Listeners are advised that this podcast series Brown contains course language and adult themes. This podcast series is brought to you by me Headley Thomas and The Australian.
Your Worship. An issue arose yesterday morning in relation to a possible sighting of the missing person. On that issue, i'd seek to call Jody Maine when.
The courtroom reopened for the second day of the inquest. It wasn't the prime suspect, John Winfield, but he's daughter Jody, who was ushered forward to give evidence on an important matter that had come up the day before.
And ma'am, do you understand? I just want to ask you some very brief questions about a telephone call that you received yesterday morning, and at a later stage in this inquest I will be asking you some further questions about this matter.
Yep, let's pause to recap. Jody had received a phone call on the previous day from a woman named Kayleen Jones. According to Jody, Kayleen had called the Winfield family home in Lennox Head about eight thirty am asking to speak to Crystal Becurse. The caller had some photographs to share with Crystal of Bromwin and Crystal's biological father, Mark Davis. Kayleen then purportedly went into detail about the night that Crystal was conceived, and then, according to Jody, Kayleen shared
with Jody a startling piece of information. Bromwin had been seen alive. According to Jody, Kayleen's friend Joanne was confident that she had seen Bromwin out Nimbu and Weh, referencing the small hippie town less than an hour from where the court sat in Lismore. The stunning revelation caused to stir in the courtroom. On day one, police officers Matt Fordham and Glen Taylor set about checking the rumor as
a matter of priority. As you heard in the previous episode, Glen Taylor told the inquest that he had spoken to Joanne Guthrie and she had denied telling Kayleen that Bromwin was out Nimbenweh. Joanne had said she had no evidence at all of this being true. It was clear by the morning of day two that the possibility of Bromwin being alive and living somewhere near Nimbeni was unfounded. But now Matt Fordham, the police officer assisting the coroner, had
questions for Jody. He was clearly skeptical about some details that Jody had told him the previous day about the phone call with Kayleen. He also had questions about what Jody didn't tell him, Questions like why didn't Jody tell him Kayleen or Joanne surnames? If she didn't know, why hadn't she asked Kayleen? If Jody really believed that Bromwin had been seen out nimb and way as she put it, then surely she would have been at pains to get those details from Kayleen. Why had she told only half
the story? Ma'am?
Is it the case that yesterday at about eleven fifteen you approached myself and the officer in charge and you informed us that you had received a phone call from a lady called Kayleen about eight thirty yesterday morning? Is that correct?
Yes?
And could you tell the court what Kayleen told you?
She told me She rang up asking to speak to Christel. I told her that Christel wasn't here. She asked when I would be seeing her. I told her this week. She then told me she had something to give her that it was photos of her mother and father. I then asked her which father. She said her real father Mark Davis. She then started to tell me about the
night Cristal was conceived. She went into detail about that, and pretty much after that, she told me that she knew a lady called Joanne Guthrie or Joanne had married a man called Craig Guthrie, and that Joanne knows that Bromwin is living out Nimbenweh. And then this Kaylen told me that she lives out Nimbenweh, has never seen her, but Joanne is confident that she is out in Nimbenweh. And that's all I know. That's what I wrote down.
And you received this phone call at your home address, Is that correct?
Yep?
Eight thirty yesterday morning?
And I think you made some notes when you arrived at the courthouse about that conversation. Is that right?
I wrote it down as she was telling me.
Do you have those notes here?
Jodie said yes, and she produced the notes that she had written on a piece of paper during her phone call with Kayleen.
In relation to the identity of Joanne. You've made some notes on this piece of paper that says that Joanne says she's out nimb and wet they know. And then later it says Joanne lives in Sydney. Would you agree that there is no reference to the surname of Joanne on this document?
Well, she told me she was married to Mark Guthrie's brother, so I assume that's Craig Guthrie.
Well it's true, isn't it, ma'am, that you told us you didn't know the surname of Joanne.
I might have said I didn't know, but I just assumed all along that it was Craig Guthrie's wife.
Well, do you agree that the officer in charge and I were asking you questions along the lines of do you know Kaylen's surname? Do you know where Kaylen lives? Her phone number? And things like that.
Yeah, I said no to that because I didn't.
You said no to each of these things, yep. And then we asked you questions along the lines of do you know who this jo Anne person is? And you also said that you don't know who she is. You don't know her surname.
No, I don't know who she is. I don't know Kayleen either. Never heard of them until yesterday.
Well, a moment ago, ma'am, you gave evidence that it was Joanne Garthrie that had allegedly spoken to Kayleen about seeing the missing person.
John's lawyer, Craig Leggett, stood and defended his client's daughter.
I think, to be fair to the witness, the witness said, she assumed it was she's making the difference between knowledge and assumption. I think is the point, ma'am.
When was it that you made that assumption after I got the phone call? It was certainly before you spoke to the officer in charge and I yesterday, wasn't it yep? Is there any reason why you didn't indicate to us that it was a Joanne, possibly Joanne Garthrie, that was being spoken about by Kaylen.
Jody deflected the question.
I'm just relaying what was told to me yesterday morning to the best of how it was told to me.
Certainly you agree that when the officer in charge and I inquired of you the surname of Joanne, you couldn't indicate to us what Joanne's surname was, could you?
No?
In actual fact, I said that I asked this Kayleen if she'd been if she had spoken to the police, and she said she had and she'd told the police this, And that was when we said to Glenn Taylor that somewhere in the brief would be Kaylene's last name so he could find who she was.
Ma'am.
I'm not trying to discredit you at all. I'm simply trying to focus our attention on what you told us yesterday at eleven fifteen. And would you agree that you didn't know Joanne's surname or you certainly didn't tell us that you had any idea of Joanne's surname yesterday? Did you?
Well?
I only knew what was written on that.
If it's written on that, matt Fordham changed direction, ma'am. Isn't it the case that since yesterday you've received a letter in the mail? Is that correct?
Yes? This morning?
Whereabouts? Did you receive that letter at my house? And was it in the letter box at your house?
Yep?
Do you know where it was delivered by post or?
I saw the postman deliver it and my daughter got it out of the letter box and brought.
It into me.
Who was the letter from?
From Kayleen Jones to Crystal?
Do you have the letter here today?
Yep?
Have you opened this letter?
Yes?
Would you agree that it's been re sealed?
I just yep, I pushed it back down.
What's inside the letter?
Photos for Crystal?
Is Crystal here? Do you have any objection if I open the letter?
Ma'am?
Are you able to indicate to the court what's the firstly, what's the relevance of the photographs here?
There photos of her father and her mother and photo as a Bronlin on her own, photos of Bronlin with Crystal together.
There's also a note contained in the letter. Have you read the note briefly?
But it is an odd admission from Jody. Her stepsister Cristel was sitting in the courtroom that morning. The envelope and the letter from Kayleen were specifically addressed to Crystal. According to Jody, she already knew from talking to Kayleen the previous morning that the letter was intended for Crystal and it contained photographs of Brommin and Crystal's father, Mark Davis. Jody could have easily handed Crystal the envelope before court
began for Crystal to open, but Crystal didn't. Jody opened it. Matt Fordham did not press Jody about why.
Perhaps your worship I might leed some evidence from Kaylene Jones about the contents of this note if it's appropriate, I have no further questions of this witness at this time.
Sitting in the courtroom was the letters sender Kayleen Jones. She had been asked by Glenn Taylor the previous evening to come to court and explain the phone call that she'd had with Jody. Kayleen knew her old friend Bromwin much better than most. They grew up together as teenagers and best friends in Sydney's Sutherlandshire, and they had shared formative memories as young adults. Together they experienced some of the highs and lows of navigating life as young mothers
with small children. Kayleen moved away and coincidentally she now lived near Nimben, and her appearance at the inquest was brief. She was asked just eleven questions by Matt Fordham.
Could you tell the court what you told Jody?
I asked her, if Kristel was there, that I had some photos put away for Crystal and I was waiting until she was old enough to receive them, which is why I hadn't contacted her earlier in the Northern Star on Saturday. The inquest was on this week, so I presumed that Crystal would be around for that.
The police officer asked Kayleen if she had made any reference to a lady named Joanne in her phone conversation with Jody. Yes.
I asked Jody a couple of questions about what they thought may have happened to Bromwin and whether there was any sightings of her. She said that one of Bromman's friends, Diane, who I remember from years ago, had possibly seen her. I told Jody I got a phone call years ago from Joanne saying Bromwin was supposedly in the Nimben area. I've lived around Nimben for eleven years and said that if she was around there, I would have seen her, and I hadn't seen her. I did see Nimbuen police.
Neville Plush was the sergeant at the time and Kevin Gillemier was the scenic constable, and I told them if Bromwin was around the Nimben area that I would have seen her in that time, and I knew she wasn't there.
Basically, there is a significant difference here between Jody and Kayleen's recollections of the phone call. Jody gave evidence a short time earlier that Kayleen had said her friend, Joanne knows that Bromwin is living out nimben Weh, and according to Jody, Kayleen said that she lives out nimben Weh and has never seen Bromwin herself, but that Joanne is confident that Bromwin is there. It all amounted to a
very definite impression. Matt Fordham didn't press this discrepancy. Instead, he turned to another matter that clearly aroused his suspicion.
He asked, did you indicate to Jody what Joanne's surname was?
Kayleen replied that she'd told Jody that Joanne had married a man named Craig Guthrie, and Craig's brother is Mark Guthrie, Bromwin's former partner.
Ma'am the community at Nimben, Is it the case that if someone was living at Nimben that you would expect to see them at some stage through your life?
Living at Nimben, definitely, you can know hundreds of people out there to say hello to. You don't know everyone personally, but bronwhen I've known since I was a teenager. I've known her for years, and if she was around anywhere and I'd caught sight of her, I would know it was her. I did ask for the address. I looked up the Windfields in the phone book because I knew they lived at Lennox Head, and I just asked if
I could send the photos over to Crystal. Jodie said she'd make sure Crystal got them.
Ma'am, is it in your view possible that bron and Winfield could be living at Nimben and not have met your attention over the years. No, and you certainly haven't been living as a recluse or No, ma'am. The letter that you've sent to Crystal, it basically encloses a number of photographs and wishes t Cristal all the best, and it indicates that you have knowledge of Bronwin when she was younger. Yeah, there's no suggestion in your correspondence to
Crystal that Bronwin has been alive since sixteen May ninety three. No.
During the first season of the Bromwyn podcast series, I received an email from Kayleen Jones. She reached out to me unprompted, well before we began producing this episode. She said she had been following the podcast closely, and she attached a sixteen page letter to her email with a one word title Bromwin. Kayleen had a lot to say about Bromwyn, and she had new revelations about the phone call she had with Jody on the first morning of
the inquest in two thousand and two. She has agreed to read out parts of her letter.
Jody said the inquest was to paint her father black and that Bronwyn had just walked out on them. I said, well, where is she then? And Jody mentioned someone named Diane allegedly citing Bromwin at Cronala since her disappearance.
I mentioned that Bromwin's.
And my friend Joanne Guthrie contacted me years beforehand, saying that John supposedly said that Bromwin was in Nimben, which I knew was untrue because if anyone would recognize her.
I would.
In her letter, Kaylene mentioned some important details that were not part of the evidence in two thousand and two. The first is that she remembered telling Jody in the phone call that it was Jody's father John, who first suggested Bromwin could be at Nimben. Kayleen explained that she didn't tell the inquest this important detail because she was still surprised at having to give evidence at short notice. She said she felt she did not have an opportunity to expand on her answers.
I drove to liz More Coroner's Court and was completely baffled about why I was there, and everyone started explaining what Jody had said about me.
The day before, My colleague Isaac Ayan spoke to Kayleen at her home just outside Nimben and Kayleen shared more details about her phone call with Jody in two thousand and two.
I remember that phone conversation.
She actually did say Crystal's here, but not here right now, which is why she couldn't put her on the phone. And then I said that I'd had photos of Bromwin, Crystal's dad and Crystal and she's gone, which dad, and I said, Mark Davis, so you could hear her voice.
She had contempt in her voice.
What I said was that Joanne had heard years ago through Megan Bromman's cousin, that John had alleged that Bromwin was out Nimben way, and I said, well, she's definitely not up here, because if anyone's going to recognize.
Her, I would.
But in that phone call, you also made it clear that neither you nor Joanne believed.
They werenat absolutely neither of us believed that rumor. I then went on to say to Jody that I did see the missing person segment on the TV program Crime Watch, Missing Persons Australia, whatever show it was, and that was the second time that I'd heard that allegedly she was in the Nimben area, which was why I then went to Nimbum Police the following day to tell them Bromhen wasn't around Nimben, to which the police laughed at me and said, you can't report a non sighting of a person.
I've spoken to Joanne Guthrie and she confirmed with me that she remembered hearing something about Bromwin supposed being out Nimben Way. Here's a snippet from my conversation with Joanne Guthrie. You're going to hear more from her and from Kayleen in a later episode and their observations of John.
My recollection, I mean, we're going back a long time now, was that Megan contacted myself.
And said that she had heard that Bromwin was living out in Nimbhen Way.
And it's possible that Megan heard it from John Winfield. Kayleen has a view about Jody's actions at the two thousand and two in Quest, insofar as their phone calls concerned.
Completely twisted and distorted it to make it what she wanted it to be. When I first rang up, she said, this whole inquest.
Is to paint my father black.
She was already on the defensive, and then gone to the inquest and completely change my words and said, there.
Is an alleged sighting out at Nimben.
And Jody has taken parts of our phone conversation and turned it into what she wanted it to be.
At the inquest, trying to conjure up a potential sighting of Bromlin, Yes, which would have put in doubt the theory that John was her killer.
Yes, It's possible that Jody was simply mistaken in her recollection of what Kayleen told her. It is also possible that, in her excitement at hearing of a possible rumor of Bromwin being alive, Jody glossed over key qualifying details from Kayleen and instead wrote down a very definitive statement, let me repeat what those words were. Joanne says, she's out nimb and way. They know a little more about this. In a later episode, when Jody gives evidence again on
day four of the inquest. On that day, matt Fordham asked more penetrating questions about Jody's actions during and after the phone call with Kayleen. He appeared to be very suspicious. The second day of the inquest continued with evidence of another possible sighting of Bromwin.
Ma'am, can you please tell us your full name?
Diane Linda McMillan.
Diane McMillan knew Bromwin well. They met at Sylvania Price School in Sydney, Sutherlandshire when they were about ten years old, and they stayed in touch throughout the years. Diane met Bromwin's boyfriends, including Mark Guthrie and Mark Davis, and Diane recalled Crystal's birth and the controversy over her true parentage. Diane, of course met John Winfield. Matt Fordham walked Diane through what she had told police in her nineteen ninety eight statement.
He asked Diane about a phone call in early nineteen ninety three with Bromwin.
I was at home and the phone rang and I answered it and it was Bromwin and I hadn't heard from her for a while. I remember her telling me that John had gone all weird and strange, and I just said, look, I'm in Sydney, you're in Ballina. You should get help, and you know, just get out of there, Bromwin.
That's what I said to her.
Did she indicate anything specifically, any specific event that prompted her to ring you?
No, she just I vaguely remember her telling me that he'd become very possessive.
Did she sound to you as though she felt safe in that house?
No?
And did she indicate to you any plans for the future.
No.
No.
I've known Bromwin for a very long time, and I knew she absolutely adored her children, and there's just no way she would have left them for this period of time.
Matt Fordham asked Diane to recount another phone conversation, one that she'd had with John in mid nineteen ninety three, a few weeks after Bromwin had disappeared.
He just said to me, have you seen Bromwin? And I said no. I said, what have you done with her? Because I was very suspicious of him because of what Bromwin had said.
To me on the phone.
And what was mister Winfield's reaction to that comment?
Oh? How dare you speak to me like that?
You know, he just went right off as bean and I got quite frightened of him at that stage.
Did you have any subsequent phone calls to mister Winfield about this issue afterwards? Yes?
No.
In the police investigation and inquest, there were three purported sightings of Bromwin in the years following her disappearance. The Nimben rumor was an obvious red herring. At the inquest, there was another purported sighting of Bromwin by a woman named Jane Johnston. Jane's husband, Andrew and John were first cousins. Jane got to know Bromwyn well. He's a reminder from episode four of what Jane said in her nineteen ninety eight police statement.
She would often state to me that she was scared of John and worried that he would hit her, Although she never ever told me that he did, and I'm sure she would have if it had occurred, she did inform me after Christmas that year he had backed her up against the kitchen cabinets and raised his hand as if to hit her, but then just walked away.
Another key part of Jane Johnston's nineteen ninety eight statement to police was disclosed in episode six.
Shortly after returning home from overseas, Andrew and I went on a picnic at Stanwell Park with Peter and Louise Winfield. Peter is John's brother. While we were on the picnic, Peter told us that Bronwyn had disappeared about a month prior. We didn't have much contact with John after that, and I didn't discuss her disappearance with him because he obviously didn't want to.
One day in nineteen ninety four, whilst shopping in the Shire, Jane saw a woman in profile about thirty meters away. She thought the woman looked like Bromwin. Jane yelled Bromwin's name loudly, but there was no response. Jane said she ran after the shopper but lost her in the crowd. Jane Johnston was not called as a witness at the inquest. There was another purported sighting of Bromwin in Kunella eighteen
months later. Diane McMillan believed that she had caught a glimpse of her old friend Bromwin and apparently without any worry of being seen. Here's Diane from her nineteen ninety eight police statement.
I caught the side profile of this girl, and I thought it was Bromin's standing there. I turned around as I passed, But this girl must have walked off fairly quickly. I'm not sure that it was in fact Bromwin, but it looked like her.
Matt Forlham asked Diane about this.
You turned around as you passed this girl, But this girl must have walked off fairly quickly, because you didn't see her again after that.
No, no, I just turned my head around. I was driving, concentrating on the road.
Of course, on the first look to your left, did you recognize it as Bronwin?
Then?
I didn't see her face.
I only saw the side of her head, on the back of her body. She was behind a car, and it was a brief sighting, very brief, ma'am.
Do you believe it was Bronwin or that it could have been Bronwyn Winfield that you saw in nineteen ninety five?
It could have been her, but I don't think it. I didn't see her face, so I can't be sure.
Did you in nineteen ninety five, when you say you caught a glimpse of someone who appeared to be Bronwen, did you make any attempt to contact Bronwyn's family.
I was sort of thinking that she was missing, not anything else that happened. So I actually rang John Winfield, I think, and I told him that I think I'd seen her in Cronulla.
The police officer raised a point about Bronwyn.
And given that you say you believe you saw someone who looked like Bromwin in Cronulla, did it strike you as strange that Bronwyin would not have contacted her family if she was living in Cronulla.
Yes, I the whole thing has struck me as strange because she wasn't a person that would just disappear.
You mentioned that the hair was a unique feature of Bronwyin that struck you as being similar to her. But is there any other unique feature, for example, the shape of her nose, or the shape of an ear, or some sort of mark on the face or anything like that that could indicate to us as being a unique identifier that the person you saw was Bronwin.
Her body, the long legs, in just the way her figure was. It was just an outstanding figure. You never forget it once you've seen it.
And when you saw this lady, was she standing still or was she moving?
She was moving?
Do you remember what she was wearing?
No?
No, I don't, Given what you know about circumstances of Bronwin's disappearance, did you go and search for her in any of those shops?
No, I didn't.
I just thought she was gone, so how would I be able to find her.
John's lawyer, Craig Leggett, had some brief questions for Diane about a phone conversation that she made to his client John.
The sighting was in mid nineteen ninety five. That was some seven years ago, wasn't it.
Yes?
And at the time of the sighting your recollection of events was a lot better than it is now, isn't it.
Yes?
The sighting back in nineteen ninety five struck you as being struck you at the time as being so clearly Bronwin that you rang John Winfield straight away. Didn't she Yes?
But I wasn't sure it was her, but it looked like her.
And in the course of the conversation with John, you in fact apologized to him for making the allegations that you'd made to him in the last phone call with him, didn't you?
I can't recall that.
Did you say something like, look, I'm sorry that I suspected you before, but I've now seen Bronwin. I'm sorry, I apologize something like that.
No, I don't think I would have said that, but.
Words to that effect. No, that was the gist of the call, wasn't it that you had seen Bromwin and you were ringing him to tell him that you'd made that sighting.
Yes, at the time, I didn't know she was going to be missing for this period of time.
Though Broman's former partner, Mark Davis, the father of Crystal, went into the witness box next, Mark has since passed away on Day one of the inquests. John's lawyer, Craig Leggett, had suggested that Bromin's attempts to contact Mark Davis in May nineteen ninety three, shortly before her disappearance, could have indicated Bromwin's desire to safeguard her eldest daughter while Bromwin took off from the family forever, but that theory is
at odds with what Bromwin herself wrote. In a letter to Mark Davis and his parents, Crystal's grandparents in early May nineteen ninety three. Bromwin wrote that she wanted Kristel's biological father to be in his daughter's life, but that she was not going to relinquish custody of Crystal to Mark. Here's a brief reminder from episode ten of some of what Romwin wrote to Mark Davis and his parents in her letter in May nineteen ninety three.
Dear Edita, Alwen, Mark and family. I thought i'd drop you a note since it costs so much for phone calls, and with the girls at school, I have the time. It's so long since we had some form of contact that I don't know where to start. Crystal has grown up into a lovely child, and I know you would be proud to be her grandparents and Mark would love her as well, but I'm not going to relinquish my custody.
I will always be open to your suggestions on schooling and any other ideas you may have, and would welcome Mark as a friend to confide in with any issues that may arise, although the final decision will be mine, because if there's one thing I am good at, it as being a mother. I'm sure there is room for improvement, but it's what I love best in life, something sadly lacking in my teenage years.
Roman's brother Andy Reid told me in episode ten that he believed Bromwin was looking to safeguard Crystal if anything happened to her.
She was trying to ensure Crystal's well being if anything ever went wrong. She already asked and my comments to Michelle and May that if anything ever happens to me, promised me, you look after Crystals.
But of course Bromwin's plans to reunite Crystal with Mark Davis in nineteen ninety three did not eventuate. Mark Davis would not be in regular contact with Crystal until nineteen ninety five. She joined Mark and his family during school holidays and they spoke about Bromwin. Crystal made disclosures to Mark about what happened the night her mum disappeared, as
with other witnesses. Matt Fordham began by taking Mark Davis through things that he had said in his nineteen ninety eight police statement.
Firstly, sir, you say that you're describing Bronwin's character and you say that you're both very headstrong people.
That's correct.
Romwin and Mark Davis had planned to be married in January nineteen eighty four, but the wedding didn't happen. There were tensions in their relationship. Matt Fordham asked whether Bromwin would definitely go ahead with something once she had decided on it, or was she indecisive and likely to change her mind several times about something.
I'd say that once she had made her mind up, she'd go ahead with it, which is probably a bit of the problem. We had a long I was the same. I wanted things done my way and she wanted things done her way, and nevertheto shall meet.
By mid nineteen eighty five, they were not on speaking terms and Mark Davis was no longer seeing his daughter Crystal. And then in about early nineteen ninety, Mark saw Bromwin's sister, Melissa Reid, in a nightclub in the Shire called Carmen's.
And at that time, sir, you were very keen to meet up with Crystal, your daughter. Is that correct?
That's correct?
And I just found out my mother had Parkinson's disease, and I just thought I'd like to get her Crystal to know my mother before the disease declined too far and she got to at least know her grandmother. I asked Melissa, could she contact Bronwin for me to see if it was possible to see Crystal, and she got to me the following week and I ran into her again at the nightclub and she said that Bronwin had said no.
When Bromwin said no, do you remember was there any reason given or was there any explanation of that?
Well, I think she was just trying to get on with her life and you know, sort of put that part of her life behind her, because Crystal didn't know that John wasn't her father at the time I met her when she was twelve, So nineteen ninety five I think was when we finally met again.
Matt Fordham was at a bit of a disadvantage. He did not have in front of him the letter that you just heard a voice actor read aloud, the one which Bromwin sent to Mark Davis and his parents. The letter had not yet been tended as a document at the inquest because it was still sitting in an old box of material which the detective Graham Diskin had collected
during his investigation. It was only on day four of the inquest that the material was admitted as an exhibit, after Glenn Taylor went and retrieved the box It included drafts of Bromwin's letters to Mark and to others, and some of Bromwin's handwritten notes. But on day two Matt Fordham was traveling blind and he had to seek information about the letter from the witness.
So that was the very first time that there was any intent on Bromwin's behalf to reunite yourself with Crystal. Is that correct?
That's correct.
I think it was due because she was separating from John and thought that it was time for Crystal to know her real father.
When you say that she was separating from John and it was time for Crystal to be reunited with her father, could you explain where that notion came from, Well.
From the contents of the letter basically, and the nature of the phone call, and she basically told Mum that she wanted for us for Crystal to know her grandparents and her parentage.
From your knowledge of the relationship between Jonathan Winfield and bron Winfield, does the fact that you were contacted by Bronwin does that signify to you that bronwin had made her mind up about the future of her relationship with Jonathan.
Well, yes, it could also have meant that she may have feared for herself. She was making sure that if anything did happen to her, that Christel would be looked after. Did she ever express that to you, No, not in those words, but she definitely made her mind up that she wasn't going to go back to John.
Matt Fordham raised Mark's recollections from his statement of what Cristel had told Mark in around early nineteen ninety eight. They included Crystal hearing her parents arguing, Crystal going to bed at about eight point thirty, Crystal hearing a motorbike pull up outside the house, and finally Cristel's disclosure that her mum was a diagnosed schizophrenic who had not been taking her medication.
Then he asked, all of these things that Crystal has told you, do you know what the source of that information was?
Well, I now believe it was something she was told, not what she actually remembers, because there's a couple of things in there, like especially the part about the schizophrenia and the pills, Well, it's just not true. So somebody has implanted that thought in her at the stage the.
Issue about the motorbike pulling up and hearing the sound of the motorbike do you also believe that Crystal was told that information?
Oil, Well, I do yes. Bromwin's sister Kim Marshall told police in nineteen ninety eight that John had told her shortly after Broman's disappearance that she had been running around town on the back of a motorbike and flirting with men around town. He'll recall hearing Andy Reid talking about this in episode three.
Jacko was a friend of the people that aimed the takeaway shop that Bromin used to work there, and he gave her a left home. So because he'd gave her a left home on a motorbike, all of a sudden, John's Oh, she's go there and around ten and she's in another relationship with some boke. She's on the back of a motorbike. He was very flustered about that.
He didn't handle that well.
Matt Fordham continued, and what's your opinion as to the source of that information about the motorbike.
Well, I think it's either John's told her or Jody or somebody's been telling her.
That's what happened when Crystal was relating this story to you in nineteen ninety seven or nineteen ninety eight. Did she use any descriptive words about the sound of the motorbike? No, did she describe its sound in any way, or did she said she heard a motorbike pull up. She didn't describe it, for example, the room of the motor or that the dak dak of the Harley or anything like that. No, I have nothing further, Your worship.
John's lawyer had nothing to raise with Mark Davis, the next witness, would leave a strong impression on the inquest. Meghan reads lengthy stint under oath began with a stumble from Matt Fordham.
You are her sister, Is that correct? No, I'm her first cousin, first cousin. I'm sorry.
There were two distinct parts to Meghan's evidence at the inquest. There's what she said in two thousand and two as a fierce defender of Bromwin, and then there are the notes that the detective Graham Diskin talked in nineteen ninety three. It's in those notes that a very different picture of Bromwin is painted, and it purportedly is coming from Megan. Megan was taken to those notes during her time at the and it made for several intense exchanges particularly with
John's lawyer Craig Leggett. Now listeners to the podcast know that Meghan is adamant that an impersonator, someone other than her but pretending to be her, must have given Graham Discan those comments and statements. In my first face to face meeting with Megan at her home on Sydney's Northern Beaches, I raised this issue and I asked her to go to one of the key documents and read from it. Meg, I'm just going to ask you to clearly and slowly
read that statement. Okay, this is not a signed statement by Megan Reid. It is a document based on a telephone conversation between Detective Graham Discan and a woman who must have given him a name Megan read, But Megan insists that it was not her. On the telephone to the police officer in Ballina this.
Date spoke to the cousin of the missing person Meghan read. Meghan stated that she had twice spoken to the MP Missing Personal Belief only days before her disappearance, and only that she was able to recognize her voice, she would not have believed that, in fact, it was Bromwin. Meghan stated that the missing person was talking a lot of rubbish but did not seem to be affected by drugs or alcohol. Statements were made like you will all pay none of you will know what is happening, and other
statements that meant nothing to Megan. Meghan stated that she has no fears about John Winfield being involved in anything untoward so far as his wife's disappearance is concerned. In the past, she has questioned Bromwin over her attitude and lies about John, and Bromwin admitted that she was seeking attention. She believes that John is a great father and care of the two children involved in the marriage, and would
do nothing to upset the children. Meghan also believes that in the past Bromwan was a user of cannabis and described her as a flower child, believing that she may well be living on a commune somewhere. She also had a passion for money and was on the lookout for a rich male to care for her if the opportunity arose. Absolutely, Booter, I never ever would say that John told me that she was at the age of Aquarius commune. This is John's words. It's just so far from true. I mean,
I don't understand this at all. I didn't even know it existed until recently, and I'm very upset about it, which is I didn't do it.
Now.
The coroner at the coronal inquest tried to subpoena started discan, but unfortunately he went off on the medical stress leeve or something, and he had medical exemption from being subpoened in court.
And Meghan had told Glenn Taylor in nineteen ninety eight that Bromwin said John had threatened her if she ever made a claim on his house, threatened Bromwin how exactly. At the inquest, Meghan went further, John, Meghan said, had threatened to kill Bromwin if she ever tried to claim the house. Matt Fordham kicked things off by asking Megan about a conversation that she said she had with Bromwin when Bromwin confided something about what John had said.
Bromwin has always told me that John had lost previous homes when they lost either through settlement or whatever, homes that he built to previous wives, and he was determined at this one he would never lose, you know. And she told me that he would kill her before he let her have that house.
Do you remember where you were when she told you.
That she told me that on numerous occasions over the years. It's not just once.
And when she was telling you this in person, was she describing any event that prompted her to say this to you or was she putting it in any context?
Well, certainly when she was in the townhouse at the end, she was very concerned for her safety, definitely, and I was too, I was concerned for her safety.
Are you able to recall, ma'am, when the first occasion that she'd use the words that John would kill her? Are you able to remember, Oh, well.
That would have been back in Cranullah, when she was describing to me how possessive he was and how he kept her. He would not let her see her friends, and he would only give her a very small amouth money for food. You know, she had to budget for everything. He was very you know, dictated everything to her.
Did Jonathan ever have any conversations with you about the loss of two previous houses to previous wives.
I don't know. I don't recall that. I didn't talk to John about that.
No.
The claims and counterclaims around what John lost or gained after the end of his relationships with previous Partners will become part of a later episode. It arises again in the evidence. At the inquest, Matt Fordham brought Megan to a matter that had caused bromin a lot of distress.
Are you talking about the abortion here?
Yes?
Yes, she wanted to have the baby.
And how was it that she came to make the decision to abort the pregnancy.
John said she couldn't have the baby.
That was it.
She had to have an abortion.
The police officer asked her about a conversation in late nineteen ninety two in which Bromwin disclosed John physically assaulting her.
Yes, she told myself and my family, and she told us that John had picked up a chair and thrown it at her. She had bruises too. We saw her in Sydney when she told us that.
Do you remember whereabouts on her body you saw bruises?
They were on her legs. I think, look, I'm not really one hundred percent sure about that, but I do remember her telling me, telling us I should say about that the family.
But on the occasions or do you remember how long it was before she disappeared that you saw bruises on her?
Yes, definitely, that was the Christmas. Well, it would have been Boxing Day, I think when they came for lunch, and then John disappeared and he didn't come back for lunch, and she stayed with my parents for a week before they flew her back to Lennox said, and Crystal, I should say alone.
Matt Fordham asked further questions about the Boxing Day lunch, where Meghan recalled John had returned to Lennox Head without warning, leaving Bromwin and the children stranded in Sydney. And you heard about this in episode two.
Boxing Day was.
To read Christmas always, the whole turkey and all the rest of it, and so bonn Win and the family were all there.
He never would have thought anything was wrong, no fight for whatever. And he said he'd be back by one day, two o'clock for lunch. Well he never showed up and it wasn't tull about nine hours later that we found it as he was back at Lenox Shared but he had just driven back.
What was his explanation for just taking.
Off all there wasn't run. We never got an explanation. Where were godsmacks?
Matt Fordham asked Megan to recount these events.
How did Brown react? When she was stranded by Jonathan.
She wasn't surprised at all and she was happy actually, and Kristal was too. I mean they were given free rein. I think she was very relaxed.
Matt Fordham then turned to phone conversations that Meghan said that she'd had with Bromwin while Bromin was living away from John in Byron Street, Lennox Head and John was working in Illawong in Sydney.
And did she indicate to you what her attitude towards her marriage was.
She was terrified of John. It was over, absolutely over. I heard John banging on the door. I could hear him yelling and screaming. I mean I heard that. She told me lots of events where he'd shown violence. She had actually ripped the phone out of the wall at one stage to stop him ringing. She was terribly fearful.
She told me that she had contacted a solicitor and been told to take possession back of the house because possession being nine tenths of the law, and she also had no money and no family.
Just firstly, ma'am, referring to the phone being ripped out of the wall by Bronwin, did that occur at the flat or the house.
At the flat, and I actually spoke to Crystal about this and she remembers the event she was there.
Matt Fordham asked Meghan about the banging on the door of Bromwin's flat and whether Meghan could say with confidence that it was John Well.
I believe so, and I can't imagine anybody else doing that, and she was yelling at him to stop and go away. I know also that she wanted soul custody of the children and she was trying to just keep well away from him, and she wouldn't let the children near him.
You mentioned that she had disclosed to you that she had spoken to a solicitor about correct that's.
Where she wanted to get some money from my parents. She needed a retainer to keep that solicitor and he had told her to move back into the house immediately, which she did, and you know what happened.
Matt Fordham asked Meghan about Bromin's decision to move back in on the afternoon of Friday, May fourteen, nineteen nineteen.
And did she indicate to you what she feared may have happened had Jonathan found out that she was living inside the house.
Well, she'd always indicated that he would kill her if she tried to get the house.
The police officer turned to another topic, Meghan's diary entries. In nineteen ninety three, they presented a documentary record which noted conversations and events that occurred after Bromin's disappearance. Matt Fordham had some of the pages in front of him as he asked Meghan questions and sought to clarify key dates and details. He took Meghan to an entry dated Friday, May fourteenth and presented her with a photocopy of the page.
You recorded that Bromwin moved home for some reason. Solicitor or clairvoyant John flew up to find out. She told him she had op opportunity to have holiday and left with guy don't know who. John bundled up the kids and took to Sydney. Ma'am, do you remember whether it was your usual habit at the time to make the entry?
This has been written afterwards?
Sorry, just listen to the questions, mayor Yes, sorry, you said that it had been written afterwards. Do you remember how long after fourteen May you'd made the entry? On that day?
I could tell if I had the next diary page, thank you, it's been written here. Let me see, I'll make sure it's right here, i'd say. On the next week, the Friday, the twenty first, it looks like the same pen. I don't know why, but I did.
And so it's the case that at some stage, perhaps a week later, you'd gone back and made the entry on fourteen May. Is that correct?
I believe so, Yes, well, I must have. I must have written that when I spoke to John and he told me that she was gone. And then because I spoke to her and she told me the solicitor had told her to move back into the house and that's what she was doing. I actually spoke to her at the house, okay, when she was back there, before John had gone up there.
He asked Megan about the regular phone calls she shared with Bromwin.
Did it strike you as strange that the phone calls ceased?
Absolutely? Absolutely, I can't believe it.
He took Megan back to the diary note about Bromwin supposedly taking an opportunity to take a holiday and leaving with an unknown male.
The source of that information was that Jonathan Winfield.
Yes, that's correct, do you ever hear.
From any other friend or relative of Bronwyn that she had left with a guy?
No, I didn't.
Was it ever suggested to you by anyone other than Jonathan Winfield that she had left to have a holiday?
Absolutely? No one. No a holiday for two days?
Two days.
Did Jonathan tell you that Bronwin said anything that time?
Nothing apart from oh, I'm glad you're here. I've had the opportunity to go away for the weekend, and would you I'm looking after the kids.
See you, and you're quite firm on would you mind.
I'm quite firm on that because I was so surprised. I can't believe that. I couldn't believe that Bromwin would say that. I just don't believe it.
Did Jonathan indicate to you who it may have been that she had left with the clairvoyant?
He told me that Bromwin believed the Clearvoyant is a reincarnagent something or other of her father.
Meghan's diary entries are a compelling record of what John Winfield purportedly said to Megan in May nineteen ninety three. It's there in black and white, dated at the time the conversations were said to have happened. The police investigation had ruled out any possible involvement from the tarot card reader and clairvoyant known as Pendragon. He had even been placed under police surveillance in nineteen ninety three as part
of the Detective Graham Diskin's investigation. Matt Fordham continued with Megan's diary entries by bringing her to one maid on May twenty five, nineteen ninety three, a day when John, with Crystal and Lauren visited Meghan in Sydney.
Ma'am, you say that, or it's recorded in your diary that John, Cristal and Lauren coming to stay today tonight. Both kids and John need therapy desperately. And then you say, Crystal told me that Braun told her that John is not her father Mark Davis is. She does not want to know him. She said that Braun ripped the phone off the wall. Lauren very withdrawn. Crystal does need help, therapy, wants to stay with me. And then you say that
you remember Jonathan and the kids arriving here. Yes, And in your statement, ma'am, you say that Jonathan told you that Bronwyn had gone off with some guy in a car, that she was due back home in Lennox Head in a few days.
That's correct. Myself and my husband at that time was there.
It is interesting to note that Meghan wrote in her diary in May nineteen ninety three that Crystal had disclosed bromwhen ripping the telephone off the wall. The police officer asked about John's demeanor on his visit to Meghan's home in Sydney.
And ma'am also in your statement, you describe his demeanor at the time. Do you remember what it was?
I've honestly never seen anything like it before. He was shaking, He was practically frothing at the mouse. I was terrified. I didn't know what had happened, but I knew that it was something more than someone missing. I just didn't know.
What sort of emotions. Did Jonathan's behavior depicted to.
You someone who was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I believed I believed he was either having one or he was on the verge of one.
When you say that he was shaking, he was.
Shaking, he was crying, he was babbling, and the children were just in shock. They were just white and wide eyed and staring and not doing anything. It was really sad. Yeah.
Could it have been that Jonathan was distressed about the disappearance, I.
Very much doubt it. I mean it was over the top, it really was. He needed help. I believed at that stage he needed help, some serious psychiatric help, that's for sure.
And ma'am, also later in your diary on twenty six, may you record that John and the kids left at four thirty am. Yes, And I take it that they were leaving to return to Lennox Head. Is that correct?
Yes, I'd say so.
Yes.
On twenty seven May, ma'am, you've recorded in your diary, John arrived home, no sign of brawn. He talked to her friends who thought she was on the verge of a breakdown or having one. Yes, has been seeing a clairvoyant on a regular basis. Thinks that it's her dad in a spirit form.
That's right.
That information. Were you able to confirm that information from anybody else?
No, absolutely not. John told me that information. He also told me that they had found himself and I believe the landlord of the townhouse numerous empty bottles of alcohol, empty packets are valium in there when she vacated, So he indicated that she might be like, you know, an alcoholic drug addict as well.
And the information that the clairvoyant, that Bromwin may have thought that clairvoyant was her father in spirit form. Did Bromwin ever disclose that to you directly?
Brown never spoke to me about a clairvoyant whatsoever ever, never heard of it.
And so Jonathan was the source of that information, that's correct.
Matt Fordham brought Megan to a diary entry dated Monday July twelve, just under two months after Bromwin's disappearance, and.
You'd agree there that on that date there is a record that says John found that Braun returned whilst he was away. She had took her close and his genes photos, left a signed Medicare check, he.
Said, basically with the genes going, he said to me that he believed she had a boyfriend and therefore he'd taken the genes also the photos of the children, and left assigned Medicare check and taken all her personal possessions.
Matt Fordham next turned to Meghan's evidence in her nineteen ninety eight police statement that John had made several disclosures to her about Bromwin being seen alive after May nineteen ninety three. It must have been clear to the inquest by now that Meghan and John had stayed in regular close contact. There were three separate conversations where Meghan remembered John telling her that Bromwin was alive and had been seen.
Meghan recalled John telling her that Bromwin had been found by police at Coff's Harbor, at a commune known as the Age of Aquarius. Matt Fordham asked if Meghan had shared this information with any members of the family.
Look, everybody, I spoke to, everybody I knew about it. Of course we were also worried about Bromwin.
Have you heard that information from anybody other than Jonathan Winfield.
No.
In fact, when I confirmed it with the police, I found out it was not true.
When you say you confirmed it with the police, did you make some inquiries with the Coff's Harbor police.
No, not Coff's Harbor. I rang balin of police eventually. I don't know when, but I did, and I found it wasn't true because I wanted it to be true.
Meghan could not recall the second occasion, when John purportedly told her that police had found Bromwin alive, but Meghan could remember the third occasion. She said it was when John visited her while she was on holiday with her parents and children in Queenland, possibly in early nineteen ninety seven.
He was coming for lunch to my parents' apartment which I was staying in for the school holidays with my children, for lunch and he ended up staying for four days or something, not that he was invited.
And you say in your statement, ma'am, that Jonathan told you that Bronwin was alive and well and living in Brisbane. That's correct, but that he didn't elaborate any further and didn't want to say much more about it.
He told me that she had been found and he told me that he had seen her, and he told her not to come back now because he didn't want her to hurt children anymore.
This last bit from Meghan that the inquest was new. Meghan had told Glen Taylor in nineteen ninety eight that on this holiday in Queensland in early nineteen ninety seven, John told her that Roman had been found by police in Brisbane and that he didn't want anything to do with her. But if Meghan had told Glen Taylor in nineteen ninety eight what she was telling the inquest in two thousand and two, which was that John said he'd actually talked to Bronwin and told her not to come back.
Then it had not made its way into her nineteen ninety eight signed statement. John's lawyer, Craig Leggett must have been relishing the opportunity to cross examine Megan about these discrepancies.
Do you remember what Jonathan's demeanor was when he told you about this?
It was very matter of fact, completely, Look, it was very clear I was not to speak to the children at all about the disappearance. I never could and he never spoke about it.
Did Jonathan ever indicate to you that he was disappointed that Bronwin hadn't returned from her brief holiday.
No, he said he wouldn't take it back if she wanted to come.
Back, ma'am. Obviously, being a close friend of Bronwin, you would have an opinion as to how she felt towards her children.
She was the most devotion mother I've ever come across. All she ever wanted was the picket fence and the family. That's it, I mean, that's all she'd ever said to me. From you know, little kids when we were growing up together. She had asked me, just prior to my marriage in December nine eighty six, if in the event anything happened to her, that I would take.
Crystal Bromwin's cousin, Megan Reed made a startling new disclosure. It occurred during a short break from Morning Tea. The police officer and lawyer Matt Fordham asked Megan about it when she was back behind the witness stand.
Ma'am, just when we adjourned a short time ago for morning Tea. Is it the case that you approached me inside the courtroom here and told me something that Crystal had told you.
Yes, that's correct.
Could you tell us what that was?
This was, I'd say early December of last year. Crystal told me, when she was in the car driving back to Sydney on the night that her mother disappeared, that she knew she would never see her mother again.
Did she say why she felt that way?
She just said she felt that way she knew she'd never see her again.
Matt Fordham had finished with Megan's nineteen ninety eight police statement. He turned now to the statements recorded in Detective Sergeant Graham Diskin's running sheets in nineteen ninety three those controversial comments which were purportedly uttered by Megan and noted by Discan just a brief recap. The entry dated September two, nineteen ninety three noted that Discan had talked to Megan Reid and she'd told him that she had spoken to Bromwin.
In the days leading up to her disappearance. Graham Diskin wrote that Megan told him that Bromwin was talking a lot of rubbish and had made statements like you will all pay and none of you will know what is happening. Matt Fordham read these statements aloud in the courtroom, and Meghan jumped in to offer for an explanation.
I now know what that meant. She had approached my parents to borrow money to retain a solicitor, and my parents had denied her that, and she was very upset with the family, and she had felt that we had betrayed her, and that's what that was about. And she was very angry, and she thought that I knew about it, and I didn't know anything about it.
And Sergeant Diskin says that these conversations occurred days before her disappearance. Do you remember how long it was before she disappeared.
It was only days before her disappearance that she had retained the solicitor who told her to, you know, move back into the house. So yes, because that was yes, it was the last time my mother spoke to her was when my mother said to her that she couldn't have the money.
Did you ever tell Sergeant Discan that Bromwin told you none of you will know what is happening.
I might have. I don't know what that meant, though.
You can't think of any particular issues that may have prompted you to say that may have been the context for that comment from Bronwin, I.
Don't know, but I do know that it was about the money, the money issue, and that she did feel that we had let her down.
Ma'am, I'll just read out the next paragraph of the report and I'll ask you to comment on the source of the information and the context of it also, Sergeant Discan reports. Megan stated that she has no fears about John Winfield being involved in anything untoward so far as his wife's disappearance is concerned. In the past, she has questioned Bronwin over her attitude and lies about John and Bronwin admitted that she was seeking attention.
I don't remember saying that, and it goes against my character to say that, because I've always maintained he was involved right from the word go. I couldn't see that there could be possibly any other reason.
And is it the case that you suggest that Sergeant Diskin's comments there are incorrect, Yes, I do. Can you think of anything that you may have said to Sergeant Discan that may have led him to believe that that was your attitude?
I have no idea how that could have happened, I honestly do.
Not, ma'am. Sergeant Discan also records she believes that John is a great father and career of the two children involved in the marriage, and would do nothing to upset the children. Meghan also believes that in the past, Ronon was a user of cannabis and described her as a flower child, believing that she may well be living on a commune somewhere. She also had a passion for money and was on the lookout for a rich male to care for her if the opportunity arose.
Oh my god, that's not true, Absolutely not true. Absolutely. I would never say that, Absolutely not, not unless I've lost my mind completely. No, I would never say that.
It must have been an uncomfortable time for Megan Red.
Can you think of anything that you may have said to Sergeant Discan that may have led him to believe that that was.
I could only be repeating things that John had told me. Apart from that, there's absolutely no way I would have said that.
I understand that that's your belief today. Could it have been your belief in September nineteen ninety three.
It's been my belief from the word go. No, I could never have believed that about Bronwyn, never, not ever, There's not even his largest possibility.
The report continues. It says Megan stated that Bronwin has always been upset over the death of her father some years ago, and by the fact that she was luckless in his estate because he was a bankrupt at the time of his death.
I didn't know that. Excuse me, until right now. I didn't know that.
No, Sergeant Diston goes on, ma'am. He says, all monies went to paying outstanding debts. Bronwin, until just prior to her disappearance, has been supported for money from Megan's father. Bronwin's uncle. However, he has declined to continue in that vein, and Bronwin was somewhat upset by that is that information.
My father never maintained her whatsoever. And I don't believe that was me that spoke to him. It was over the telephone. It wasn't me. It definitely wasn't me. None of this is true.
Do you know any other members of the family that may have given this information to There is.
Nobody that spoke to the police other than myself and my mother and my father. And I was with the police when they interviewed my parents. And I know for a fact that she wanted the money to retain a solicitor, and they didn't come forward with the money. And that is the only time my father did not support Bromwin, only when she was left there at the house in the previous December. I don't believe that was me who spoke to whoever that was.
And you understand that, of course, I'm not criticizing you in any way, I know.
But you understand, of course my position. That's not me. I didn't say any of those things.
There may well have been some errors that were were not errors.
That's totally untrue.
That Forham explored the possibility with Megan that someone else had made a phone call two Graham Diskin in nineteen ninety three, pretending to be her.
Yes, I understand that, ma'am. Could you tell us do you remember what your telephone number in Sydney was in nineteen ninety three?
Oh? Gee, I don't know. Nineteen ninety three could have been zero, two four something or other?
Was your phone number four four nine nine seven eighty five?
That's right?
And do you remember who else was living with you at that telephone number at that time?
My husband and my children and friends coming and going. But no, I don't look, I just.
Don't know, ma'am. For the sake of completeness, I will continue with the things that Sergeant Diskin has recorded in September, and I'll ask you to comment on them also, he says. Megan also reiterated the fact that her mother did exactly the same thing some years ago, and believes that one day she will walk back into the family home as if nothing happened, due to her state of mind at the time of her disappearance. No, have you ever discussed that issue with Sergeant Diskin.
I don't know whether I've discussed that issue, but I don't believe that Bromwell was anything like her mother. I discussed with a psychiatrist at the time of her disappearance, right or shortly thereafter, when John suggested to me that perhaps she was like her mother, I discussed with the psychiatrist whether you know what we would see of and I didn't believe ever that she was of anything other than sound mind. I mean, her mother was a completely different situation, ma'am.
If you had spoken to the police investigating the disappearance of Bronwin would have been something that you would have recorded in your diary.
I don't know.
Do you know whether there are any diary entries that relate to when was this in September of nineteen ninety three, I don't know.
The rest of the diary is not here. I don't know, but I mean those things, I mean, I've never ever thought that about Bromwin never. I've always sort of been a champion for Bromwin. I mean, I've always felt that she's the underdog.
I've nothing further, your worship.
John's lawyer, Craig Leggett, was far more pointed in his questioning Meghan had made very serious allegations about his client, John wanted these taken head on. Craig Leggett began with a discrepancy. It revolved around what Meghan claimed that John had told her while visiting her on holiday in Queensland about Bromwin being seen in the state capital of Brisbane.
Miss read, I want to deal with the allegation that you've made this morning that mister Winfield said to you words to the effect I've seen Bromwin in Brisbane and I've told her not to come home.
That's correct.
You're aware you're on oath, aren't you.
Yes, I am, Yes, I am.
You can search in vain in your written statement for any reference to a conversation where John Winfield told you that he had actually seen Bronman and that he had said to her don't come home. It's just not in your statement, is it.
Well, it may not be, but it happened.
Is there a reason why it's not in your statement?
Probably because I've forgotten about it. I don't know. But he told me on many occasions that she had been cited, so I didn't believe it anyway, but I know where it happened and when it happened.
Just pausing there you said. Just then you said, he told me on many occasions she had been cited, didn't she?
That's right by the police, like was or they knew where she was well?
Cited? Is the word you volunteered?
Well? Cited? Well, they knew where she was had been found? Sorry was the word no?
When you said found?
Now?
All right?
Cited? Found? That's what I meant to you.
It's the same, is it sighting and being found?
Well, yes, she's alive, then, isn't she if she's been cited?
Yes, So you agree with me that most likely Jonathan Winfield said to you there have been sightings of Bronwin.
No, Well, which on which occasion are we referring to?
Well, you referred to numerous occasions when he.
Said, no, on which occasion are you referring to?
At the moment I'm asking the questions. A moment ago in the witness box on oath, you said words to the effect Jonathan told me on numerous occasions that bronwin had been cited. That's what you said, wasn't it?
Yes? I think so.
Yes.
Craig Leggott turned to Megan's recollection of John's visit to her with the children in Sydney on May twenty five, nine days after Bromin's disappearance. Meagan described John in her statement as a shaking, crying mess, adding that he had put it across that he was upset that Bromwin had taken off with another man.
Now, can I suggest to you that in your written statement what you were endeavoring to convey was that Jonathan was putting on an act and that you could see through it.
No, that's not correct. I didn't believe he was acting.
Well, what did you mean by he put it across that he was upset.
Well, because I believe that. I didn't believe he was upset that she got off with another man. I didn't believe that anybody could be in that state over something so well another man, because I just I didn't believe it. It seemed very unusual for somebody to be in that kind of situation.
If those present had any doubt about John's lawyer's view of Megan's credibility and her evidence, then those doubts were dispelled with the next question.
Now, what I'm suggesting to you is that, for some reason best known to you in the witness box today, you are embellishing you are to use the vernacular being a drama queen. Now I want to give you an opportunity to address that allegation.
Tensions in the courtroom were already high, but they were about to elevate further as John's lawyer tightened the screws on Bromman's friend and cousin, Megan Reid. 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 Bronwyn
at the Australian dot com dot au. You can read more about this case and see a range of photographs and other artwork at the website Bronwyn podcast dot com. Our subscribers and registered users here episodes first. The production and editorial team for Bromwin includes Claire Harvey, Kristin Amiot, Joshua Burton, Bridget, Ryan Bianca, far Marcus, Katie Burns, Liam Mendez, Sean Callen, Matthew Condon and David Murray, with assistance from
Isaac Iron's. Audio production for this podcast series is by Wasabi Audio and original theme music by Slade Gibson. We have been assisted by Madison Walsh, a relation of Bromwin Winfield.
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