Latest / The Front / What are NSW Police doing in Bronwyn case?

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What are NSW Police doing in Bronwyn case? · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, November five. The space industry and defense experts
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  Speaker 1: their next president. Check it out right now at the
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  Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot au. What if anything, is going
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  Speaker 1: on with the New South Wales Police's investigation into missing
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  Speaker 1: woman Bromwin Winfield. Today National Chief Correspondent Headley Thomas joins
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  Speaker 1: us to explore why Bromwin's family is deeply concerned.
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  Speaker 2: Joe Public and people are quite better at finding things
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  Speaker 2: out and frame more diligent on what they are so frustrated.
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  Speaker 1: This is Andy Reid, whose sister Bromwin Winfield vanished from
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  Speaker 1: her Lenox Head home more than thirty years ago. He's
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  Speaker 1: venting his frustrations to the Australian's National Chief correspondent Headley
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  Speaker 1: Thomas about the conduct of New South Wales Police.
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  Speaker 2: I just can't believe that they can be so slow
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  Speaker 2: on this matter. We've got something that's a major podcast
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  Speaker 2: that's breaking down all sorts of barriers and coming up
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  Speaker 2: with all sorts of information. I don't believe that there
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  Speaker 2: is anyone that is directly involved with Broman's case that
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  Speaker 2: is up to date.
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  Speaker 1: Broman's disappearance and suspected murder is the subject of the
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  Speaker 1: Australian's chart top being investigative podcast series Bromwin. Over two seasons,
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  Speaker 1: the podcast has surfaced new eyewitnesses, fresh documents, and it's
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  Speaker 1: even revealed a secret daughter allegedly fathered by Bromman's husband
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  Speaker 1: John when he was a teenager. But Andy Reid says
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  Speaker 1: he fears the cops aren't tuned in.
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  Speaker 2: When I first disclosed about Red, obtained the historical flight
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  Speaker 2: records and all the rest of it. Where knocking down doors,
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  Speaker 2: breaking barriers, coming up with you info. He was taken
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  Speaker 2: aback by it. He wasn't aware of any of them.
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  Speaker 1: Our reporter Alexei Dimitriadi hit up Commissioner Karen Webb and
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  Speaker 1: homicide Commander Danny Dougherty at a press conference in recent days.
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  Speaker 3: Grit Swonse intrusive for that matter, that's an investigation as
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  Speaker 3: current investigation and it's well documented. There's a podcast in
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  Speaker 3: Israel following that story, but in terms of the UNSOLF
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  Speaker 3: term and have that investigation as current when that's ongoing.
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  Speaker 4: SEK.
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  Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, Hedley's investigative journalism on another cold case
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  Speaker 1: turned into a global juggernaut, The Teacher's Pet. That was
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  Speaker 1: a podcast investigation into the disappearance of Sydney woman Lynnette Simms.
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  Speaker 1: Her husband, Chris Dawson, had moved the family's teenage babysitter
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  Speaker 1: into the house immediately after Lynn went missing in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty two, and he subsequently married the younger woman. Police
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  Speaker 1: had failed to properly investigate Lynn's disappearance as a potential homicide.
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  Speaker 1: Hedley's work in The Teacher's Pet reignited the New South
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  Speaker 1: Wales Police investigation, and then Commissioner Mick Fuller became actively
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  Speaker 1: involved in ensuring detectives took the matter seriously. In December
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  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, Chris Dawson was arrested. Here's Mick Fuller at
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  Speaker 1: a police press conference.
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  Speaker 5: Can I thank the public and the media for the
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  Speaker 5: partnership in solving this matter, whilst New South Wales Police
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  Speaker 5: since twenty fifteen has worked ty I recognize that this
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  Speaker 5: is an important and ongoing relationship, not just to solving
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  Speaker 5: this crime, but many many other crimes.
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  Speaker 1: In twenty twenty two, Chris Dawson was convicted of Lin's
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  Speaker 1: murder and sentenced to twenty four years in jail.
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  Speaker 6: In twenty eighteen, Claire, you had a police commissioner, Mick Fuller,
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  Speaker 6: get on the front foot and take ownership for the
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  Speaker 6: appalling failure of police investigations in the early years in
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  Speaker 6: relation to Lynn's disappearance.
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  Speaker 7: Her husband had murdered her and he'd got away with.
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  Speaker 6: It for thirty six years to twenty eighteen, and Mick
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  Speaker 6: Fuller really stepped up and began to own it in
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  Speaker 6: the public arena and talk about what the police were
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  Speaker 6: trying to do to solve it.
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  Speaker 4: Clearly, police had taken a view very early in the
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  Speaker 4: piece that it was a missing person's case. Then there
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  Speaker 4: were lots of other people who made an assumption, a
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  Speaker 4: pretty poor one, that Lynn had made a decision to
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  Speaker 4: leave the family home when clearly, again even if you
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  Speaker 4: haven't listened to the podcast and you had to look
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  Speaker 4: at both the coroner's recommendations or their reports, is that
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  Speaker 4: there is much much more to this case.
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  Speaker 6: He wasn't disclosing any operational details, nor should he have.
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  Speaker 6: That would have been completely inappropriate. But what he did
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  Speaker 6: give was public confidence and confidence to Lynn's family that
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  Speaker 6: police were doing their best, they were really trying, and
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  Speaker 6: they were working out what angles might yet be pursued.
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  Speaker 4: Do I wish I could take back time, and do
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  Speaker 4: I wish that the police at the time had assessed
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  Speaker 4: it differently? And do I wish that the people out
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  Speaker 4: there who knew more came forward. There's a whole range
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  Speaker 4: of things that I'm sorry for, And at the end
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  Speaker 4: of the day, it's our job to protect the community
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  Speaker 4: and we can't stop every crime from happening, but when
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  Speaker 4: they do, it's our responsibility to ethically and diligently investigate
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  Speaker 4: them and get to the bottom of the truth.
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  Speaker 6: Mickfuler did that with a number of interviews not with me,
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  Speaker 6: but with Sydney radio stations and other media outlets. It
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  Speaker 6: was a display of leadership and I'd wager that it
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  Speaker 6: would also give confidence to people who were thinking about
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  Speaker 6: coming forward as potential witnesses that they would be taken seriously.
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  Speaker 6: Now you contrast that with what's happened in Bromlin's case.
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  Speaker 6: There has been complete silence from the Commissioner, Karen Webb.
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  Speaker 6: It's almost as if she's hiding from it. She doesn't
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  Speaker 6: want to talk about it, and when asked at a
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  Speaker 6: media conference last week, she couldn't clear the microphone quick enough.
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  Speaker 6: So when our colleague started asking a few general questions
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  Speaker 6: about it, the head of homicide, Dandy Doherty, stepped up,
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  Speaker 6: and it seemed to Andy and others listening as if
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  Speaker 6: he was just throwing a completely wet blanket over.
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  Speaker 7: The whole thing.
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  Speaker 6: If you're a witness yet to come forward, watching and
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  Speaker 6: listening to that before mois or following the Bromin podcast series,
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  Speaker 6: you'd have to assume that police seemed really disinterested.
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  Speaker 7: Internally.
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  Speaker 6: I suspect senior police are saying to themselves, no, that's okay,
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  Speaker 6: this is a live investigation. We're not going to give
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  Speaker 6: a running commentary. But that really conflates the issue. People
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  Speaker 6: aren't looking for a running commentary. They just want to
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  Speaker 6: see some evidence that the police really are making a
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  Speaker 6: proper effort. And sadly for Andy Reid, for Bromman's friends.
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  Speaker 6: For other people who are following this closely, they haven't
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  Speaker 6: seen evidence of that.
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  Speaker 7: Now.
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  Speaker 6: It may be the case that the police are pulling
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  Speaker 6: out all stops. It may well be the case that
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  Speaker 6: they are doing so much work behind the scenes, after
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  Speaker 6: again completely failing Bromwin Winfield in the early years, that
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  Speaker 6: we will be surprised at some point when we see it,
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  Speaker 6: and that they just want to, for operational reasons, say
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  Speaker 6: as little as possible. But I don't think it makes
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  Speaker 6: logical sense to lose the public confidence and lose the
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  Speaker 6: confidence of the family of the victim of a suspected murder.
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  Speaker 1: Hellly, I've heard senior police saying over the years, very frankly,
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  Speaker 1: that the conviction of Chris Dawson would not have happened
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  Speaker 1: without the teacher's pet. Do you think there are remnants
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  Speaker 1: of a bit of a cultural cringe or a bit
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  Speaker 1: of humiliation in the police that they were shown up
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  Speaker 1: in that instance and they don't really want this to
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  Speaker 1: be true. They don't really want it to be the
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  Speaker 1: case that there is more to be done here, that
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  Speaker 1: a journalist is doing it.
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  Speaker 7: It's possible.
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  Speaker 6: I think there's also a high degree of caution because
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  Speaker 6: these cases can inevitably end up before a judge, and
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  Speaker 6: in the Teacher's Pet case, parts of my work were
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  Speaker 6: criticized by a senior judge and parts of the police
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  Speaker 6: response with the Teacher's Pet podcast were also criticized by
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  Speaker 6: a judge.
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  Speaker 7: So there may be a bit of an over.
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  Speaker 6: Correction by New South Wales Police currently as a result
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  Speaker 6: of that. But I think that they've just gone too far.
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  Speaker 6: They've gone from being really cooperative and in a very
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  Speaker 6: constructive way in the Teacher's Pet and owning the issue
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  Speaker 6: in the public arena to looking like they're trying to
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  Speaker 6: curl up and be the smallest possible target, almost to
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  Speaker 6: the point of appearing to be disinterested in Brommin's case.
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  Speaker 6: And if you're the family of a woman who has
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  Speaker 6: been missing thirty one years, a woman who was separating
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  Speaker 6: from her husband when she suddenly disappeared, from their two daughters,
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  Speaker 6: their home, all of her possessions, family and friends, you're
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  Speaker 6: looking at these two cases and saying, well, is Bromwin's
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  Speaker 6: life to the New South Wales Police worth less than Lin's.
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  Speaker 1: Here's Damien Lohn, the detective who did the first thorough
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  Speaker 1: investigation of Lynn's case.
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  Speaker 8: Look, I listened to the pot Broman's podcast and it
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  Speaker 8: just takes me back to the Teacher's Pet podcast where
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  Speaker 8: all the evidence is now being put out there on display.
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  Speaker 8: Everyone can listen to it and read about it in
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  Speaker 8: the Australian. A lot of people won't speak to police.
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  Speaker 8: I will speak to a journal and I'm okay with that.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up, John Winfield's claim to have discovered proof of
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  Speaker 1: life after Broman's disappearance in episode seventeen of Bromwin, which
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  Speaker 1: is live now for the Australian subscribers at Bromwan podcast
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  Speaker 1: dot com, there's an intriguing step back into the world
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  Speaker 1: of nineteen ninety three. It's about a Medicare check which
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  Speaker 1: John Winfield says he found in the family home after
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  Speaker 1: Bromwyn had disappeared. Here's how John Winfield described it in
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  Speaker 1: his only formal police interview with Detective Sergeant Glenn Taylor
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety eight, five years after Bromwin vanished. John
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  Speaker 1: and Glenn Taylor's words are being read by voice actors.
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  Speaker 9: There was a medicare check on the front, not the
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  Speaker 9: front the kitchen bench, on the island bench right a
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  Speaker 9: Medicare check sitting there signed and it was a.
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  Speaker 2: Check signed by who her, And you believe that check
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  Speaker 2: was definitely not at the house a time when you left.
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  Speaker 7: Definitely not. I know I wasn't there when I left.
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  Speaker 7: No way.
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  Speaker 6: This check exists today, and it's a key piece of
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  Speaker 6: evidence because John uses it to claim proof of life
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  Speaker 6: of Bromwin some seven weeks after she's suddenly disappeared on
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  Speaker 6: a Sunday night in May nineteen ninety three. And John's
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  Speaker 6: version is that after he has returned from Sydney, where
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  Speaker 6: he took the two daughters, Lauren and Crystal for the
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  Speaker 6: school holidays in July, he goes back to the house
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  Speaker 6: and to his amazement, he discovers in his mind that
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  Speaker 6: Bromwin has come back during their absence, and she's taken
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  Speaker 6: a pair of John's jeans. She's taken some clothes of
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  Speaker 6: her own that John had put into roof storage, so
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  Speaker 6: Bromin would have had to go up a ladder and
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  Speaker 6: climb through a manhole to get those. But most importantly,
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  Speaker 6: John says, Bromwan has come back and left behind this
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  Speaker 6: piece of paper, the old fashioned check.
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  Speaker 7: It was for forty dollars and eighty cents.
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  Speaker 6: It stated May one, nineteen ninety three, that's fifteen days
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  Speaker 6: before Bromin disappeared, and it's a reserve bank check that's
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  Speaker 6: made out to the local GP. Dr Hughes. He had
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  Speaker 6: seen Bromwan in the month of April. John told Broman's
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  Speaker 6: family and friends, neighbors, she's come back. She's come back,
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  Speaker 6: and she's taken some clothing and she's left behind this
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  Speaker 6: check which she has signed. It's got her signature on it,
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  Speaker 6: Bromwyn Winfield. One of the problems with John's story, and
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  Speaker 6: it's why when Andy Reid first heard from John about
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  Speaker 6: this so called return by bromwin and he immediately thought,
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  Speaker 6: for sure, now John has done something to her, is
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  Speaker 6: that Bromin used to work in a bank, she had
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  Speaker 6: experience with manicare checks, and her signature appears in the
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  Speaker 6: area reserved for the paye. The paye is doctor Hughes.
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  Speaker 6: It was not a check for Bromwyn to sign. So
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  Speaker 6: that's the first problem. The second problem is why does
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  Speaker 6: a woman who was so devoted to her two girls,
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  Speaker 6: who owned half of a house in Lennox Head return
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  Speaker 6: and out of the blue during the absence of John
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  Speaker 6: in Sydney to take a pair of his genes, some
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  Speaker 6: of her clothes and leave a check, but not contact anyone,
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  Speaker 6: and not be seen by any of the neighbors, and
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  Speaker 6: never have any other contact with members of her family,
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  Speaker 6: her loved ones, her daughters. I've asked a handwriting examiner
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  Speaker 6: to look at the signature on that check that purports
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  Speaker 6: to be Bronwin's and compare it with Bromwin's actual signatures
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  Speaker 6: from documents like a wedding certificate, and they appeared to
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  Speaker 6: the lay person to be chalk and cheese. They also
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  Speaker 6: appeared to expert handwriting examiners to be suspicious. Bromin's brother,
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  Speaker 6: Andy has told me that the then Inspector George Radmore,
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  Speaker 6: who was leading a cold case review team for the
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  Speaker 6: New South Wales homicide Squad in twenty ten, sent the check,
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  Speaker 6: as well as some other documents bearing Bromwin's real signature,
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  Speaker 6: to New Scotland Yard for expert handwriting analysis, and Andy's
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  Speaker 6: very strong understanding is that that analysis raised big red
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  Speaker 6: flags about the so called authenticity of Bromwin's signature.
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  Speaker 1: Kelly Thomas is The Australian's National Chief correspondent and the
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  Speaker 1: creator of the Bromwyn Podcast Episode seventeen, which examines the
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  Speaker 1: mystery Medicare check in detail, is live now for the
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  Speaker 1: Australian subscribers. Listen on our app or at Bromwyn podcast
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  Speaker 1: dot com