Dave chums’ gongs dodge
THE BRITISH backpacker who endured a night of horror when her boyfriend was shot dead on a remote Australian road has returned to the Outback for the first time to help find his body.
Joanne Lees was beaten, bound and forced into a van by the man who murdered Peter Falconio in 2001.
Aboriginal trackers have never given up the hunt for Peter’s remains and yesterday Joanne, 43, said: “Pete is still missing. He is somewhere out here.
“I love Pete so much and want to bring him home... I need to bring him home.”
Joanne, then 27 and Peter, 28, were driving towards Darwin, Northern Territory, when they were flagged down by Bradley Murdoch who said there was a problem with their camper van.
Peter got out to investigate and was shot at point-blank range.
The killer then stuck a gun in Joanne’s face and punched her before binding her wrists with cable ties and bundling her into his van.
She escaped while Murdoch was moving Peter’s body.
Running into the bush she hid for hours before returning to the road and finding help from passing truckers.
Joanne, from Huddersfield, said later: “It was either run or be raped and killed.”
She is thought to have split the last year between England and Australia where she plans a roadside memorial to Peter to serve as a warning to travellers from overseas.
A TV crew went with her on her heartbreak return to the Outback north of Alice Springs. Their film will be seen tomorrow by viewers in Australia.
In it Joanne says: “We were young, carefree and had no idea what would happen.”
And she tells of her pain at accusations she was not acting “like a victim” with her poised behaviour under the media glare.
“How could they say that?” she asks. “It was like a stab to the heart.”
Murdoch, 58, linked to the murder by DNA, was jailed for life.
He still denies involvement. Police found a pool of Peter’s blood by the road near Barrow Creek...but no body. While filming, Joanne met Aboriginal couple Pam Brown and Jasper Haines who gave vital evidence about Murdoch’s truck.
Pam said: “She was so happy she had finally met her witnesses.
“We just hugged each other.” DAVID Cameron’s cronies avoided questions about his resignation honours list as they collected their awards.
Former Cabinet Minister Dame Caroline Spelman huffed yesterday: “It’s his choice and I’m very grateful.”
The ex-PM’s press chief Sir Craig Oliver and wife Sam’s hairdresser Isabel Spearman were among those honoured.