The family of slain gangster Stewart John Regan has been frustrated by an unwillingness on the part of the NSW Police Unsolved Homicide Unit to share information about its investigation into his death. It's the same police unit leading the investigation into Bronwyn Winfield's disappearance – and they say they're reluctant to share important files because they're concerned publicity from podcasts like Bronwyn and The Teacher's Pet will compromise their investigation. 

Catch up on Episode 1 of The Gangster's Ghost now, and subscribe to hear new episodes first at gangstersghost.com.au

The podcast investigates the five-decade mystery of who killed psychopathic pimp and murderer Stewart John ‘The Magician’ Regan at the age of 29. One of Australia’s most notorious gangsters, Regan was gunned down by three assassins in a Marrickville laneway in 1974.

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After a bizarre last ditch bid by Jon Winfield to curry favour from a Ballina detective, the coroner heading the inquest into Bronwyn’s presumed murder sums up the case against the surfing bricklayer.

He describes Bronwyn’s predicament in May 1993, the plans she was making for herself and her two girls, and her resolve to be free from Jon. The coroner weighs and rejects Jon’s claims – that a mentally befuddled Bronwyn had gone on an impromptu break and must have started a new life.

Jodie’s protection of her father comes under closer scrutiny. Chrystal reveals the significance of a signet ring. At the end of the inquest, Jon’s luck looks like it’s finally run out – he’s being referred to the DPP with a recommendation that he be prosecuted for murder.

Read more about this case and see photographs, maps, timelines and more at bronwynpodcast.com. 

If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can – contact our team confidentially by emailing [email protected]

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Johnny 'The Magician' Regan was a murderer, pimp and psychopath, gunned down by three assassins in a grimy back lane in 1974. He was 29.

In this new investigative podcast, The Australian's Matthew Condon investigates gangland’s last great murder mystery.

Subscribers to The Australian and registered users hear episodes of 'The Gangster's Ghost' first at gangstersghost.com.au. Plus, you can read more about this case, see exclusive stories, photos, videos and more.

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Jon’s daughter Jodie returns to the witness box for a searching cross examination on Day 4 of the inquest.She volunteers that she looked in the boot of the Ford Falcon on the morning that she says her father arrived at the Shire hair salon, Intercutz, after the overnight drive from Lennox.

If Bronwyn’s body was in the boot en route to be concealed somewhere in the Shire – a theory which Jon emphatically denies – Jodie didn’t see it. Her memory of events was generally vague. Jodie couldn’t recall anything to do with suggestions of violence against Bronwyn.

Murray reveals he’s grown and used marijuana but denies it’s affected his memory.

The original police investigation in 1993 is criticised by the Coroner. He goes to Sandstone Crescent to walk around and see it for himself.

Read more about this case and see photographs, maps, timelines and more at bronwynpodcast.com.

If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can – contact our team confidentially by emailing [email protected]

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Did Bronwyn have a secret boyfriend with whom she was having a clandestine relationship before he spirited her away from her daughters and her Lennox Head home? Was Jon’s neighbour Murray affected by painkillers or cannabis when he says he saw Jon leaving the house with his car’s engine and its lights off on the night Bronwyn disappeared? Was such a departure even unusual for Jon?

The bricklayer’s lawyer Craig Leggat turns up the heat on witnesses on Day 3 of the inquest. Bronwyn’s close friend and neighbour Deb Hall answers the challenge as the legal strategy approved by her estranged husband and alleged killer pivots to depict the missing mother of two as a fantasist with multiple lovers. 

Read more about this case and see photographs, maps, timelines and more at bronwynpodcast.com.

If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can – contact our team confidentially by emailing [email protected]

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Bronwyn’s state of mind and powerful maternal instincts for her two daughters face a determined challenge as Jon’s side depicts the missing mother in a negative light.

Bronwyn’s care for Chrystal and Lauren comes into sharp focus when Jon’s lawyer asks if it would have been out of character for the Lennox Head mum to go to a Saturday night party, leaving the girls home alone. Witness after witness reject the suggestions. Andy’s wife Michelle is combative as Jon’s lawyer questions her closely.

It’s decision time too – we decide whether to move on Illawong to attempt a dig, ahead of the current State Coroner and homicide detectives. The wait for an answer from authorities is excruciating for Andy.

Read more about this case and see photographs, maps, timelines and more at bronwynpodcast.com.

If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can – contact our team confidentially by emailing [email protected]

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Jon’s lawyer Craig Leggat does his homework, analysing witness statements and other documents to discover significant and inconsequential flaws in the evidence. He knows that if things go badly in the inquest, Jon faces a murder charge. But if defects in the evidence are properly highlighted, there’s a chance Jon can walk away.

Bronwyn’s cousin Megan Read faces another torrid time in the witness stand because Jon and his lawyer see her evidence as the weakest link. Bruised but not beaten, Megan finally gets a reprieve, and then it’s the turn of Scruffy, his wife Maria, and Andy.

Bronwyn’s brother shares his suspicions that the missing mother of two was dumped in a septic tank in Sandstone Crescent.

Read more about this case and see photographs, maps, timelines and more at bronwynpodcast.com.

If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can – contact our team confidentially by emailing [email protected]

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Bronwyn’s friend and cousin Megan Read drops new bombshells while under oath on Day 2 of the inquest. Megan gives evidence at the coronial inquiry about having been told by Jon Winfield that he saw and spoke to Bronwyn in Brisbane, several years after her disappearance. Jon’s lawyer starts a fierce cross examination of Megan in the witness box.

Jodie also comes under renewed scrutiny for pushing a claim that Bronwyn has been happily living in a hippie community. The claim appears baseless and police officer Matt Fordham challenges Jodie for having omitted key details when she put it around. Jodie says that she opened a personal letter meant for Chrystal with photos of her missing Mum. 

Read more about this case and see photographs, maps, timelines and more at bronwynpodcast.com. 

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The inquest into Bronwyn’s disappearance hears that when detective Glenn Taylor attended Jon and Bronwyn’s former family home at Lennox Head, dozens of photographs lined the walls. Glenn only started investigating the unsolved case five years after Bronwyn disappeared, and Jon was still living at the same property in Sandstone Crescent.

The pictures in the home included happy snaps of Jon and daughters Jodie, Chrystal and Lauren, but Bronwyn had been erased. Not one image in the house showed Bronwyn, the detective says.

Jon’s lawyer Craig Leggat seizes his chance to question Glenn in the witness box, raising purported sightings of Bronwyn and other evidence he suggests points to the missing mother still being alive. But on the first day of the inquest, coroner Carl Milovanovich isn't convinced, saying that there were also still sightings of long-dead rockstar, Elvis Presley.

With another four days of the inquest to go, the coroner gives his preliminary view that there isn’t any prospect in the world that Bronwyn has survived.

Read more about this case and see photographs, maps, timelines and more at bronwynpodcast.com. 

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For more than 140 years, the Lismore courthouse has stood firm through a procession of natural disasters. Withstanding everything nature has thrown at the town, the courthouse has witnessed a tragic roll call of cases. Cases such as the alleged shooting murder of local mother Carolyn Stuckey by her enraged husband, pharmacist Allan Stuckey. And cases like Bronwyn’s.

In 2002, Bronwyn’s family and friends gather at the court for an inquest that explores in detail her disappearance and suspected murder. Proceedings stretch over five days in front of deputy state coroner, Carl Milovanovich.

Day one begins with evidence from the first detective to ever conduct a thorough investigation into what happened to Bronwyn, Glenn Taylor. It is Glenn’s last official duty as a police officer after two decades as a detective on constant callout to serious crime scenes. He summarises the evidence of witnesses and concludes by stating that there is very strong circumstantial evidence a known person, namely Jon, was responsible for her death.

Read more about this case and see photographs, maps, timelines and more at bronwynpodcast.com. 

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In this special live event recorded at the Art Gallery of NSW on a warm late summer evening, listeners and Bronwyn's family gather for a Q&A with the podcast team, including Hedley Thomas, David Murray, Matthew Condon, Madi Walsh and Claire Harvey.

Through panel discussion and thoughtful audience questions, we examine twists in the story so far, including the mystery of how Jon Winfield became a beneficiary of Beverley Brooker's estate, and explore the status of the police investigation. There are deep reflections on toxic relationships, violence against women and coercive control, and Hedley reflects on efforts to have the site at Illawong searched. 

As always, we find moments of humour — and enjoy an opportunity to thank the people who make it all possible: our listeners.  

Read more about this case and see photographs, maps, timelines and more at bronwynpodcast.com.

If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can – contact our team confidentially by emailing [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.