Bronwyn Winfield search draws public offers of help
A builder has offered to repair damage that may be caused if police search a property for Bronwyn Winfield’s remains | NEW EPISODE
A builder has offered to repair damage that may be caused if police search a property for the remains of missing NSW mother Bronwyn Winfield.
Bronwyn’s brother Andy Read says the builder extended the offer after learning of suspicions the body of the mother of two is buried under concrete at a home at Illawong in southern Sydney.
Mr Read said it was an example of the “outstanding” public response to The Australian’s ongoing investigative podcast Bronwyn, examining his sister’s disappearance from Lennox Head on the NSW north coast almost 32 years ago.
“A local builder has reached out to me on Messenger with the offer to go there and do all the work and repair the house with whatever machinery at no cost to the owner of the property. That’s how much the public wants to help the cause,” Mr Read said.
Mr Read is a builder himself and wrote to NSW State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan in early December to formally request investigations be conducted at the Illawong home.
He said his sister’s remains or other evidence “may well be located” there, and ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs could be deployed as part of initial examinations.
Bronwyn’s estranged husband, bricklayer Jon Winfield, was working at the property immediately before and after she vanished on the night of Sunday, May 16, 1993.
Mr Winfield, now 70, has always denied any involvement in the disappearance of Bronwyn, who left behind two girls, Chrystal, 10, and Lauren, 5.
Evidence unearthed during the Bronwyn podcast shows a concrete pour was imminent at the Illawong property in the days leading up to her disappearance.
Retired detective sergeant Glenn Taylor, the former lead investigator, has said the new evidence demands an investigation at the site.
The coroner has forwarded Mr Read’s request to the NSW police unsolved homicide team but is yet to advise what action, if any, will be taken.
As the podcast continues, more than 200 guests attended an event hosted by The Australian to discuss Bronwyn’s disappearance at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney on Thursday night.
Mr Read attended with wife Michelle, daughter Caitlin and son Mitch.
Speaking ahead of the event, he said the emergence of new witnesses such as retired nurse Judy Singh had boosted the family’s hopes of a resolution.
Ms Singh has told of seeing what she feared was Bronwyn’s body wrapped in sheets in the back of a car being driven by Mr Winfield.
She twice tried reporting the sighting – once at the time, and again some years later – but the police she dealt with were “hardly interested”, she said.
A New Zealand doctor, Winsome Aroha, has provided a corroborating account that she went to Byron Bay police station with Ms Singh to report the sighting years ago.
“The public have been outstanding coming forward, and now obviously we’ve got so many new leads. The whole thing’s just absolutely snowballed. That’s what we hoped for,” Mr Read said.
Do you know more about this case? Contact Hedley Thomas on bronwyn@theaustralian.com.au
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