Fate of missing backpacker in doubt after documentary
A POLICE report into the disappearance of Peter Falconio, the British backpacker, in the Australian Outback concluded that Joanne Lees was hiding the truth, a documentary will reveal.
In July 2001, Ms Lees told police that she and her boyfriend had been flagged down by a truck driver on a remote stretch of highway. She said the driver shot Mr Falconio and tied her up, before she managed to escape.
Bradley Murdoch was convicted of murdering Mr Falconio although a body was never found.
A Channel 4 documentary, Murder in the Outback, casts doubt on the conviction and presents for the first time a police report that was not put before the jury at Murdoch’s trial in 2005.
In a Scientific Content Analysis (Scan) report, analysts looked at the statement Ms Lees gave to police on the night after Mr Falconio disappeared. At several points, Ms Lees said she could not remember particular details or that her memory was hazy.
The report said: “These statements are all indicative of a false account.”
The analysts said her habit of switching to the present tense when recounting events was a sign that she was not telling the truth.
The documentary shows Ms Lees being confronted with this information in a police interview. Asked what information was missing, Ms Lees replied: “I don’t know.”
However, Scan analysis is controversial and a 2001 study commissioned by the Home Office concluded that there was no clear evidence that it could significantly improve an experienced investigator’s ability to determine truth.
The film includes the verdict of Bill Beale, a Scan trainer who reassessed Ms Lees’s statement and said he was satisfied she was telling the truth. He said it had been found that women often switch to the present tense when reliving a traumatic event.
The lead detective also appears and says he is convinced of Murdoch’s guilt and that Ms Lees was unfairly judged for being aloof in the media because people “believe women should behave in a certain way … had she cried, things would have been different”.
Murder in the Outback begins on Sunday. Ms Lees and the family of Mr Falconio declined to be interviewed for the documentary.