SHOCK NEW TWIST IN OUT BACK MURDER
The body of British backpacker Peter Falconio was never found, , so what really happened 19 years ago?
Anew investigation into the disappearance of British backpacker Peter Falconio has cast doubt on the DNA evidence used to convict mechanic Bradley John Murdoch for the murder of the Yorkshire tourist.
It was meant to be a trip of a lifetime for Peter, 28, and his girlfriend Joanne Lees, then 27. They were in the Northern Territory on a remote stretch of the Stuart Highway, near Barrow Creek, on July 14, 2001, when their dream holiday became a nightmare.
The couple had noticed a white Toyota 4WD with a green canopy following them from a roadhouse they had stopped at in Barrow Creek – but instead of overtaking them, the driver gestured for them to pull over.
Peter got out to see what was wrong but was never seen again, while Joanne, who heard a “large bang” was forced to get out of their Kombi at gunpoint, with the killer tying her hands with cable ties.
He dragged her to his vehicle, and while she still didn’t know for sure what had happened to Peter, she managed to escape while he was distracted, fleeing into the scrub and hiding before flagging down road train driver Vince Millar.
Vince recently sensationally changed his account of what happened that night in an interview with former top Australian defence lawyer Andrew Fraser on Britain’s Channel 4 documentary series Murder in the Outback: The Falconio And Lees Mystery.
Vince now claims he saw a suspicious car before finding Joanne, revealing that he saw a pair of headlamps circling in the distance, and that right before he happened upon Joanne running out into the road, he saw men dumping a figure into a red car.
“There was something they didn’t want me to see. I’m pretty sure that the guy in the middle very well could have been Peter Falconio,” he says in the controversial documentary, before describing the figure as being “like jelly”.
Murdoch, now 62, was convicted of Peter’s murder in
2005 and is serving
28 years behind bars, despite always maintaining his innocence and trying to get his conviction overturned with two unsuccessful appeals.
The four-part series, which is yet to air in Australia, includes never-before-seen court documents and one forensic expert who believes the blood found at the scene was not consistent with the execution-style shooting of Peter.
‘I do not believe Murdoch should have been convicted’
‘WORRYING’ EVIDENCE
Professor Barry Boettcher says that he found the DNA collection “worrying” and that based on the DNA and blood evidence, he does not believe Murdoch, who is dying of cancer, would be found guilty if he was tried again.
“I do not believe he should have been convicted,” he says.
A second forensic scientist, Brian Mcdonald, said that from studying the DNA evidence it became apparent there was “very little clear evidence at all”.
Andrew, who is trying to get a petition up to win Murdoch parole, claims the case is “riddled with doubt”.
Peter’s body was never found, and the documentary interviews two witnesses, Melissa Kendall and Robert Brown, who claim they saw him days after he was murdered in the remote NSW town of
Bourke, 2000km from where he went missing.
“I’m 200 per cent sure it was Peter Falconio,” says Robert.
“I was reading the race results in the paper and I heard the door squeak, and Melissa was on the other side and she’s yelling out to me. She yelled at me again and then the next minute she turned the paper over... there was a picture of a gentleman down in the bottom right-hand corner and she tapped it.
“I put the paper down and walked around the corner and then bang I am looking straight at this bloke I saw in the paper. I didn’t go to the police straight away because it was none of my business.”
OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT
Joanne, who has no doubts that Peter was brutally murdered, returned to the UK after the case and now works as a social worker. She rarely gives interviews about the night she lost her boyfriend – and nearly her own life.
“Peter’s family and I both feel that it would be wrong to keep talking about it,” she told Woman’s Day in 2011. “There
comes a time when you feel you have said what you want to say. The anniversary is obviously very difficult for us, and the best approach is to deal with it in our own way, out of the spotlight.” Seven will air Murder In The Outback later this year.