. Picture: Liam Mendes / The Australian

The husband of missing NSW mother Bronwyn Winfield has been trying to sell his home, prompting fears he could flee Australia, as a podcast and police investigation heat up, a coroner has been told.

It has been almost 32 years since Bronwyn vanished from Lennox Head on the state’s far north coast, and up until now her estranged husband, Jon Winfield, has never left.

Mr Winfield regularly ventures into the region’s idyllic surf breaks, letting local speculation about his potential involvement in his wife’s disappearance wash over him.

He has always denied any involvement, and there have been no previous signs he has been planning to permanently move.

That could be about to change, according to Bronwyn’s brother and advocate Andy Read.

In a letter sent to State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan on December 5, 2024, Mr Read alerted her to information suggesting Mr Winfield may be preparing to leave Skennars Head, just south of Lennox.

The letter is detailed in the latest episode of the Bronwyn podcast, by The Australian’s national chief correspondent, Hedley Thomas.

“I wish to bring one further issue to your attention. Hedley and I have received information from a source to the effect that Jon Winfield is currently seeking to sell, off market, a property he and/or his daughters own in Skennars Head, NSW,” the letter states.

“I cannot verify this information at this time. I do not know what Jon’s intentions may be in terms of relocating, but consider it possible he may seek to leave Australia, given the current scrutiny of, and interest in, him. I do not know whether NSW police are aware of this issue.”

Mr Read wrote the letter to ask Ms O’Sullivan to order investigations be carried out at a home in Illawong in southern Sydney, where he believes Bronwyn’s remains “may well be located”.

Mr Winfield was working at the Illawong property immediately before and after Bronwyn disappeared from their Lennox Head home on the night of May 16, 1993.

In her writings, Bronwyn called the home she shared with Mr Winfield “Jon’s castle, my prison”.

Since her disappearance, Mr Winfield has upgraded to a grander home with a rooftop viewing platform that allows him to check the surf. The property is estimated to be worth in the millions.

Mr Read’s letter to the coroner says that in a meeting with NSW police in May he was told Bronwyn’s case was recently reviewed and “no further action could be taken unless and until new information came to light”.

The Bronwyn podcast subsequently launched on May 27, and has been generating new leads and is attracting international attention to the case.

There had been more than 6.5 million downloads of the first 20 episodes at the time of writing, Mr Read’s letter states.

Senior NSW police have since said Bronwyn’s suspected murder is a current investigation and remains ongoing.

Mr Read said despite this assurance he was “very concerned” police “may not be keeping abreast in a timely fashion of developments and new information coming to light through the Bronwyn podcast”.

He was also concerned police “may not appreciate the potential significance of the property in Illawong”, and that Mr Winfield “may be preparing to flee Australia”.

The letter added: “I am therefore appealing for your assistance in this matter through the exercise of your independent statutory powers to issue a coronial investigation scene order (at the Illawong property).”

Investigations at the Sydney property could include scanning and drilling into the concrete and bringing in cadaver dogs, he said. The coroner is yet to respond to him.

Do you know more about this case? Contact Hedley Thomas on [e-mail]