Jon Winfield’s daughter Jodie Main said she saw inside boot of suspected murder car
Murder suspect Jon Winfield’s daughter came to his rescue with evidence he opened the boot of the family car in front of her, suggesting his estranged wife Bronwyn’s body could not have been inside | NEW EPISODE
Murder suspect Jon Winfield’s daughter came to his rescue with evidence he opened the boot of the family car in front of her, suggesting his estranged wife Bronwyn’s body could not have been inside at the time.
Jodie Main introduced the sighting of the open boot for the first time at a 2002 inquest into Bronwyn’s disappearance, saying she remembered it after “just talking to Dad” during a break in proceedings.
Her evidence is revealed in The Australian’s investigative podcast Bronwyn, which has obtained inquest transcripts and is recreating the testimony of witnesses.
The then deputy state coroner Carl Milovanovich was trying to establish if Bronwyn was alive or dead after disappearing from her home on the night of Sunday, May 16, 1993.
Ms Main, who is Mr Winfield’s daughter from a previous relationship, gave evidence that the next morning her father arrived unexpectedly with children Chrystal, 10, and Lauren, 5, at the Sydney hair salon where she was an apprentice, then aged 19.
Mr Winfield had driven through the night with the younger girls and family dog from Lennox Head, on the state’s far north coast, claiming Bronwyn suddenly decided to go away for a break.
As part of her training, Ms Main went to a technical college one day a week, each Monday or Wednesday, the inquest was told.
Police officer Matt Fordham, assisting the coroner, reminded Ms Main that she did not remember the dog being inside the car when it arrived. It seemed the officer was raising doubts Mr Winfield went to the salon.
“But you do recall that there were some journals inside the car, is that correct?” Mr Fordham asked. “Yep, in the back,” Ms Main replied.
Mr Fordham: “Whereabouts in the back were they?”
Ms Main: “I don’t know, and I was just talking to Dad before I went back in. The boot was open and he was getting something out for the kids, I don’t know what but that’s when he picked it up out of the boot.
“He sort of picked it up and went to show me but I knew I was getting called to go back inside so I, well, not called. But I knew I was getting looked at and needed to be back inside so I didn’t have time to go into anything with it.”
She could not remember seeing anything else inside the boot. The journals were foolscap pages with Bronwyn’s handwriting.
Mr Fordham said it was the first time Ms Main had told police or the coroner about seeing the journals in the back of the Ford Falcon sedan.
Ms Main agreed it wasn’t in her police statement but insisted she had told detectives Glenn Taylor and Wayne Temby.
“I don’t know why it wasn’t written in my statement,” she said.
Ms Main said her father had not told her what evidence to give, and had not influenced her memory.
When Mr Fordham suggested it was “unbelievable” she could lose a mother figure and not discuss key events with Mr Winfield, she said there were many rumours and she did not want to upset him.
“I mean, the way I see it is that, you know, if your wife walks out on you and disappears, it’s obviously something that’s going to be upsetting for you, so no I don’t push him to talk,” she said.
Chrystal Winfield, in her evidence, clearly recalled some of the day’s events but said she could not remember stopping at the salon and meeting up with Ms Main.
Chrystal is Bronwyn’s daughter from a previous relationship, and Lauren was Bronwyn and Mr Winfield’s daughter.
Mr Winfield, now 70, denies any involvement in Bronwyn’s disappearance.
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