Jon Winfield lectured man on paternity responsibility after having abandoned a child of his own

Decades after he refused his oldest child financial support, Jon Winfield lectured another man about the burdens of fatherhood.

Jon Winfield surfing near Sharpes Beach. Picture: Liam Mendes

Jon Winfield lectured another man about the financial implications of claiming paternity ­decades after fathering – and abandoning – a child of his own.

A 51-year-old woman named Sonia – but who goes by Lee – revealed that Mr Winfield is her biological father in a new episode of The Australian’s investigative podcast Bronwyn, which is available now for subscribers.

Sonia Lee was born in November 1972, by which time Mr Winfield’s relationship with her 16-year-old mother had ended.

According to a timeline of events by detectives in the NSW Police Unsolved Homicides unit, which investigated Bronwyn Winfield’s disappearance, and ­pre­sumed murder, in 2008, her husband Jon first denied he was Lee’s father in early 1973, when he was in a new relationship with Jennifer Mason. He has never had any contact with Lee nor supported her financially.

“It’s always about money with the Winfields,” Sonia Lee told The ­Australian’s national chief correspondent Hedley Thomas, who has led The Australian’s investigative podcast series Bronwyn.

“I remember grandma saying something along the lines of, $11, $17 a week that they didn’t want to have to pay for you to be.”

More than 20 years later, Mr Winfield married Bronwyn and became stepfather to her then 10-year-old daughter Chrystal.

In September 1993 – four months after Bronwyn vanished from the home she once shared with her estranged husband – he sent legal correspondence to the Guthrie family outlining the fin­ancial burden of fatherhood.

Mark Guthrie had been in a ­relationship with Bronwyn prior to her marriage to Jon and he ­believed, at that time, he was Chrystal’s biological father.

With assistance from his ­family, he sought access to Chrystal via a legal representative, which Mr Winfield refused.

“Mark is a total stranger to Chrystal and with the possibility of fatherhood not yet really established, you are asking me to introduce Chrystal to a possible imposter,” he wrote.

“Access is not a problem to me as long as fatherhood is proven.”

From left: Lauren Winfield, Mel Taylor's sisters Aymee and Keira, Mel Taylor and Chrystal Winfield.

Mr Winfield said the absence of an offer to support Chrystal financially suggested Mr Guthrie wasn’t fully committed to the cause.

“Consequently, that would lead us to the Child Support Agency and a deduction from Mark’s wages to the tune of $145 per month,” Mr Winfield wrote.

“Backdated maintenance to December 1982, with an interest adjustment, would be the best part of $10,000. Maintenance, if I am correct, is payable up to the age of 16 years, so it could develop into a nice little nest egg for Chrystal in her later years.”

Chrystal Winfield in 2013. Picture: Brad Hunter

Bronwyn’s cousin Madison Walsh told Thomas in episode 10 of the podcast that Bronwyn had always denied Mr Guthrie was Chrystal’s biological father, and conveyed that belief to him on multiple occasions.

“And then he did a DNA paternity test,” Madi said. “He didn’t get custody because he wasn’t her father.”

Bronwyn later confirmed Mark Davis, now deceased, is Chrystal’s father in a letter to his family shortly before she vanished.

The identity of Sonia Lee’s biological father has never been proven via a paternity test.

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

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