Latest news with #PeterFalconio
Sky News
03-08-2025
- Sky News
Man who murdered British backpacker Peter Falconio dies - without revealing location of his victim's remains
The man who murdered British backpacker Peter Falconio more than 20 years ago has died - without revealing the location of his victim's remains. Bradley John Murdoch murdered the 28-year-old and assaulted his girlfriend Joanne Lees at gunpoint on a remote stretch of road near Barrow Creek in Australia's Northern Territory on 14 July 2001. Mr Falconio and Ms Lees, both from Yorkshire, had stopped their camper van after Murdoch pulled up beside them, claiming to have seen sparks coming from their vehicle. He shot Mr Falconio in the head as he inspected the van, before forcing Ms Lees into his vehicle and binding her wrists with cable ties. She managed to escape, hiding in the outback for hours before flagging down a passing truck. Murdoch was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for at least 28 years. The 67-year-old was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer in 2019 and was moved to palliative care from Alice Springs Correctional Centre last month. A Northern Territory Department of Corrections spokesperson said: "I can confirm that Bradley Murdoch passed away last night in the palliative care unit at Alice Springs Hospital. "The death will be subject to investigation by the Northern Territory Coroner." During his trial, prosecutors argued that Murdoch was likely to have disposed of Mr Falconio's body somewhere in the vast, remote expanse of desert between Alice Springs and Broome, covering more than 1,200 miles. Despite repeated searches, the body has never been found. Ms Lees, who returned to the UK, told Australian current affairs programme 60 Minutes in 2017 that she still wanted to "bring him home". "Pete lost his life on that night, but I lost mine too," she said at the time. "I'll never be fully at peace if Pete's not found, but I accept that that is a possibility." Murdoch lodged several unsuccessful appeals over the years, with Australia's highest court refusing to hear his case in 2007. Last month police announced a new 500,000 Australian dollar (£240,000) reward for information leading to the discovery of Mr Falconio's remains.
ABC News
02-08-2025
- ABC News
Finding backpacker's remains 'not impossible' decades after outback murder
Decades after his murder, the search for British backpacker Peter Falconio is not over. Investigators had long hoped the man convicted of fatally shooting the 28-year-old and assaulting his girlfriend would reveal the location of his remains. Those hopes were extinguished when Bradley John Murdoch died of terminal throat cancer in an Alice Springs Hospital earlier this month. But, a cold case forensics expert tells the ABC, that is not enough to quash the goal of finding Peter's remains and delivering answers to his family. "I think the biggest challenge is with where Peter was killed, [because] it is so remote,' says Angela Williamson, a University of Queensland graduate. Dr Williamson now works to solve cold cases, having previously managed major forensic programs for the US Department of Justice and at America's largest private forensic DNA laboratory. She has worked on multiple high-profile cases, from the abduction of Daniel Morcombe to identifying Samuel Little, the most prolific serial killer in American history. She has also worked with the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and oversaw the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, a program focused on untested DNA samples taken from sexual assault victims. "How many stories do you read where someone was out walking their dog or running and they find a body?" she says. "It's actually really common over here. That's how a lot of older cases are solved, or when there's construction, digging. By July 2001, Peter Falconio and 27-year-old Joanne Lees had been together for several years. Their arrival in Sydney in January 2001 marked the latest stop on a world trip celebrating Falconio's university graduation. There, they purchased an orange Kombi van and set off. Their route would have taken them through Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Alice Springs and on to Darwin, according to court documents. From there, they planned to go to Cairns, Brisbane and New Zealand. Almost three weeks into the trip on July 14, they left Alice Springs and headed north on the Stuart Highway. They stopped to watch the sunset at Ti-Tree, the next town on their journey, 193 kilometres away. About 8pm they noticed another vehicle was following them — the driver, later identified as Murdoch, motioned for them to pull over. Falconio did so, got out, and walked to the rear of the car, and spoke to Murdoch, who said he had seen sparks coming from the exhaust. Falconio came back, asked Ms Lees to rev the engine, and returned to the rear. Ms Lees heard a bang, "like a car backfiring". Peter Falconio was never seen again. Bradley John Murdoch was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Mr Falconio and the attempted kidnapping of Ms Lees. Despite repeated appeals for information and attempts to elicit information from Murdoch, he died without ever revealing where Peter Falconio was left. In 2005, a court heard he had put Mr Falconio's body into his ute before dumping it somewhere between Alice Springs and Broome. The Northern Territory Police Force has announced a $500,000 reward for any tip that leads to the recovery of his remains. "[We remain] committed to resolving this final piece of the investigation," they said in a statement announcing Murdoch's death. The next question for investigators, Dr Williamson says, concerns how the body was disposed of. "Was it what we call a surface deposit? Was he literally just dumped somewhere?" she says. "Then you have the harsh Australian sun, which will weather the bones. You could have … animal predation and the scattering of remains, which could be a factor as well. "Now if he's buried, that could be harder because, it's my understanding that [Murdoch] drove from the abduction site all the way back to Broome. Police searched the area where the Kombi van stopped, to no avail. Murdoch took the van with him when he fled the scene following Ms Lees making a run for it and hiding in scrubland. The next morning, it was found a kilometre south along the Stuart Highway, parked "about 104 metres, or a little further, off the road". There was no blood inside. DNA samples were found on the gearstick which were linked to Murdoch. After leaving the van, according to court documents, Murdoch drove to a truck stop in Alice Springs. A CCTV camera showed him arriving at 12.38am and leaving at 12.50am. He then drove to Broome, where he told a friend he had taken a "route which did not take him in the vicinity" of either Alice Springs or where the attack occurred. "The police … will generally have very good intelligence on [Murdoch]," Dr Williamson says. "Knowing his lifestyle, and then talking to … family members, friends or associates, where did he frequently drive to and from? "Did he have a favourite place he liked to go fishing, or did he go shooting? Were there [areas] he would travel to frequently? "And those would be the areas you would look at first." Friends of Murdoch in court described him changing his appearance after returning to Broome, suddenly "completely clean-shaven". Other acquaintances said the appearance of his vehicle also changed in that time. Unveiling the increased reward earlier this year, Acting Commander Mark Grieve said police believed some might still have information. "There may be someone out there that he's confided in — whether that's family and friends — we just don't know," he said. At the time, Murdoch was in palliative care in Alice Springs Hospital, having been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2019. The confidence police have shown in the likelihood of finding Mr Falconio, Dr Williamson says, may mean they have "a lot more information" than what has been made public. "I think back to the Daniel Morcombe case … it almost seemed like a needle in a haystack," she says. Thirteen-year-old Daniel Morcombe disappeared from a bus stop on the Sunshine Coast in December 2003. His remains were found in a rugged area of the Glass House Mountains in 2011, when searchers crawled on their hands and knees in dirt and mud. "But they had enough information to know where they needed to search," Dr Williamson says. "And even though that area had flooded, they were still able to find some of Daniel's remains. "So there's usually a lot more information that the police are privy to than what's released. "It's telling people who maybe know a little bit more … we're not going to stop searching. "If you have a hunch that someone helped him move Peter's body … [so] are they working that angle? "Are they trying to see if they can broker a deal with that individual? "So you don't know those inner workings, and the public is like, we need to know this. Why? If you're not working the case, you do not." In a statement to the ABC, Mr Falconio's parents, Luciano and Joan Falconio, spoke of a "weight" being lifted after hearing of Murdoch's death. "[Our] family's future with Peter was cruelly taken away," they said. "We didn't have much faith, but we were hoping Bradley John Murdoch would reveal where Peter was before he died. "But even now we still hold out hope that his remains will be found." While court documents referenced a need for "closure" for both Ms Lees and the Falconio family, Dr Williamson warned against using those terms. "I am always hesitant to use the word closure," she says. "Even when you find someone's body or you convict someone for killing that individual, is that closure? "It's such a personal word, and it's such a personal concept to the people involved, to the family members, to the friends. "It's often not really closure because that person is still gone." Instead, she says, she prefers to focus on delivering answers and a sense of justice to families. "I hope his family … are all getting ongoing trauma support, we call it victim advocacy and family advocacy," she says. "If and when [Peter's] body is found, they will need a lot because [with] anything traumatic that happens to you, you kind of processed it at the time. "You go through a certain stage of healing. But then when it comes back to light, then it's a whole other thing you have to deal with. "It can be very traumatic." The former NT Police officer who led the investigation into the murder told ABC News Breakfast earlier this month she was "not surprised, but disappointed" at the lack of answers from Murdoch. "Bradley's prolonged refusal to cooperate with police and provide the information that we needed to locate Peter's remains [resulted] in … prolonged family agony by the Falconio family," former police officer Colleen Gwynne said. "I've pretty much always said that I don't think that he will ever speak to police. "[His way] to gain some control was to never cooperate, and to have that power over the Falconio family by not disclosing any details of what he did with Peter to allow us to narrow that search." Acting Commander Grieve said in June that the murder had "never gone away" for both police and the general public. In 2016, the Northern Territory introduced new "no body, no parole" legislation in an attempt to force Murdoch to speak to police. For those still looking for those answers, Dr Williamson says, Murdoch's death may mean an added drive to bring Mr Falconio home to his family. "We do this work because we want to help people, we want to provide answers, we want to bring people home," she says. "They need to be home. "It really hit me when I was working on children's cases. These were children without a name, that were in an unmarked grave, or in a box at a medical examiner's officer. "This was a child, they needed their name back, they needed to go home. "The honour of knowing that you helped give these answers and to give some kind of resolution to the families, it's pretty amazing. "Everyone is missed by somebody.
ABC News
01-08-2025
- ABC News
Before the Falconio trial, Bradley John Murdoch was accused and acquitted of rape and abduction
Before Bradley John Murdoch was arrested for English backpacker Peter Falconio's disappearance and the attempted kidnapping of Joanne Lees, the killer faced charges of raping a woman and her 12-year-old daughter. WARNING: This story contains content that some readers may find upsetting. He was eventually acquitted of all charges relating to the case, but the events of the alleged 20-hour kidnapping ordeal that were relayed in the South Australian District Court have some similarities to the Falconio and Lees case. In 2003, more than two years after Murdoch had killed Mr Falconio at Barrow Creek in the Northern Territory, a court heard the mother and daughter, who were allegedly abducted from their Riverland home, were also bound, gagged and sexually assaulted during the 20-hour ordeal. The mother, who cannot be named, told the court that as the alleged incident came to an end, she did not know if she and her daughter would survive. "After the trailer was packed up, he sat near the trailer staring at us … and I didn't know if he was going to let us go or not," she said in 2003. "Are you going to kill us?" she asked. In the South Australian case, Murdoch was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of abduction, assault and two counts of indecent assault, but he was later acquitted. According to the court transcripts, Murdoch, who died on July 15, had been a regular guest at the Riverland home the mother and daughter shared with the mother's de facto partner, who was away receiving cancer treatment in Adelaide. They had known each other for 18 months. It was alleged that when he stayed, Murdoch used a small guest house at the back of the property as an occasional base for his drug-running operation between the Riverland and Broome, in Western Australia. On his last visit to the property in August 2002, Murdoch, who the court heard was using amphetamines and cannabis daily, put black plastic on the windows of the small flat. The court heard on the pretence of helping him unpack maps, Murdoch asked the 12-year-old daughter to come out to the guest house before he allegedly raped her. "I think he said: 'If you move, I'll give you brain damage'," she told the court. She said Murdoch carried her out to his LandCruiser and chained her up before going inside to the main house to abduct her mother. Prosecutor Liesl Chapman, now District Court Judge Liesl Kudelka, said in her opening statement to the jury that Murdoch told the mother: "Shut up and put some warm clothes on" before he took her outside. "The accused was wearing a gun in his shoulder holster," Ms Chapman said. "She saw the LandCruiser and [her daughter] in the back. "The accused said to [her], 'I need some insurance to get away from this place, get in the back or I'll shoot you'." The prosecution said that Murdoch had spoken about the disappearance of Peter Falconio several times before and during the abduction. "[The mother] asked the accused, 'Why are you doing this?'" Ms Chapman said. "He said words to the effect, 'you were in the wrong place at the wrong time'. "He said that the cops had framed him for the Falconio murder and that's why he was on the run. "He kept saying that he was being framed." Ms Chapman said he told the mother he was going to Western Australia to kill a fellow drug associate and planned to turn the gun on himself. "The Crown case is that his state of mind about being framed for a very high-profile murder explains his extreme criminal behaviour in South Australia," Ms Chapman said. "He was paranoid that he was being set up. "He was using amphetamines, commonly known as speed, which … can increase paranoia. "At that stage he didn't care anymore, he raped a 12-year-old girl and then took her and her mother as insurance in order to get out of there." Bradley John Murdoch's defence team argued in court that the case against him was a "made-up story". The court heard that there was a "conspiracy against" Murdoch created by his enemies, to frame him for the murder of Peter Falconio and that the claims of rape, abduction, assault and sexual assault were part of a "set-up". Just three days before he arrived in the Riverland, Murdoch's brother had given DNA evidence to Northern Territory police and the Falconio investigation team had Bradley Murdoch in its sights. The court heard in the early hours of Thursday, August 22, 2002, Murdoch drove away from the Riverland property with the mother and daughter shackled in the back. "I did what I was told because he had a gun," the mother said in court. "I was so scared I didn't know if he was going to shoot me and [my daughter]. "She [the daughter] was white as a ghost and she was terrified." The mother said they were initially handcuffed, and Murdoch stopped the LandCruiser three times over the next 20 hours, during which he was also alleged to have raped the mother. He also bound them with cable ties, similar to the ones used when Murdoch abducted Joanne Lees. She described him at one point as like "a raging bull". "He was verging on psychotic, like really angry and terrifying," the mother said. Eventually, she demanded Murdoch cut the cable ties off as they were hurting their wrists and cutting her daughter's circulation. The court heard the mother told the accused he was "pathetic for tying up a 12-year-old child". Then the court heard his mood changed, he brought clothes out for the pair and became "more sympathetic". "To me it seemed like he thought that he had done nothing wrong and he was just talking to us normally like he used to when we used to be friends," the mother said. The court heard he eventually dropped the pair at a Port Augusta service station and gave them $1,000 to get home, before allegedly making a final threat to kill them if they went to police. The mother and daughter said even after being released they remained fearful that he was still in the area watching them. They caught a cab to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where the mother's partner was, but a report wasn't made to police for another five days. Murdoch was arrested by heavily-armed police outside a Port Augusta supermarket, and was remanded in custody to face court in South Australia. Inside the LandCruiser after Murdoch's arrest police alleged they found chains, clothes, cannabis, methamphetamine and $5,000. But, during a two-week trial, the prosecution failed to make its case and Murdoch was acquitted. Seconds later, as he walked out of the court, he was arrested inside Adelaide's Samuel Way building for Peter Falconio's murder and the abduction of Joanne Lees and escorted through a media scrum outside. He was then taken to Darwin where he was found guilty in 2005. Central Queensland University criminologist, Associate Professor Xanthe Mallett, said while there were obviously similarities between the Falconio and Lees case and the Riverland allegations, ultimately the South Australian jury could not be convinced of Murdoch's guilt. "It is a big deal to come forward, it turns your life upside down, it re-traumatises the victim-survivors and so to go through all of that and then for the perpetrator to be found not guilty is heartbreaking," Dr Mallett said. "We are talking 20 years ago, if there was gap between the alleged crime and somebody reporting then that certainly made it harder to prove … and sex crimes are very hard to prove anyway. Dr Mallett said it could be very hard to prove criminal cases beyond what a jury considered reasonable doubt. "Even if, on the balance of all the evidence, they think they probably are [guilty], that doubt is what makes the difference and that can be a very difficult level to achieve," Dr Mallett said. South Australia's Commissioner for Victim's Rights Sarah Quick said sexual assaults remained difficult to successfully prosecute, in part, because victims' evidence was often "fragmented, confused, and non-linear recollections are common". "The cumulative effect of giving evidence, being cross-examined, and then not being believed is deeply distressing," Commissioner Quick said. "Research demonstrates that harmful misconceptions and stereotypes about sexual assault remain widespread."
The Guardian
28-07-2025
- The Guardian
The kindness of strangers: we broke down in the outback and a retired mechanic came to our rescue
It was 2003 and the Peter Falconio case was fresh in our minds. As 22-year-olds itching for adventure, my wife and I, and one of our closest friends, nonetheless decided to fly from the UK to Australia and spend six months road-tripping through the outback. We were driving 250km from Julia Creek to Mount Isa in Queensland, in a Ford Econovan that had seen better days. About 50km short of the town, there was a loud bang beneath the van and the fuel level started dropping rapidly. A stone had pierced the rusty petrol tank and our petrol had drained on to the road – all of it except for the spare metal jerrycan that we'd kept for emergencies. The van quickly stopped running. But to our unbelievable good luck, we were only about 100 metres from a rest stop, to which we pushed the van in the baking morning heat. Parked in the rest stop was a new, high-spec camper van. With recent news headlines in mind, we were apprehensive about approaching a stranger in the middle of nowhere – we'd spooked ourselves out a couple of times already on the trip – but we didn't have many options. We knocked on the door to be greeted by a barrel-chested Aussie halfway through having a shave. We asked for any suggestions as we were in dire straits. In another moment of unbelievable good luck, the man turned out to be a retired mechanic, who fixed the jerrycan to the engine. That held long enough for us to get the van to Mount Isa where he and his wife very kindly followed us – almost another three hours' drive away – to make sure we didn't get taken advantage of by the local mechanic. We bought the man, whose name was Pete, a pack of XXXX Gold beer to say thanks. I distinctly remember him downing one, opening a second, and downing that too. Pete and his wife told us they had kids who were travelling in England at the time and they would have wanted strangers to help them if they needed it. We got extremely lucky with Pete and his wife. If they hadn't been there, we would have been very stuck without a clue what to do, on a blisteringly hot day. It made us vow to do the same if we were ever in a position to help. From making your day to changing your life, we want to hear about chance encounters that have stuck with you. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. If you're having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here
The Guardian
27-07-2025
- The Guardian
The kindness of strangers: we broke down in the outback and a retired mechanic came to our rescue
It was 2003 and the Peter Falconio case was fresh in our minds. As 22-year-olds itching for adventure, my wife and I, together with one of our closest friends, nonetheless decided to fly from the UK to Australia and spend six months road-tripping through the outback. We were driving 250km from Julia Creek to Mount Isa in Queensland, in a Ford Econovan that had seen better days. About 50km short of the town, there was a loud bang beneath the van and the fuel level started dropping rapidly. A stone had pierced the rusty fuel tank and our petrol had drained on to the road – all of it except for the spare metal jerrycan that we'd kept for emergencies. The van quickly stopped running. But to our unbelievable good luck, we were only about 100 metres from a rest stop, to which we pushed the van in the baking morning heat. Parked in the rest stop was a new, high-spec camper van. With recent news headlines in mind, we were apprehensive about approaching a stranger in the middle of nowhere – we'd spooked ourselves out a couple of times already on the trip – but we didn't have many options. We knocked on the door to be greeted by a barrel-chested Aussie halfway through having a shave. We asked for any suggestions as we were in dire straits. In another moment of unbelievable good luck, the man turned out to be a retired mechanic, who fixed the jerrycan to the engine. That held long enough for us to get the van to Mount Isa where he and his wife very kindly followed us – almost another three hours' drive away – to make sure we didn't get taken advantage of by the local mechanic. We bought the man, whose name was Pete, a pack of XXXX Gold beer to say thanks. I distinctly remember him downing one, opening a second, and downing that too. Pete and his wife told us they had kids who were travelling in England at the time and they would have wanted strangers to help them if they needed it. We got extremely lucky with Pete and his wife. If they hadn't been there, we would have been very stuck without a clue what to do, on a blisteringly hot day. It made us vow to do the same if we were ever in a position to help. From making your day to changing your life, we want to hear about chance encounters that have stuck with you. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. If you're having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here
