WEBVTT - Episode 17: A Strange Cheque 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.720 Listeners are advised that this podcast series Bromwin contains course 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:08.840 language and adult themes. This podcast series is brought to 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:42.199 you by Me Headley Thomas and The Australian. I'm just 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:46.200 going to merge this call with Karina. Okay, Karna Berger. 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:52.280 You heard her, she found the handset timetable. All right, eh, yep, yep, Hey, 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:53.120 Kaarina you're there. 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:56.080 Yeah, I'm here Headley and. 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:56.680 He's on the line. 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.480 He's very grateful that you found that timetable. 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:04.320 How Annie, thank you for your diligence forwarding that document. 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.559 Well, that's my pleasure. That's a privileged to be helping 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:08.160 your family. 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:10.880 That's been fantastic the help we've been getting. 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:13.080 Well, they's community detectives. 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:15.680 Hello, I'm seening you a couple of peaks horror up 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:16.640 the ladder than the fleece. 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.440 The day before the release of this episode, Bromman's brother 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:24.880 Andy Reid, hinted at some of his frustration over the 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.960 failure of police over many years to give just as 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.600 much chance in this case. We were on a call 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:35.240 with Karina Berger, an experienced lawyer who has been giving 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:39.280 her time and expertise to help this podcast investigation into 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:43.959 Bromwin's suspected murder thirty one years ago. Karina and many 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:47.880 other listeners who have become deeply invested in Bronwan are 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:53.360 making a powerful difference. In Episode fifteen, Kaarina's discovery of 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:57.960 a May nineteen ninety three official timetable for Answered Australia 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:02.400 supported our suspicions that John has misled police with his 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.120 claims of having made two long distance telephone calls from 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:11.079 the house in Sandstone Crescent shortly before Bromwin disappeared. It 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:14.119 now appears likely that John was in a jet high 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:18.480 above Australia's eastern seaboard when those calls were made, probably 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:22.560 by Bromwin. Another stitch in a pattern of what looks 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:27.960 like interwoven deceits, another apparent example of a failure by 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:32.680 previous police investigations to thoroughly check all the relevant claims 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:36.640 made by someone who has always emphatically denied having murdered 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:42.120 his estranged wife. Words like frustration and disappointment do not 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.919 do justice to Andy's view of how police have handled 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:50.280 his sister's case since nineteen ninety three. At times his 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:54.600 emotions boil over and I hear a powerful anger. He 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.280 is buoyed that this podcast series and the remarkable efforts 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.440 of listeners have produced new leeds and witnesses. 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:07.200 Joe Putlick and people are quite better at finding things 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.520 out and frame more diligen on what they are as 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:11.480 so frustrated. 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.880 But it is a double edged sword because Andy is 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.120 sure that his involvement with the podcast has meant that 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:23.480 the new South Wales Unsolved Homicide Units, Detective Inspector Nigel 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:27.680 Warren and other detectives are more wary of Andy telling 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:32.800 him nothing. Just before the Bromwin series started, Andy met 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:37.000 Senior Police with his wife Michelle. The detectives told him 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:39.640 that they would not be able to advance their cold 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:45.120 case investigation without new evidence. That position appears to have 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:49.080 changed with the public interest and revelations in this series. 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.280 Detectives flew from Sydney to cool and Gatter to take 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:57.000 a statement from Judy Singh after her revelations in episode 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.320 seven about seeing John and what Judy believed was a 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.960 body in the back of the Ford Falcon. Detectives have 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:07.880 also taken statements from Judy's friend Kerry McLain and from 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:12.320 Bromwin's neighbor and friend, Virginia Bevers and Inspector Warren has 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.200 sought from me and my employer, The Australian, a number 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.359 of documents and files, including all of my interviews with 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:22.960 those women. We have provided these. For all we know, 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:28.320 Inspector Warren and the unit's detectives are independently uncovering important 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:32.960 information away from the spotlight and diligently preparing a brief 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:35.479 of evidence to present to the Office of the Director 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:39.680 of Public Prosecutions, the same office which in two thousand 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:44.200 and three rejected a senior coroner's recommendation that John Winfield 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:49.240 should be prosecuted over Bromwin's alleged murder. Andy Reid, however, 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:53.880 still dumbfounded by the hopelessness of the early investigations into 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:58.160 Bromwin's disappearance, is not convinced. He tells me that he 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.719 sometimes feels like he is having to alert detectives to 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.280 what's going on and lobby them to do their job. 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:08.400 The day before the release of this episode, Andy and 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:12.839 I spoke again. The head of the homicide squad, Danny Doherty, 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:15.479 was at a media conference today with the Police Commissioner 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:19.120 for New South Wales, Karen Webb, and there was a 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.760 question from one of my colleagues at The Australian about 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:27.719 Bromin's case. She cleared the rostrum so that he could 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.680 talk about it. Danny Doherty stepped up. 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:36.800 What was his response just in relation time ongoing bronwin podcast? 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:39.880 What's going on with the John Winfield investigation and what 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.920 is the force doing in response to the revelations? 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:46.760 Response in terms of for that matter, that's on investigation 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.640 as current investigation and it's well documented. 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:53.279 There's a podcast in Israel following that story. 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:56.479 But in terms of the unsold term they have that investigation, 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.040 it's current and that's oncoming. Is there any updated all 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.200 that we probably read about in an Australia or listened on 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.880 the podcast? However, we can't comment on white investignations currents 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.719 in terms of why wasn't mister Winfield charged as the 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:11.640 coroner recommended it all those years ago. 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:13.240 Let's talk about it already. 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.000 I went to the DVP and at this stage in 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:18.719 sufficient evidence to charge any person. 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:20.599 The strengths will for the role. 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:24.839 They're obviously playing their cards pretty close to their chest. 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:29.520 When I'd been messaging Nigel and I was getting those 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:34.760 responses of sorry, I'm not able to disclose anything at 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:38.240 this present time. We will be in touch when we 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:40.720 are in a position, I want to reach out to 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:45.080 him to say, well, who's following, what are you up 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:49.400 to date with what's going on. We had all revelations 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:53.000 regarding the flight inventories and all the rest of it, 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:57.560 and I'm pretty sure that he didn't even know about it. 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:01.560 When I first disclosed about the historical fight records and 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:05.240 all the rest of it, where knocking down doors, breaking barriers, 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:08.720 coming up with you info, he was taken aback by it. 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:12.280 He wasn't aware of any of them. That's when I 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:17.120 pressed him further and then he had to disclose that. 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:22.679 From all the way back at episode seven, Judy, seeing 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:30.080 they still haven't got any official statement from New Zealand. 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:32.960 From the doctor who corroborated Duty's account of going to 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:37.400 the Byron Bay Police station, correct, how do you feel 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:39.680 about how the police are performing? 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:43.520 I just can't believe that they can be so slow 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.920 on this matter. We've got something that's a major podcast 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.360 that's breaking down all sorts of barriers and coming up 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:54.320 with all sorts of information. I don't believe that there 0:07:54.400 --> 0:08:00.200 is anyone that is directly involved with Broman's case that 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:01.160 he's up to date. 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.120 It's just bizarre that you've got to tell them what's 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.720 already been broadcast to hundreds of thousands of people. 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:08.720 Bizarre, absolutely bizarre. 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:12.680 My theory is that they handled this. 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:20.200 That Paulie and that badly originally that I feel either 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:24.720 they're embarrassed or they don't want it out there in 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.800 the limelight. I can't believe that they're not acting on 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:29.600 anything to your knowledge. 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:31.720 They could be doing things behind the scenes that we're 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.840 not aware of. It is beyond dispute now in my 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:40.120 view that the original investigation of bromwin Winfield's disappearance in 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:45.000 nineteen ninety three was utterly abysmal, just like the appalling 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:49.400 early police investigations of wife killer Chris Dawson, who murdered 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:53.760 his wife Lynn in nineteen eighty two. Dawson got away 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:57.800 with it for four decades. In twenty eighteen, New South 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:02.120 Wales Police, under the then Commission Mick Fuller, helped make amends. 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:07.760 His detectives ran a very thorough, painstaking investigation led by 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:13.280 Daniel Poole. Mick Fuller kept close tabs on the Dawson investigation. 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:17.079 He stood up to respond to media questions about it. 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.800 He publicly admitted the failure of police to handle it 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:25.440 with professionalism in the first decade, and he repeatedly pledged 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:30.200 the police force's determination to solve the crime. Fuller did 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:35.199 not disclose any operational details that would have been improper, 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:40.240 but he was proactive. He showed leadership and a steely resolve. 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:46.319 By contrast, Fuller's successor, Commissioner Karen Webb, has been completely 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:48.000 silent on Bromin's case. 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:50.320 She wanted nothing to do with it. 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:52.960 When the questions were asked in a media conference the 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:57.680 day before this episode, the most senior homicide detective in 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:02.160 the state, Danny Doherty, had next nothing to say. That's 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.640 very poor form in my view, how do they think 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:10.360 families like Bromwin's should feel With performances like those, It 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:14.439 is easy to understand why Andy Reid and Bromwin's relatives 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:18.400 and friends believe they are being treated shabbily again by police, 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:22.800 and at the highest levels this time, and why Andy's 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.520 dead sister, a mother of two girls, is not getting 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:54.520 the top level attention that she has always deserved. There 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.559 is a striking feature in all of the evidence and 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:02.080 information from John For me, It is the sketchiness of 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:06.960 the information. It is the banal generality weaved around, an 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.840 absence of detail and the lack of expression of concern 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:15.719 for Bromlin's welfare. Bromin was the mother of John's biological 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:20.920 child Lauren, the mother of John's stepdaughter Crystal, and the 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:26.160 stepmother of John's daughter Jodi. Bromwin must have been his 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:29.280 soulmate for some of the years they were together in 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:33.560 a de facto relationship, and then as husband and wife, 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:38.560 John and Bromwin were obviously estranged and she wanted a divorce. 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:43.440 The marriage was finished. Half of all married couples deal 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:46.599 with this, but it is an extraordinary event when a 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:52.360 young mother completely vanishes five years later. Feelings of remorse 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.600 and genuine concern for the woman's welfare would surely be 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:01.400 present for an estranged husband notwithstand the tensions in the 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:07.480 original separation. Five years is the time between Bromwin's disappearance 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:11.760 and John's interview in the Baroner police station. It is 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:15.200 a long time to reflect on the complete absence of 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.800 the most significant person in the lives of your young children. 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:24.840 John's presentation in the police interview, however, is cold to 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:30.000 Glenn Taylor, John presents as indifferent to Bromin's whereabouts or fate, 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:34.040 and perhaps it is because, in John's version, the missing 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:37.480 woman to whom he was still legally married, the mother 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.160 who had planned to drop her two girls at school 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:43.439 in Lennox Head on the Monday morning, is still alive. 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:48.559 In the previous episode, you heard John being specifically asked 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:52.160 about this by Glenn Taylor in that upstairs interview room 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:57.160 near the Richmond River in nineteen ninety eight. Do you 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.199 think your wife might be deceased? 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:03.240 No, No, no reason for me to think that way. 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:07.640 So you think she's somewhere in this country under another identity? 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:13.120 Well, well, I mean I'll tell you the truth. I 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:17.160 reckon I could go anywhere alike and assume another identity. 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.840 I don't see why anyone else can't. I mean, it 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:21.959 wouldn't be hard. 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:26.320 In the transcript of the only formal interview John has 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:30.120 done with police in the thirty one years since Bromin vanished, 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:35.520 something else is clear. The sketchiness in John's story about 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:40.319 Bromlin after her May sixteen disappearance rises to a level 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:44.320 of detail in some crucially important ways, and with the 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.960 existence of an actual document. It is when John is 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:53.000 describing some very unusual circumstances surrounding what has become known 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:56.679 as the Medicare check. You heard a small part of 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:59.240 this in the previous episode. 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:02.840 We went to Sydney again for two weeks and it 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.840 was during that two weeks that she came back, took 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:08.120 clothes and left a Medicare check. 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.560 Let's take a few moments to explain what exactly the 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:18.280 Medicare check is or was. In nineteen ninety three, when 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:22.000 Australians like Bromwyn Winfield went to see the doctor, the 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.280 federal government picked up most and sometimes all of the 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:29.880 bill through a system known as Medicare. A reserve bank 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:32.840 check would be issued in the name of the payee, 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:37.200 the treating doctor. It must have been a frustrating process 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:40.600 at times for medical practitioners because the check would be 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:43.920 sent by the Federal government or Medicare to the address 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:47.760 of the patient in this case Bromwyn, and it would 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:50.560 be then up to the patient to physically take the 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.520 check to the doctor the payee. 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:55.480 The doctor could then present. 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:59.000 The Medicare check at the bank and when the check cleared, 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:03.040 the funds would be posited into the doctor's account. In 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.520 the case of this particular Medicare check, the amount was 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:08.520 forty dollars and eighty cents. 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:10.360 I'm looking at a. 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:14.880 Photocopy of the check. There is capitalized black type for 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:18.840 the paye that's written as doctor F Initial G. 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:19.960 Hughes. 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:25.240 The date on the check is May one, nineteen ninety three. 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:25.760 There is a. 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:28.160 Medicare logo in the top left hand corner, and the 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.560 other detail written on the check comes under the heading reference. 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:36.880 It states simply Missus b Winfield five Stroke forty two 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:41.000 Byron Street, Lennox Head. Of course, that's the address of 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.840 the townhouse owned by Shirley Taylor, the one which Bromwin 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:47.800 started renting in March when she and the girls moved 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:51.200 out of the Sandstone Crescent House, and where John changed 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:53.320 a lock so that her keys would not let her 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:53.960 get back in. 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:56.800 For completeness, is. 0:15:56.840 --> 0:16:00.880 John earlier in his interview with Glenn Taylor mentioning doctor 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:05.600 Hughes the paye for the Medicare check. She reckons. 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:08.840 She told me just before we separated that she had 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:12.120 a nervous breakdown in the January of nineteen ninety three, 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:15.440 all right, and I said to her, you know, what's 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.880 a nervous breakdown? I've heard of it, but can you 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.640 tell me what it is? You know, I sort of 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:26.040 didn't understand, but she reckoned. She had a nervous breakdown 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:29.360 and she went to see the doctor in Lenox I 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.440 don't know if it was doctor Watson or doctor Hughes. 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:34.360 I don't know which one it was. 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.960 Later Glen Taylor would go to see the doctors bromwin 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.960 was known to have consulted, and nobody had any record 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:46.840 or recollection of treatment of bromin for a nervous breakdown. 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:51.920 A voice actor will read the brief statement which doctor 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:56.040 Francis Hughes signed on September seven, nineteen ninety eight, at 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.760 the Lenox Head Medical Center, where his clinic was situated. 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:04.840 My age is seventy seven. I hold the degrees of 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:09.480 Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, and Bachelor of Arts 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:14.560 and Obstetrics. I graduated from the University of Dublin, Ireland 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:19.240 in nineteen forty seven. On the fifteenth of April nineteen 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:23.640 ninety three, I saw Bronwyn Winfield at my surgery at 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:27.960 the Lennox Head Medical Center. She informed me that she 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.240 thought she might have AIDS and requested to be sent 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:35.000 for a blood test. She also informed me that she 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:38.480 was separated from her husband and that he was waking 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:41.760 her up several times at night and she was very tired. 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:46.120 She didn't elaborate any further in relation to this at 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:49.919 the time to my knowledge, and I don't recall asking 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:54.600 her anything further about her domestic matters. I arranged for 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:58.359 her to have a blood test on the twenty first 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.840 of April nineteen ninety three. Her blood test results were 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:07.000 received at my surgery, which revealed a negative result. I 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.960 do not recall whether she checked up on her test results, 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:13.400 but most people checked by telephoning the surgery a couple 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.240 of days later. I do not make a note on 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:18.840 the person's file of whether they have inquired or not. 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:22.200 I did not make any comment on her file as 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:26.320 to her manner or demeanor during that appointment. I have 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.960 not seen Bronwyn Winfield since that appointment on the fifteenth 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:33.040 of April nineteen ninety three. 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:36.920 Before returning to the mystery surrounding the Medicare check, I'll 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:39.480 try to summarize two matters that come out of the 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:44.119 statement of doctor Hughes. His assertion that broman had told 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:47.480 him that her estranged husband, John was waking her up 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:51.919 several times at night, resulting in fatigue. Is similar to 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:56.160 disclosures by Bromman to others that John was telephoning at 0:18:56.200 --> 0:19:01.359 all times and harassing her. Here's Bromwin's cousin and good friend, 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.680 Megan Reed, speaking to me at her home on Sydney's 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:05.520 Northern Beaches. 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:09.720 I'd be on the phone talking to her at her 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:13.280 flat when she moved into Bayron Street and you here 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:18.160 screaming outside, let me let me. And she actually tore 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.119 the phone off the wall at Montboy to something. 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:26.080 And Bronwyn's sister Kim Marshall. 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.359 I was even on the phone when he was banging 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:31.920 on the Brewers down at the Fats. 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:37.040 The reference by doctor Hughes to Bromwin's blood test for 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:42.320 HIV and the negative result has a longer tail. Bromwin 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:47.080 was worried about sexually transmitted disease. She believed that John 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:51.440 had been seeing someone else. I'm not aware of evidence 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:56.359 to confirm this belief. John was not asked about extramarital 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:00.960 relationships during his interview with Detective Taylor. That Bromwin had 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:04.520 been worried about HIV or aides as it was more 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:08.240 commonly known in nineteen ninety three for a couple of years. 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:12.439 I joined the Lenox Heead Medical Center in April nineteen 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:16.520 ninety and have seen Bronwyn Winfield thirteen times for general 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:17.240 medical care. 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:22.040 She went to see doctor Susan Mitchell in February nineteen 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:26.119 ninety one in what was described as a highly agitated state. 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:31.560 Presented highly agitated and requested that this consultation be kept 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:35.560 separate to our usual family group record. She said that 0:20:35.720 --> 0:20:38.720 the woman John had had an affair with six years previously, 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:40.960 leading to an earlier marital. 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:42.680 Separation, had been confirmed. 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:47.920 HIV positive blood was collected and returned HIV negatives. 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:54.000 February nineteen ninety one must have been a particularly difficult. 0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:55.320 Time in Bromwin's adult life. 0:20:56.160 --> 0:20:59.560 It was just nine days after she had an abortion, 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.040 which doctor Mitchell had helped arrange with a referral to 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:07.320 another doctor. The abortion occurred in the twelfth week of 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:13.080 Bromwin's pregnancy. Bromwin's blood test for HIV in February nineteen 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:16.760 ninety one was, of course negative, and it was negative 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:19.879 in April nineteen ninety three too, when she went to 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:25.000 see doctor Francis Hughes. Bronwyn was in good physical health 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:30.240 when she vanished. Now, Medicare's payments system is much more 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:36.080 advanced now and hardly anyone uses bank checks anymore. John 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:40.280 appeared definite in his nineteen ninety eight interview with Glenn 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:44.160 Taylor that the Medicare check had been signed by Bromwin. 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:48.440 John also appeared definite that the check was not in 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:51.680 the kitchen of the house in Sandstone Crescent when John 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:55.480 returned to the house from Sydney on the evening of Sunday, 0:21:55.800 --> 0:22:00.200 May sixteenth, nineteen ninety three, the last time Bromwann was 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:05.440 seen and confirmed to be alive. The Medicare check, according 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:08.440 to John, was not there when he returned to the 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:13.000 house from Sydney again on about May twenty seven, after 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:17.159 some ten days away in Sydney. John's version is that 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:20.840 when he went to Sydney with Crystal and Lauren over 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:26.480 their school holidays in July, Bronwyn came back. On his version, 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:30.680 she must have slipped quietly back into the house. She 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:33.359 must have taken some clothing from the house when she 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:38.639 left again, and thoughtfully. On John's version, Bromwin must have 0:22:38.880 --> 0:22:42.320 signed the Medicare check which was payable to doctor Hughes, 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:46.679 but less thoughtfully Bromwyn left the check in the kitchen 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:50.680 for John to deal with. In my view, John's evidence 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:54.639 around the Medicare check, evidence which John spoke to Bromin's 0:22:54.720 --> 0:22:58.560 family and friends about in nineteen ninety three and to 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:02.000 police in nineteen ninety eight when he was relying on 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:04.920 it as proof of life for Bromwin, is some of 0:23:05.000 --> 0:23:09.040 the most damaging evidence against John because none of it 0:23:09.240 --> 0:23:12.960 makes rational sense. And that's before we talk about the 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:18.879 signature purportedly Bronwin's signature, which is suspiciously very different to 0:23:19.080 --> 0:23:20.359 her Nolan signature. 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:23.520 Here's deb Hall and Murray Nolan. 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:27.280 Because I remember this conversation in July of that year. 0:23:27.840 --> 0:23:30.560 John had been in Sydney and said, did I had 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:34.640 I seen Bromwin during the school holidays in the July 0:23:34.760 --> 0:23:38.000 school holidays? And I said no, why And he said, well, 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:40.480 she's been back to the house. See what do you 0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:44.960 mean because when? And he said, oh, she's been here. 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:46.080 And I said, Pat, do you know that? 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:46.680 John? 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:47.800 Oh? 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:49.680 Well, if I had all these bags of clothes in 0:23:49.760 --> 0:23:52.840 the garage and half of them have gone, and there's 0:23:52.840 --> 0:23:58.240 a Medicare check being left on the table, and I went, Nah, no, 0:23:58.880 --> 0:23:59.720 you know, I'm saying this. 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:02.720 I can't believe that, John. When did she come back? 0:24:02.880 --> 0:24:04.280 Nobody saw her, nobody heard her. 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:05.200 How did she get here? 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:08.080 And why would she not come and tell anybody she's 0:24:08.119 --> 0:24:11.200 the back. Oh, she's definitely bet in here, you kept 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:13.080 saying to me, because he went to Sydney in those 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:17.679 July holidays with the kids to get these bags of clothes, 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:20.240 which we found out through Andrew were put in this 0:24:20.359 --> 0:24:23.720 little manhole that's twelk foot off the ground to get 0:24:23.800 --> 0:24:25.600 up to that manhole to get the bags. How did 0:24:25.680 --> 0:24:28.040 she know the clothes were in there? It doesn't make sense. 0:24:28.080 --> 0:24:30.320 It's not logical. And not only that, how did she 0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:32.320 carry all these bags on her own? We would have 0:24:32.359 --> 0:24:35.160 heard something. Murray was home that time during the day. 0:24:35.840 --> 0:24:37.800 Was he still recovering from his back injury so he 0:24:37.840 --> 0:24:39.840 couldn't work because he was working as a build up. 0:24:40.720 --> 0:24:42.679 I was at work and I certainly didn't see her. 0:24:42.760 --> 0:24:44.720 And if she'd come back at night, surely we would 0:24:44.720 --> 0:24:45.840 have hurt some commotion or. 0:24:45.880 --> 0:24:46.600 Something up there. 0:24:47.000 --> 0:24:48.600 You would have heard the garage door goer. 0:24:48.600 --> 0:24:51.080 Because it was a noisy garage anyway, on Saturday when 0:24:51.119 --> 0:24:52.159 we were talking about that. 0:24:52.240 --> 0:24:55.119 Again, had bindly dawned on me and I said, well, 0:24:55.119 --> 0:24:55.840 how did she get in? 0:24:56.520 --> 0:24:58.880 Because he had the keys in Sydney, and if she's 0:24:58.920 --> 0:25:01.440 come back during that time when he wasn't there, I 0:25:01.520 --> 0:25:02.680 don't know how she would have got in. 0:25:03.960 --> 0:25:07.800 We know that back on Friday May fourteen, nineteen ninety three, 0:25:07.960 --> 0:25:11.160 when Bromin was distressed at being unable to get back 0:25:11.320 --> 0:25:14.840 into her own home, she called a locksmith out to 0:25:14.960 --> 0:25:15.919 Sandstone Crescent. 0:25:16.840 --> 0:25:19.639 Murray explains it this way, when. 0:25:19.560 --> 0:25:23.720 The Barron locksmith come there and cut her a key 0:25:23.840 --> 0:25:25.760 for the front door on the Briday night. 0:25:25.960 --> 0:25:28.399 But they would have just cut one key just to 0:25:28.440 --> 0:25:31.280