Listeners are advised that this podcast series Bromwin contains course language and adult themes. This podcast series is brought to you by me Headley Thomas and The Australian. Some parts of this infuriating case about the sudden disappearance of Bromwin Winfield one unremarkable night in May nineteen ninety.
Three are stranger than fiction.
My longtime friend Matthew Condon, a widely published author, journalist for The Australian and podcaster, was dagged when I first shared with him a lengthy email written by someone in Lenox Head will call the person who wrote to me, Alex.
Matt read it and got back to me quickly.
He said, WHOA, this is entering suburban Gothic territory.
Matt knows more about popular culture, books, movies, TV series and music than most of his colleagues. I thought I knew what he meant, but to be sure, I went to Wikipedia for a crash guide to suburban Gothic. The online encyclopedia says that suburban Gothic is dealing with concerns about hidden Gothic worlds behind the suburban facade. The TV series Twin Peaks, as well as acclaimed productions from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Desperate Housewives to American Horror Story
and Stepford Wives are cited as compelling examples. In the first two seasons of Bromwin, A suburban facade in Sandstone Crescent, Lennox Head has been laid bare. But now we are traveling a few kilometers east, closer to Boulder Beach and Skinner's Head and the fortress like home built by John Winfield more than twenty years ago with funds from the nineteen ninety nine sale of the house in which a young mother, Bromwyn Joy Winfield was last seen on the
night of May sixteenth, nineteen ninety three. Bromwin never returned to see her children or to seek a single dollar from the sale proceeds of that house, even though she was entitled to as much as half the equity.
John took it all. Now we are hovering over another address.
A third property. It is a stone's throw from John's newer home. The house we are outside belonged to a woman called Beverly Brooker. She lived alone. It has an ocean lookout. But here's the unusual thing. Beverly's old house now belongs to John Winfield. This is the story of Beverly, the story of Bev's life and her assets worth several million dollars, the story of Bev's death, and how almost
all those assets quietly fell into John's hands. Shortly before this podcast investigation started, Alex began the first of several lengthy pieces of correspondence to me like this.
Please find attached some info I'd like to share regarding your investigation and podcast into the disappearance of Bronwyn Winfield. I only became aware of this case and John's identity in recent years, and was somewhat taken aback.
The words that you are hearing were written by someone who had just a little to do with Bev Brooker. While Bev lived in what was for some years her ocean face home in Skemmer's Head.
She seemed quite a lonely person, almost afraid of people. My initial thoughts were that she had some kind of social phobia or anxiety disorder, or had experienced some kind of trauma throughout her life. As a result, I felt a bit sorry for her, but I was curious to know more about her.
I'm protecting the identity of the person who has been talking and writing to me about Bev. A female actor's voice is helping achieve this.
I do currently feel compelled to write to you as I think the case needs to be solved, and perhaps some of this following information may be of assistance.
Because of the sensitivity, I'm not going to confirm or deny whether the individual is male or female. This source is going to be known from here on as Alex, and that's deliberate too. It's a gender neutral name. Alex wanted to write and talk about the woman who once lived near John, Bevbrooker.
She was quite reserved, quietly spoken, somewhat expressionless, and her speech was slow and deliberate, like she had to put thought into each word or sentence before she said it. She only ever shared a bit of small talk, never really expanding on conversations. However, she was always pleasant. John Winfield lives a few hundred meters away. His house is quite distinct. There are always tools of his trade or piles of gravel or bricks lying around, and he's often
out the front tinkering with things. John was spending a fair bit of time doing work both inside and out on Beverly's house. It's a double story red brick house set back from the street, so there's no real backyard. Most of the gardens are at the front. Beverly was the only owner occupy higher of the house, a single lady living.
On her own.
She was extremely reclusive and somewhat eccentric. I never noticed her having visitors other than John Winfield or mowing contractors. The house from day to day was extremely well kept, but looked unused or somewhat devoid of human occupation. The blinds and curtains were always closed, and you would never know whether anyone was moving about inside the house, or whether the TV was on, or see the lights being switched on or off, or if anyone was at home
at all. She very rarely attended any neighborhood gatherings or parties. I never saw her go off to community based activities like exercise classes, or even take a walk or a swim at the beach, which was only minutes away. Her cars had personalized plates with BEEV and numbers. After of more recent years, she had a bright red Honda Jazz and a bright red sporty looking Hatchback. Her bright and distinct vehicles were very much in contrast to her introverted
character and personality. Another distinctive feature about Bev is that she wore the same style outfit every day nineties era long dark tights, long knee high or ankle height dress, boots, a tight t shirt or knitted jumper pulled over her tights with a wide belt pulled tight around her waist. From a distance, you might have thought she was much younger. She had a mass of long, frizzy blonde, fair hair,
fair skin, and blue eyes quite distinct. Regardless of whether she was going to work or tending to the gardens. In the yard, winter or summer, Bev always had the same style outfit on. I never saw her wearing a summer dress or beach attire, or sandals or thongs or work wear in the garden.
Alex said that Bev's garden was a bit special. It's immaculate straight lines of hedging, the lack of weeds, array of shrubs and flowers, and the neat and tidy layout.
In the afternoons and on weekends, Bev spent many hours caring for the garden, still wearing that same outfit. She did reveal that she had cancer and that the prognosis was not great. Around this same time, Bev was doing extensive renovations to the insides of her home, and John's
increasing presence at the premises became apparent. I'm not sure for exactly how long Bev and John had been friends, but he seemed to come and go regularly in more recent years and be able to let himself into the house. It seemed to me that John was Bev's only friend, and they were obviously very close at the time she was unwell.
Alex observed something else.
When I looked at the Bromwin Winfield case online. One thing that immediately struck me like a lightning bolt was the uncanny similarity of appearance between the photo of Bromwyn to the likeness of Beverly, albeit that Bev was some thirty five to forty years older. To this day, it has had me wondering whether there was any connection between
Beverly and Bromwyn. Some people have said that John and Bev were involved in a clandestine relationship for quite some time, and John was visiting Bev secretly over many many years. Regardless of all the rumormonger ing and hearsay, I feel in my bones that something is just not sitting quite right with regard to John Winfield's interest and involvement in Beverly's life.
Alex posed a series of questions, some of which we believe can be answered in this and upcoming episodes.
One Why would such a reclusive, socially withdrawn single woman end up involved with the only man in town who is a known murder suspect?
Two?
Was BEV involved with John around the time of Bromwin's disappearance? Did Beverly and Bromwyn know each other? Four? Was BEV reclusive, private and withdrawn because she simply knew what happened to Bromwin. Five Is John Winfield an innocent man but a marked man living with innuendo and rumor for most of his life, hence keeping subsequent relationships very private.
Alex concluded that first letter to me with these words, it would.
Bug me indefinitely if I did not share these thoughts with someone who has a genuine intent to find the truth behind this whole sad story.
After some back and forth by phone and email, Matthew Condon drove the short distance from his home in northern New.
South Wales to meet Alex.
We decided that a face to face meeting would be best, and at that time I was tied up in production for Bromwin episodes. Matt and Alex spoke somewhere quiet, Neil Lennox head. The conversation was recorded with Alex's consent. You'll hear Matt's side of it, his real voice, but a voice actor has done Alex's side.
So we're looking at Beverly Brooker.
When I look at the photo of Bromwin, I thought, oh my god, almost a replica of Bromwyn. She was a nice looking lady for her age. She had a very good figure and she showed it off. But you only ever saw her just tending the garden, and there were some days where she'd just ignore you.
No sign of visitors apart from John Winfield.
The cancer Cancil Carr was coming around to pick her up, obviously to take her in for treatment, and that was quite unusual because no one used to go apart from John.
Bev Brooker had miso thelioma, a form of asbestosis. It was possibly a legacy of her job for the New South Wales government, working five decades in offices which, like many back in those days, were built from materials comprising asbestos, miso.
Thelioma is a terminal illness.
There were changes happening to the house.
Yeah. Yeah, we couldn't understand why is she doing all this?
He's clearly unwell.
Very unwell, and he's coming and going and they're doing kitchens and bathrooms.
Beverly Brooker died in September twenty twenty two. She was seventy one.
I never found out anything whether she had a funeral.
Do you remember Windfield or did you notice anyone coming and going from the house after her death?
Oh, he still comes and goes all the time.
Is it as simple as he is maintaining the property.
No, he's still improving it. The house has been sitting there for two years empty.
Could he be maintaining the house? She left it to a brother or she left it to a relative and he's just a mister handyman.
Alex reckoned that was plausible, but had to acknowledge it was one of the unknowns. Others have also been speculating during brief catch ups in the shops and down at the beach. The story of Bev and John has run around like wildfire, dozens of interactions between people and the exchanges of information in a relatively small community. Matt was still curious about the relationship between Beverly and John.
We don't know whether there were an item speak.
I guess intimacy is in different forms. If he was the one who carried her out when she was blind and then she had a stroke and couldn't.
Walk the last journey out of that house, correct, Yes, and took it to Saint Vincent's. Whichever way you want to define intimacy, it's about as intimate an act as you can get, isn't it to carry someone to their death?
Yeah, and you're just the builder.
And you're just the builder and the handyman. That also suggests she had no immediate family. This is an interesting question. Did Beverly and bronwin know each other?
Yeah, well, I don't know.
And would she have known anything about the missing Bronwin.
Well, that's the thing I reckon she did. I reckon He's told her that I'm John Winfield and people don't like me because of this, and it's not true and I didn't do it sort of thing. And he's treated her well and done work for her.
I mean, the odds too obsessively reclusive human beings hooking up in the same street. They're pretty long odds right? Did he in fact make her more reclusive? Speculated to Headley on the Weekend about this house. Throughout his three marriages, the big issue was the property settlement and if he was adamant to Bronwin, there was no way she was getting the house. And here's a second property within walking distance of his own.
He's a nice lady. I'll help her out.
Reading and hearing in the podcast about Bromwin's disappearance troubled Alex greatly.
The more Alex learned about it.
From the podcast, the more curious Alex became about Bromin's fate.
Look at the Dowson case. They were standing over the police. Of course he didn't do it.
He's a footballer, Yeah, big stars.
John's presence at Beverly's house in Skinner's Head before she began came ill was obvious. It was a talking point among residents, they're visitors and some of the tradees who worked at the house. The talk didn't lessen after Beverly died. It grew and it escalated again when the Bromin.
Podcast series started. Unlike some of the gossip.
And the occasionally unkind things which were said by some about the two somewhat eccentric people in their early seventies.
John's physical work.
On the property Beverly owned was real and tangible.
I don't know whether she paid him. She's alone as time goes on, figures it out in his head. I think I might be onto something here. She has no friends. When I wrote all this, I thought, they're not going to believe what I'm saying. They're going to think it's all hogwash. It's like a soapie, but it's.
Real, bloody hell. What's going on there.
That's what makes me think he now owns it, or is in line to own it. It'll be interesting to see what that will said.
I can't help but think of this fastidious man, knowing in the back of his head that a few doors up this project, there's immaculate project he's keeping, and maybe to wake up and have a serf and think today I'll go and make sure that everything's perfect. And still it's empty.
It's empty. If he was really desperate for money, you'd probably rent it.
Why keep it?
Why not sell it?
He doesn't want anyone in there messing it up.
But it's like this bizarre Museum artifact.
Matt Leaves to print out of Alex's first letter, the one in which Alex questioned what John's motives were.
Was he the.
Ultimate good samaritan looking after another introvert because he cared deeply for Bev, so much that he was there for her during her darkest months, weeks and days as the end neared, a selfless volunteer, a shoulder to cry on, a pillar of support. Or was John always playing a long game with a watchful eye on the spoils the beachside house, the savings in Bev's bank accounts, new cars, and other items of monetary value. Are those two contrasting agendas mutually exclusive.
It's simply not normal that a suburb continues to function day in, day out, twenty four to seven people come, keep people of kids, families, dogs, all of this, and sitting there, Christine is an empty.
House managed by a murder suspect. She did have some relatives or brothers. I think.
I'm going to ask him all about his sister. What was going on there?
Okay, sounds good?
Hello, Hello, Jeff, it is hello Redley.
I've joined my colleague and friend, Madison Walsh to the call Hello, Hello, Madison.
Maddie's in Sydney. She knows a little bit about this, and I just thought it'd be great if she's on the call too.
Maddie and I knew a little about it, becurse. Apart from the letter sent by Alex, there have also been emails and messages tipping me off about Bev, her estate, and John. These nuggets of information from listeners who are residents of Lennox Head and the nearby town of Balina are a testament to the power of podcasting and the listeners who want to help.
Jeff, Can you tell me a bit about your sister?
Right? Okay?
So my sister dev Beverly Brooker had two brothers, Jeff and Paul Outerbridge.
From sixty not far from retirement.
Paul is almost there.
When I first got in touch with Jeff, he had heard about the Bromwin podcast, but he was having trouble listening.
I don't even know how to text. Technology has left me behind, mate.
But Jeff had already formed strong views about John Winfield. Jeff had two sisters, Bev Van Margaret, and both are deceased. Jeff's partner has died. Jeff's brother, Paul, lives in Ballina with his wife Sarah.
He's the youngest of the four of us and he's just turned sixty.
Along with Jeff, they have fond memories of Bev, but not of John. I sat in my car in Brisbane one evening and Maddie at her family home as Jeff talked about Bev and the unusual turn of events before and immediately after Bev died.
She worked her who working life at the one job from the time she left school, which was the Roads and Maritime Authority, and Bed worked in the office at the depot in Ballina in the secretary or section, and she was deadly involved with all her work colleagues. She had a lot of good close friends go to her work and she worked away up the ladder and she
was doing quite well. She had been married, and I remained very good friends with her ex husband, and he was a nice guy and they didn't have any children together. But obviously things didn't work out and they went their separate ways, which was fine. When she separated from her husband and her home was sold, she moved down to Ballina to be closer to work, and eventually ended up buying her house over at Skinner's Head and kept in contact with myself and my brother and my mother, and
we were all very close. She had a beautiful garden at her house. She loved working in the garden.
Where did you and Bev grow up?
Well, we all grew up in Balner, born and raised in Barner. Had a shop in Barner, a general store. He also worked at the local council. Yeah, we spent most of our time here in Barner.
Did you know John Winfield?
Never knew him, never knew anything about him, didn't know anything about the story. His name was never brought up in conversation at any of our gatherings, our family gatherings. Nothing. It was just a bolt out of the blue.
And what was that bolt out of the blue?
Can you put your finger on the first time you heard of John Winfield in connection with your sister Bev?
Okay, So that would have been the day that I went to the solicitors to sign some paperwork for Bev in regards to injury and guardian and power of attorney, those sort of PaperWorks.
It was early May twenty twenty two.
And the solicitor brought up his name and said to me, this is John, this is his name and he is Bev's partner, which was a shock, total shock.
And why was that a total shop?
Because they've never mentioned anything about anybody in her life. He was never at any of our functions.
Would Bev usually have shared information like that.
Might not have shared it with myself and my brother, but I'm sure she would have brought up the conversation with my partner at some stage, and or my brother's partner. He would have mentioned something to them, or even my mother. None of those knew anything about him.
The Ballona solicitor who told Jeff about the status of John Winfield in Bev's life was acting for Bev. I asked Jeff Outerbridge whether, apart from being an enduring guardian, he had any active legal role as Bev's brother in helping manage Bev's affairs at that time.
No. I think she knew things were starting to get a bit desperate and she needed to have some people that could take care of her affairs. I had the doctor's report on you, and it says that she had metastatic me so barly omer. It started out as a lung cancer and then it spread to her brain. I knew she was ill because when she was at my partner's funeral, I could tell she was very very ill. She organized with the solicitor to get all that paperwork up to date and sign off on so if anything happens,
people could make decisions for her. But of course the main person that was going to be making any decisions was going to be John Enduring.
Guardianship is only any good up until the point of the.
Person passes away. Since the person passes away, that is all then null and void. I can't touch anything to do with my sister's estate on sch it passes away. Only the executor of the will can then handle the situation, and he was that as well.
Jeff is talking about John Winfield in during.
Guardian and executor of Beverly Brooker's will. It was at that point in the solicitor's offices that Jeff first appreciated what.
John was doing. I'll clarify the timing.
In early May twenty twenty two, Bev's brother, Jeff Outerbridge, went to see Bev's solicitor. Bev's health was very poor. Bev died in September twenty twenty two. Something else happened in that year and.
The will was changed in March twenty third of March twenty twenty two.
Beverly's will in March twenty twenty two was changed how.
From the previous beneficiary.
The previous will was unremarkable.
I've got that will here with me as well, and it was dated the seventh of June twenty eleven. It was with a different solicitor. Of course. The state in total was left to the one person, which was my cousin and Bev's cousin, and she was the sole beneficiary of Bev's a Stoke.
In twenty eleven. Bev's will then provided that her cousin in Victoria would inherit all of Bev's estate.
Was there a.
Special connection between your cousin, Bev's cousin and Bev.
She was very close to my sister. They are about the same sort of age group. They used to stay in close contact.
My cousin would bring Bev on birthdays and Keith Bev up to date on my auntie, who was very ill. Cousins used to come up from Sydney every year and holiday him with us, and we're all very close.
What was your view of your cousin inheriting your sister's estate.
Well, it didn't worry me, really, she was a close cousin and that was fine. If that's what my sister wanted to do, that was okay by me.
She was family for eleven years.
This provision in the will held until Bev's health was really dire. In early twenty twenty two, and six months before she died, Bev's will was altered in a most profound and divisive way.
You can probably guess where this is going.
But this other guy, he's a total blowing We never met him and didn't know anything about him, and that was a real surprise and shot I think that he would inherit everything that my sister owned to Firshley.
Did this listener tell you at that meeting that is what would happen?
No, he just said John's name was on the paperwork and he was Thev's partner.
When did you realize for the first time that John would actually inherit your sister's estate.
After my sister's general and it was probably a week later, I went back down to the same solicitors and I just said, look, I'm here to collect a copy of my sister's will so I can see what's happening with their estate, and that was when I was refused any copy of any will. So I was told that because my name was not mentioned in the will, I was not allowed to have a copy. That listener was very uncoperative and even wouldn't let me have copies of my sister's will.
Jeff explained that when the solicitor refused to give him copies, Jeff went to see another solicitor who.
Killed in the taperwork for me to take down, hand it over the counter and say that I am demanding copies of my sister wills, present, past, and any other paperwork related to my sister. And within five minutes I had all that paperwork in my hand. So I had to get a solicitor to obtain those copies of those wills. And it was then that I realized, after I read the will, that that's how it all went.
Were you keeping your brother informed as well? And your sister in law and other members of the family.
He has kept them up to date and informed, and my brother really had a mental breakdown over this. He can't really talk very clearly about it at any time because he's absolutely devastated and guarded about the whole thing. He feels as though this guy has just taken advantage of my sister, and maybe it's gone in the wrong direction.
He would rather the cousin inherit everything that belonged to my sister, but not this stranger, this stranger who was just doing work on the property, just doing maintenance and rebuilding.
Can you describe the house that your sister lived in, jet.
I really knew, two story town house with ocean of years looking out over flat rock, beautiful, big verandas up the top and down the bottom facing the ocean, big double garage around the back where you used to enter in from the little cul de stack. It was probably three or four bedrooms. It was quite a good size.
She started renovating work on it over a period of a couple of years, and then this guy was doing work for her, fixing up branders, balconies, herails, and then eventually she started on the inside and the downstairs first and bathroom, toilet, laundry downstairs, and then she would live
downstairs while the upstairs was being renovated. You kitchen, your bathroom, toilet, all new flooring, all new kitchen appliances, kitchen cabinets, floating timber, floors, all new furniture, and actually, by the time my sister passed away and there was still furniture being delivered to the house that she didn't even get to benefit for using.
Who was overseeing all of the renovation work? Who was doing it?
That was John was organizing all the trades and he was calling the people in. I think my sister was kicking the colors and the stones and the tiles, and every week the appliances.
Do you know whether your sister was funding his employment as well as all the materials and furniture costs and so on.
I don't think you'd be doing it for free. And she was retired and she was well off with a super I'm sure he lived at his house and lived at her house, because he told me in the little diary that he kept on Bev's health and condition that a couple of times he found it when he came up to the house of the morning to check and make sure that everything was in order, that the tradesmen were arriving and that they could come in and do
their work. That was when he found Bev, on two separate occasions, had fallen on the floor and she was unconscious and he had to get an ebleance to her. That tells me that he was not living there with her.
Did she say anything to you that struck you as unusual during the work.
By the trades, No, not really, only the fact that she was cleaning the house from top to bottom every day to keep the house clean and tidy. And I couldn't understand why. I said to her, why are you doing that, bev, when the trades are going to be back again very next day and making another mess. Why have you got to kick the house so clean? And she just said that that's the way it is, That's what she does. She cleans everything from top to bottom.
I see now that it was a stipulation of Jonathan Wine, but that's how he liked to have done. He was a bit of a clean freak. She was a need and clean and tidy person. But I mean to say, it seems strange to me that she'd have to clean the house from top to bottom every day after the tradees had been in there. That was just crazy to me.
Every brain cancer will have a different impact on the sufferer. But have you questioned whether or not your sister was of sound mind from her advanced cancer? To be able to legally change her will so dramatically.
I knew something was wrong for quite a while, and I could see her health going downhill, and she was making some really strange decisions. I'd even actually accused her about COVID. Did she have COVID? Was she getting COVID? She had COVID? And she kept on denying everything to me. She was very strange. In the last probably twelve months of her life, she became more and more reclusive.
How often do you reckon? You were seeing her.
Ja every second week, ring her every five days, and keep in contact with her on the phone. I'd keep her updated all the time on the health of my partner. She was close to my partner and they got along well together. And of course she'd come down to the hospital every second week and visit. But I could see strange things happening with her health. And I said to her, why are you changing all these things in new townhouse?
The townhouse was not that old and it was in good condition, and why would you want to put in all these new applients. Has seemed on a mission to spend as much money as she.
Could on a property that John would inherit exactly yes.
And also her cars. She had a nice Honda that she'd bought brand new. She decided to sell that real cheap to a friend that John had organized the sale, and she bought a brand new Honder from Lismore and she no sooner had that, and she went and bought a second one. And I couldn't understand why she would buy a second one. She didn't need a second car. She had a double garage and she had room to park it. But I can't understand why she had two
brand new Hondas. Obviously John would benefit by them. What color are they? They're red in color orangine red.
Through all of those contacts she were having with your sister, calling her every five days and seeing her regularly, how many times did she talk about John Winfield?
Never mentioned, never brought up in conversation.
My mum was quite early and she had to be moved out of her home and put into an age care facility at Oulstonville, And we used to go up there every week and visit the mum in the age care facility until Mom passed away, And the conversation was.
Never brought up with my mom. My mom knew nothing about him. I knew nothing about him, and my brother knew nothing about him. Nothing was ever brought up except the conversation about this guy who was doing work on the house.
Was there anything in what she said that made you think, oh, he might be a bit more involved in her life than just a builder.
Nothing other than the fact that he was doing some maintenance work on the house and some renovating work. John did tell me on the day that he came here to my house, and he had his little diary with him that he had met a number of years ago when she was out in the garden working in her garden. He introduced himself to bed and said that he is a builder, does maintenance work, and she must have been out with his work, and that's when he eventually did more and more, and that he got his foot in
the door and started renovating the whole interior. But there was never any mention of him being in any sort of relationship. It was just a handy man that mid down the road.
What is your view of John's conduct and what's happened.
Well, my opinion is that this guy, he flies under the radar. He cannot be trusted. He will not respond to any of my phone calls. His very very secret is and I really don't trust him. He's a control free an absolutely control three. The way he conducted the funeral.
How was the funeral conducted? What happened?
Me and my brother asked, can we help arrange things with the funeral? And he said, no, there's no need. Everything sorted out. He's got it all under control. And I said, well, can we help with the flowers? Can we do the flower No, no need to touch the flowers. He had only seven people at the funeral. No, and was allowed to come to the funeral. A couple of the people that did attend the funeral he didn't want them there. He was very upset about them being there.
He reckons it was all my sisters requests that it was kept private, which is very strange because Beverley wasn't like that. She had a lot of close friends and work colleagues, and she would have been happy to know that they were there at his service. He took control of everything. There was a slide show of my sister's life, and he did not have one photo of himself in that slide shaft.
Did he deliver a eulogy or anything?
There no No, he didn't get up and stand up and talk.
Jeff told me that he had reservations about John Winfield the first time they met. On that occasion, John kept referring to the small diary which he carried.
He relied on.
It to cite dates and events, and he read from the diary, and he said that they were relevant to Bev's condition. The second meeting that Jeff had with John was at the private hospital in Lismore called Saint Vincent's, and that was when Bev was just days from death. The third time was when John came to Jeff's workplace in September twenty twenty two to tell him that his sister had passed away.
One, two, three, And then at the funeral. Four times I'm meet him four times.
What about contacts since the funeral?
No contact? I'll find him a couple of times. He won't return my calls of ringing and asking for a phone number of my cousin down in Victoria, and he hasn't responded to that phone call. I have not heard from him since the d of the funeral.
Is this the cousin who would have been the sole beneficiary if the will hadn't been changed.
Yes, that's the cousin. Yeah. I asked for her phone number because be have had it in her phone and I kept regular contact.
But that cousin didn't come to the funeral.
No, no, because I'd say John didn't even make contact with her.
I think you said there were only seven people there.
It was John and a young lady that was within him. He said that it was his daughter. There was myself, There was my brother, my brother's wife, my nephew from the Old Coast, Luke, and there was an elderly couple from the Olstonville church. Bev used to be a member of the Oustonville Church, so that would have been eleven or eight people.
Jeff told me that John was most unhappy that Luke turned up at his auntie Bev's funeral.
The elderly couple from the Austinville Church were not welcomed by John either.
We didn't run it by John to get permission that they could attend. They turned up on the day and it was a bit of a shock to John because he didn't know they were going to be there, so he wasn't happy.
Did you feel that you could have put your foot down and said, look, this is our sister, and we'll let her friends and other relations know and will farewell her and the way well.
He was telling us that it was Bev's, that it was all done on the quiet, so he said, there's nothing here to organize. John said, I will make announcements to people who need to know what's happened to Bev.
But any announcements were to be authorized by John and come from John, and only after the funeral. John controlled the messaging, preventing even a standard funeral notice, which would have alerted people to the fact that Bev had died.
We didn't want to stir up any trouble and didn't know what he was like at that stage. Yed that we didn't know what we're getting ourselves into. But I thought, this is all very strange. I don't think Devine would have conducted itself like this.
What was John's daughter doing at the funeral.
We were sitting in a row that had a slight curve in it and were facing the casket, and my brother and system law at the far end, and they could see across at what John and the daughter were doing, writing down notes on a pad and keeping notes, and she would look up and observe us and then go back to writing on the notepad. And she was obviously observing our reactions and emotions. And I said, that's very strange. No one does that sort of thing at a funeral,
so why would they do that. I've got a few notes here that Paul gave me after Bev's funeral. He's got written down here. There was no interaction with our family at any time from John. My gut feeling and what I have seen tells me that he saw a moment and stretched it out to an opportunity to gain Bev's confidence during her mental sickness, and took every advantage he could. There was no pictures of him and Bev together in the picture show because there was no relationship.
His daughter, which I saw, was taking notes, leaning forward and looking at us all and writing some more notes down.
You were going to hear from Bev's younger brother, Paul Outerbridge in the next episode, and from Paul's wife Sarah here they are very briefly. Have you seen John since the funeral?
No? No, why would I?
I can't say.
His name, and then I just google it. I just put in John Wingfield and I've come from when Wreenfield. The likeness blew.
Me away, and then you got to grossimons. Through the documents.
Paul and Sarah will shed more light too on what they saw at Bev's unusually low key service.
When did you first learn that he's an alleged killer?
After the funeral, my sister in law said, do you know who this guy is? Have you researched him? Have you looked him up on the internet? I said no, I don't know. I never heard anything before. And that's when she showed me on her laptop the story of Jonathan Minfield and I was stunned. I thought, like, how can this be true? My sister was a very clever lady and very witty, and I said, well, what was BEV doing mixed up with this guy? Didn't she know
who he was and what he was all about? And I'm sure Bev would have known the story of Jonathan Winshield. And I can't understand why she ended up mixed up or had anything to do with it. She didn't live under a rock. She was a very intelligent woman up until the last little bit of a life when she obviously was affected by the cancer. I don't know why she put so much trust in this guy and let him do what he wanted to do. I don't know
how she even had him in her house. And then after I started doing some research and found out the true story, it's just noble from there.
Did you consider challenging what had happened, challenging the world?
I did. I went back to the solicitor and I said, what can we do? Obviously my sister was not of sound mind when she did this. We had a bit of a talk about it, and it was going to be financially impossible for me to pursue it. So I thought, well, I don't like the idea of this guy taking everything that my sister had. I don't begrudge my cousin receiving the small amount that she is receiving, but I don't like the idea of this guy getting the rest.
And what do you understand the value of your sister's estate was.
It would probably worth a couple of million dollars at least the house and the cars and the super anyway, and it would total quite a bit of money. My cousin is only receiving a small amount of that, and Jonathan Winfield is the beneficiary of the rest.
Jeff picked up a copy of Bev's will. He read the provision relating to their cousin.
I give the son of two hundred thousand dollars and can I mention her name?
Jeff read out the cousin's full name. I'm not repeating it here for privacy reasons.
I give the balance of my estate to Jonathan Winfield. That's what the will says here. I appoint Jonathan Winfield as executor and trustee. I just can't understand why my sister would do that. My brother's desire was to pursue it, take it to court and contest the will. And I said to my brother, look, I've been down that track. It's not doable. I can tell you you're wasting your time. And he wouldn't leave me, So he went and got his own counsel, and he rang around and were advised
not to go down that path. Pointe's health have eaually got the better of him. Many almost had a breakdown over it all, and he gave up.
It is impossible to know what really goes on in family relationships that you are not yourself involved in, why conflicts arise, and how siblings manage the fallout are such subjective questions. In the Bromwin series, the tensions between family members, including Andy Reid, his sister Kim Marshall, and their cousin Megan Reid, have been all too obvious at times. Siblings squabbles are as predictable as death and taxes. Beverly is not around to tell us why Jeff and Paul were not in.
Either of her wills. You sound angry, but measured.
Angry about the fact that this stranger, by class him as a stranger, has walked in and taken everything. My brother was affected by the floods here in Belnah, and he had flood damage, and he was doing it tough at the time. And I said to him at the time, I said, look, mate, if your sister is kind enough to leave you some money in her estate, you'll be
able to get yourself back on your feet. He was guarded, he couldn't do repairs to his fence, he had no car to get to work, and he was actually seeing a counselor at the time, and he got worse and worse as time went on. About this. He still finds it hard to talk about today.
And what about your sister in law.
They were close friends. I think she's very disappointed with Bev this whole thing with Jonathan instincts.
Actually, Maddie, you still there. I'm sorry in talking NonStop.
I just had a question what ultimately led to theav passing away?
The results of the key answer going to her brain. She passed away in Saint Vincent's hospital in Isbel and that's why I saw her, and she could only just see out of her eyes.
Next day she couldn't see out of her eyes. And then on the third day I got noticed to say that she passed only that morning. Do you know how long FAV was six four before John and to her life? I don't know when't exactly. She was diagnosed with the cancer.
With this little diary that John cat, she said he wrote about her condition and all the rest of it was that its main purpose.
No, I thought it was a bit strainingue that he had everyone written down. He rang me out of the blue and introduced himself to me and said, look, I've got some information about your sister. She's in the hospital at the moment and she's very seriously or can I come around your house and have it talk to you about your sister's health. And I said, yeah, this by all means come around. I want to know what's going on.
Which hospital is she in. So he came around within an hour and we sat down and he had this diary with him, and he's telling me all the different things that have happened. I said, John, look that's not important. I said, I wanted to go and see my sister. Where is she? And he said no, no, no, you can't do that. You can't go there now. I'll make arrangements for you to visit her tomorrow. She's in Saint Vincent's in Lismore. And I said, my brother's going to
have to come to her. My brother's going to want to see it. And he said, no, your brother's excluded. He can't come and visit with your sister. We're doing this one person at a time, and he took control of the whole situation. But he started off telling me her life story in this diary, and I said, John,
I don't need to know the life story. I just want to know what's going on, what's wrong with her, and where is she every time she had a fall, or every time she was taken to hospital, or every time she saw the specialist and every treatment that she had, and when the cancer care nurses come to visit the house. He had everything written down, the dates and the times and everything. It seemed very strange to me that someone would keep a diary like that on somebody else's health.
And he said, I'll meet you up at the hospital tomorrow, and he was telling me this is how it's going to be, and this is when you can come up there and I'll be there to meet you and I'll take you in. And he gave me a time, and I went up there and saw my sister. Yeah, really strange considering it's your sister and my brother could not know. You cannot tell your brother, and I had to wait
until Bevan passed away. And then I went out and saw my brother and I break down because I said, mate, I'm sorry, but I wasn't allowed to tell you about Bev's health and are passing. I had to keep it a secret, apparently. And this guy said it was Bev's wish, but it was more I think John's wish than anything else. My brother was devastated, he was gutted. He didn't get to see his sister, he didn't get to say goodbye.
So when you saw Bev in hospital, was John david you the entire time or did he let you have alone time with her?
Oh? No, he was there in the entire time both occasions.
I went up there.
On the last night, he slept there in a cot. The nurses made up the cot poin beside Ben's bed.
The following morning, John left the hospital to drive home and shower and change into fresh clothes, And that was.
When burd passed away.
While he was at home, I asked Jeff whether he had regrets about having yielded to John Winfield, a man whom nobody in Bev's family knew about until he announced himself.
I wish I had known more about him at the time than I could have included my brother in the visits. We could have included ourselves and much more in the funeral service. It's just remarkable, And my sister wasn't like that. Even when my mom passed away and there was a service held for my mum, she brought along all her work colleagues with her as back up and helped for her at my mum's service. But there was stay. John.
Well, it's surprising that your sister having worked in Ballina in the same office for much of her life, and none of her friends or colleagues are able to pay their respects.
They're all excluded.
Yeah, yeah, all that was his doing, I'm sure of it. The plan was to keep it all very low key, hush hush floy, under the radar, and it don't let anybody know about him because he had plans. He had plans to step in and to take my sister's estate and tol Me Headley. Has anyone ever looked into miss Guy's finances?
Well, yes and no.
He sold that house at Sandstone Crescent about one year after the police began a reinvestigation of what had happened to Broman. I don't know why he sold in nineteen ninety nine, but it has been suggested that one good reason for him to sell.
Then would have been him knowing that.
The detective Sergeant Glenn Taylor was doing a lot of interviewing around the town and in Sydney and piecing together John's movements and the timeline and everything.
He's got all this money coming to him from my sister, but has he got money from other women?
Maddie and I had a separate call immediately after we ended the conversation with Jeff Outerbridge, Maddie, your reaction.
Actually, I'm really angry.
I'm seething.
I would have been absolutely still white hot angry if it had been my sister and this had happened.
Me too, especially now that he knows more. Now that he knows a lot more about John's past and what's happened previously.
What's with the diary also carried by the woman who was introduced to the family as John's daughter, taking notes on what people were saying and how they were reacting at the funeral.
It's so fucking strange. Note taking out the funeral is the weirdest thing I've ever heard of.
And John, who was just the maintenance guy and then the builder and then called himself a partner, but she never spoke of him like it's a two million dollar hole.
I'm pretty sure the solicitor gives people advice when they're change their wills. They will tell you, oh, this is not a good idea, or are you sure about this? And you have to be kind of with it to make decisions that drastic.
You actually sound more angry over this than you have over just about anything.
We've discussed in this podcast.
Yeah, because he's had thirty one years to be free and yet he still one ups everyone. There is something seriously wrong.
Bronwyn is written and investigated by me Headley Thomas as a podcast production for The Australian. If anyone has information which may help solve this cold case, please contact me confidentially by emailing at the Australian dot com dot au.
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