Convicted killer Bradley John Murdoch dies 24 years after Peter Falconio's murder

RNZ News

6 days ago

Bradley John Murdoch in 2003.
Photo:
AFP / DAVID HANCOCK
Notorious outback killer Bradley John Murdoch has died, taking key information about his murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio to his grave.
Murdoch was serving a life prison sentence for the murder of Falconio near the remote Northern Territory town of Barrow Creek on 14 July 2001.
The 67-year-old convicted murderer was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer in 2019 and was being treated at Alice Springs Hospital.
Murdoch was born in the small West Australian town of Northampton in 1958.
His life before prison involved working as a mechanic, driving trucks and running drugs across outback Australia.
He was 43 when he killed Falconio.
In 2001, Falconio and his girlfriend, Joanne Lees, were exploring Central Australia together in what was supposed to be a memorable outback holiday.
The British tourists were travelling in a Kombi van at night along the Stuart Highway, about 10km north of Barrow Creek, when Murdoch gestured for them to pull over from his ute.
Soon after Falconio hopped out of the driver's seat to talk to Murdoch, a gunshot was heard.
Murdoch then assaulted Lees, bound her wrists with cable ties and electrical tape and forced her into his vehicle.
Lees somehow managed to escape into nearby bushland, and Murdoch drove off into the darkness.
Falconio was never seen again.
The 28-year-old's mysterious death ignited a wave of international media attention, partly inspiring the 2005 Australian horror film
Wolf Creek
.
Falconio's family and Lees were thrust into the spotlight in both Australia and the United Kingdom, with Lees subjected to particularly intense scrutiny.
Twenty-four years after their son disappeared, parents Joan and Luciano Falconio still do not know what happened to his remains.
Murdoch never revealed the location of the young man's body.
British backpacker Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees.
Photo:
Supplied
During the early months of the police investigation, when hundreds of suspects were still being treated as persons of interest, there was a major breakthrough - a man reported he knew who did it.
He gave the name of Bradley John Murdoch.
Police moved quickly and took a DNA sample from Murdoch, who had been arrested in South Australia over allegations he abducted and raped a 12-year-old girl and her mother.
The Crown case rested on Lees's ability to identify Murdoch from photographs, as well as DNA evidence linking him to the crime using a blood sample taken from the scene.
The item that ultimately condemned Murdoch was an elastic hair tie found in his ute that belonged to Lees.
Former NT police officer Colleen Gwynne, who was the lead investigator in the Falconio case, said an eagle-eyed police officer in her team had noticed the hair tie wrapped around Murdoch's holster while trawling through his belongings.
Gwynne told the ABC in 2016 that Murdoch "probably didn't know how significant the hair tie was", and suggested he kept it as a "trophy".
In 2005, Murdoch was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Falconio and attempted kidnapping of Lees, with a non-parole period of 28 years.
The court heard Murdoch had put Falconio's body into his ute before dumping it somewhere between Alice Springs and Broome.
During sentencing, Chief Justice Brian Martin described Murdoch's offending as "nothing short of cowardly in the extreme".
He said Murdoch's prospects of rehabilitation were low given his "complete lack of remorse" and prior offending.
Murdoch was acquitted of the rape allegations in South Australia in 2003, immediately before police arrested and charged him over the Falconio case.
He had also served time in jail in WA in the mid-1990s for shooting at a crowd of Aboriginal football fans celebrating a victory in Fitzroy Crossing.
He appealed to overturn his convictions twice, but was unsuccessful.
In 2016, the NT government introduced "no body, no parole" laws with the aim of eliciting a confession from Murdoch by removing his right to parole in 2032.
It did not work.
This year, NT police launched a fresh public appeal by offering a new
reward of $500,000 for information on Mr Falconio's remains
.
Acting Commander Mark Grieve from NT Police's Crime and Intelligence Command said police had spoken to Murdoch as recently as this week.
"On all occasions, he's chosen not to positively engage with police," he said.
Murdoch was transferred to the Alice Springs Correctional Centre in 2022, after previously being housed at Darwin's Holtze prison.
His death in custody will be subject to a mandatory coronial inquest.
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ABC