Peter Falconio

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Peter Falconio was a British tourist from Hepworth, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire who disappeared in the Australian outback whilst travelling with girlfriend Joanne Lees during July 2001. He was a graduate of Brighton University and was 28 years old at the time of his disappearance. Although his body had not been found, Bradley John Murdoch was convicted of murdering him on December 13, 2005.

Contents

[edit] Missing person or murder?

Lees reported that while travelling at night along the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek (between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek) in the Northern Territory on July 14, 2001, the pair were stopped by a man waving for the couple to stop their car and indicating trouble with their car's exhaust. Falconio got out of the van to help, and shortly afterwards Lees heard a gunshot. She believed that Falconio had been shot dead.

At the committal hearing in December 2004 Lees told the court that her assailant then tied her wrists together, put a sack over her head and forced her into his ute. She said she escaped from his ute and fled into the dark, hiding under bushes, while he tried to find her with a torch and a cattle dog. Falconio's body has not been found despite a massive police search.

Some two years after the disappearance, Bradley John Murdoch, a man living in Adelaide and charged with rape, was found to have a possible connection to Barrow Creek on July 14, 2001. When Joanne Lees identified his photograph as being the man who abducted her, and DNA from Lees's body matched that from Murdoch, Murdoch was charged by police and extradited to the Northern Territory for trial.

[edit] Trial of Bradley Murdoch

Main article: R v Murdoch

[edit] Summary

Bradley Murdoch's jury trial began on October 18, 2005 in the Darwin branch of the Northern Territory Supreme Court, where he was tried for the murder of Falconio and assaults on Joanne Lees. The trial concluded on December 13 with the conviction of Murdoch on all counts. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 28 years.

Bradley Murdoch
Bradley Murdoch

Northern Territory Director of Public Prosecutions Rex Wild, QC, said in court there are three pieces of evidence linking Murdoch to the scene of the crime. His DNA was a match with bloodstains on Joanne Lees's t-shirt, a smear of blood on the gearstick of the couple's car, and DNA located on tape used by the killer to bind her wrists. These assertions have all been disputed by Murdoch's defence team, who are Grant Algie and Mark Twiggs.

To cope with the demands of the trial and the huge media contingent covering the trial proceedings, the Darwin branch of the Northern Territory Supreme Court was refitted at a cost of AUD$900,000 [1].

[edit] Main people in the trial

[edit] Evidence heard in the trial

[edit] Prosecution evidence

  • On October 17, 2005, Lees positively identified Murdoch as her attacker - but only after seeing his image on a BBC website - and described how he stopped their van, then spoke with Falconio. Lees claims to have heard a gunshot, then Murdoch appeared at the door, threatened her with a gun, bound her, and put her in the back of his four-wheel drive.
  • Murdoch was a supplier of marijuana across Australia, and was on a drug run from Sedan, South Australia, to Broome, Western Australia at the time of the offence.
A contemporary news report of Lees' testimony
A contemporary news report of Lees' testimony
  • The blood on the side of the road has been confirmed to be that of Peter Falconio.
  • A woman saw a car speed away from Barrow Creek shortly after the attack. This woman was the only person who could account for the existence of a second vehicle on the night of the attack.
  • Forensics were unable to find any bullets or evidence of any bullets being fired at the scene of the crime, either in the van or on the ground nearby. Joanne Lees had stated that she heard a gunshot, which she believed was Falconio being shot. Prosecution argued that the evidence of a shot may have been wiped away by police while dusting for fingerprints. An expert in gun manufacture demonstrated how a bullet can lodge in the skull and have no exit wound, with no evidence of it being fired, if it was fired directly into the skull from close range.
  • Witnesses stated that Murdoch was a serious drug dealer.
  • James Hepi, the man who Murdoch often travelled with to export marijuana from one part of Australia to another, told how Murdoch regularly carried a hand gun with him on such trips. The judge ordered that the jury ignore evidence given by this man, because he was verified to be an unreliable witness.
  • A former girlfriend of Murdoch said how in July 2001 after a drug run, Murdoch told her that he had to "get rid of someone" on the drug trip. Defence called this person an unreliable witness. Prosecution said that it proved guilt. The judge ordered the jury to ignore her evidence.
  • The same former girlfriend said that in her opinion Murdoch matched the description originally given by Lees, and that he was the killer. The judge ordered the jury to ignore her evidence.
  • Police spent over six days covering a 300,000 square metre area with metal detectors to try to find a murder weapon, but were unable to find anything.[2]
  • A console operator told the court that he was working at an Alice Springs service station the night Mr Falconio disappeared in July 2001. He said a tall man with a slim build and a moustache driving a white four-wheel drive came to the petrol station and bought fuel, ice, a milk drink and water.
  • The canopy of the vehicle captured on closed circuit television at the Alice Springs truck stop was visible, and a man who fitted a canopy on Murdoch's vehicle prior to the murder suggested that it may have been the one that he fitted.
  • Several of Murdoch's friends thought that he was the man pictured in the CCTV images from the Alice Springs truck stop.
  • An expert forensic anatomist said that Murdoch was almost certainly the person who was captured by video at the Alice Springs truck stop in the early hours of July 15, 2001, just hours after the murder of Peter Falconio. Defence argued that this footage could have been of anyone. The judge ordered the jury to dismiss defence arguments and to accept the prosecution statement that the man in the video was in fact Murdoch, but stressed that this alone was not enough to convict Murdoch of the murder and that it only counted as circumstantial evidence. (The man who was captured by close circuit television at the Alice Springs truck stop left the truck stop just minutes before police arrived to buy food and drink.)
  • After Falconio's story was on the news, Murdoch boasted to friends about how he would be able to easily make hand ties from cable wires, and explained how someone would be able to attack Joanne Lees and kill her, and get away with it. Defence argued that this was merely Murdoch explaining a hypothetical. Prosecution argued that that was effectively a confession of guilt.
  • Prosecution argued that Murdoch went to Barrow Creek along the Stuart Highway, murdered Falconio and assaulted Lees, before heading back to Alice Springs, then leaving to go to Broome via the Tanami Highway. Defence argued that Murdoch would not have made a diversion via Barrow Creek, 280 kilometres away, and then gone back to Alice Springs afterwards before heading back out again. Defence argued that Murdoch did not go via the Stuart Highway at all.
  • Several eye witnesses, including a mechanic who helped to make modifications to Murdoch's vehicle, state that he had major modifications made to his car in August 2001, just weeks after the offence.
  • Murdoch had previously offered to sell a gun to a woman he had met while travelling on the Nullarbor Plain.
  • Experts suggested that road conditions across the Top End of the Northern Territories were good on July 14 and July 15, 2001, making it possible to complete the trek from Alice Springs to Broome in less than sixteen hours; while Murdoch, in fact, had twenty hours to drive back after he killed Falconio.
  • Narcotics experts have testified that people who are regular users of speed, like Murdoch was, are capable of driving up to thirty six hours with high levels of concentration, as Murdoch would needed to have done, in order to have committed the murder yet still been in Fitzroy Crossing less than twenty hours later.
  • A man who shared a house with Murdoch at the time of the murder has testified that Murdoch had a gun with him.
  • Four people independently approached police prior to Murdoch's capture suggesting that he was the man who killed Falconio.
  • Murdoch admitted that he was a drug dealer.
  • Murdoch admitted carrying firearms, stating that they were for protection.

[edit] Defence evidence

  • Joanne Lees admitted to having cable ties in the back of her Kombi, but has denied that she used the ties to bind herself. [3]
  • Both Falconio and Lees were heavy users of marijuana, and occasional users of ecstasy. Lees and Falconio had a joint just 20 minutes prior to the offence. Defence argued that Lees may have been stoned at the time of the offence.
  • Murdoch, Falconio and Lees were all positively identified at the same fast food restaurant in Alice Springs on the night of the alleged attack, so Lees and Murdoch may have bumped in to each other. The defence argued this accounts for the DNA match,
  • The maximum speed of Lees's Kombi van was 80 km/h, yet for the times she gave to police to be correct, she would have had to drive at 176 km/h.
  • Lees admitted having an affair, without Falconio's knowledge, with a British man named Nick Riley who had been working in Sydney.
  • The DNA on the hand ties that were used to tie Joanne Lees was contaminated by poor police procedure and could not be used as evidence. Specifically, the hand ties were taken to Yatala Labour Prison in Adelaide, where Murdoch was held in November 2002 and shown to him prior to DNA tests being conducted on the hand ties, leaving a good opportunity for Murdoch's DNA to be left on the hand ties. Prosecution and police claimed that this did not happen, but the judge ordered, during the April 2005 Voir dire, that the DNA from the hand ties could not be used in court.
  • Murdoch does not own a cattle dog, the dog said to have been with Lees's attacker. Murdoch owns a dalmatian cross. Prosecution argued that either Lees confused Murdoch's dalmatian with a cattle dog or that Murdoch borrowed a cattle dog for the crime.
  • Murdoch did not closely match the description initially given to police by Joanne Lees in July 2001. Prosecution argued that Murdoch radically changed his physical appearance to conduct the crime.
  • The description of Murdoch's vehicle vastly differed from the description initially given to police by Joanne Lees in July 2001. Prosecution argued that Murdoch also changed his vehicle's description to conduct the crime.
  • Several pieces of evidence, including lip gloss and black tape were not found until three months after the offence. Defence argued that this means that the evidence was planted. Prosecution argued that they may have simply been hard to find.
  • The doctor who examined Lees after the incident found that she had no head wounds consistent with being punched in the head, as she had claimed had happened.
  • Lees and Falconio were positively identified at a remote road house between Alice Springs and Barrow Creek just hours before the alleged attack, completely changing the timeline of events. Joanne Lees continues to deny being at the road house.
  • Falconio was in Australia on a work visa [4] and had been incorrectly taxed by his Australian employers as if he were an Australian resident. As a result, were he to lodge a tax return, he would have owed money (approx $3,000 – $5,000). On the day of his disappearance, he had made inquiries to England about how to avoid paying the money back, and also had asked about how to fake his own death. An anonymous informant had called police in April 2002 to provide them with evidence in relation to this. Police had dismissed the evidence as inconclusive.
  • The forensic laboratories that conducted all DNA testing in this case were not up to accreditation standards and hence all DNA tests were "unofficial". Defence argued that all DNA tests could not be used, as DNA from some samples could have ended up on others, and that that, combined with the question mark about the validity of the DNA found on the hand ties and the t-shirt, meant that the DNA could not be used. Prosecution argued that the state of the forensic laboratories was only technically below standard and that it would be impossible for any contamination to occur.
  • Forensics confirmed that the likelihood that Murdoch's DNA matched that found on the hand ties used to bind Lees and the t-shirt that Joanne Lees was wearing when found was in the order of 100 million to 1. However, the hand ties could not be used in evidence because of contamination from the laboratory, and specifically because three DNA profiles were found on the hand ties – Murdoch's, that of one of the forensics team, and a third unknown person. The DNA on the t-shirt does not appear to be contaminated, however the general contamination of the forensics laboratory is under question from defence, as was the claim that Murdoch and Lees could have bumped in to each other at an Alice Springs fast food restaurant prior to the alleged attack.
  • The search for Peter Falconio has continued from July 14, 2001 until as recently as October 2005. The search has thus far not found any trace of him, other than the blood found at the scene of the crime. Some broken branches and three foot prints were also found in the search, but the broken branches were believed to probably be from Lees sitting down, and the three foot prints have not been attached to anyone.
  • The sketch artist used by police to help Joanne Lees was inexperienced in police work.
  • A footprint expert has confirmed that the four unidentified footprints found at the scene of the crime do not match Bradley John Murdoch, but belong to someone else.
  • Murdoch believes that he was set up by his former business partner James Hepi.
  • Murdoch says that he refuelled at Fitzroy Crossing at 8 p.m. on July 15, which would have meant that for him to have committed the murder at midnight, he would have had to have travelled 1,700 km in 20 hours (avg speed 85 km/h) if he drove non-stop from midnight to then, travelling along the roughest country imaginable. Murdoch further states that for him to have been the man caught in Alice Springs at 3 a.m. on July 15, he would have to have travelled 2,000 km in 17 hours (avg speed over 100 km/h).
  • Murdoch claimed that James Hepi planted Murdoch's DNA on evidence to help police to frame him for the murder.
  • Murdoch's vehicle does not have a second compartment, where Lees says she was pushed in to; nor would it be possible, had the vehicle been of the variety implied, for a person to be pushed from the front section into the rear.
  • Murdoch says that he had modified his vehicle before the offence, and continued to make modifications to the vehicle up until the time of his arrest in September 2002. He states that this was a hobby "Some might call it an obsession." - as well as an attempt to avoid detection by narcotics border patrols (with regard to his drug-smuggling activities.)
  • Several eye witnesses said that Murdoch regularly changed his vehicles in an obsessive way, as he was a mechanic, and that this had started over a decade before the crime in 2001.
  • It has been reported that Murdoch admitted to have "dobbed in" former drug dealing business partner James Hepi to police for drug running.
  • Murdoch displays several notable physical attributes. One of which is the absence of upper front teeth. This was apparently caused by him working as a truck driver and taking amphetamines in 1997. Every person who knew Murdoch described this as "unmistakable" and that any description of Murdoch would focus on it. In Lees's 2001 description of her attacker, she did not mention anything about Murdoch's teeth. Defence claimed that this meant that Murdoch could not have been her attacker. Prosecution argued that Murdoch could have worn false teeth or capped teeth or that Lees merely didn't notice the absence of front teeth.
  • Two shop owners in Bourke, New South Wales, testified that they served Falconio with another man on 22 July 2001, eight days after his murder. However, their testimonies contradict each other in that they both claim to have served him, and they each gave different descriptions of what Falconio looked like.
  • Murdoch was positively identified by four separate people as being in Fitzroy Crossing 20 hours after the time of the murder.
  • Defence lawyer Algie claimed that James Hepi took cigarette butts smoked by Murdoch to give to police so as to extract DNA to frame Murdoch.
  • Murdoch was interviewed by police three months after the murder in relation to James Hepi's drug smuggling, when police asked him about his car, but police did not connect the car's appearance to the description given to police by Lees.
  • The police officer in charge of the case has denied that he planted DNA on hand ties when taking them to Yatala prison in Adelaide to see Murdoch, and insisted that the hand ties were never shown to Murdoch, and not removed from the bag, in spite of being taken all the way to Adelaide so as to aid in an interview with Murdoch in relation to them.
  • Police officers took notes saying that Lees's kombi van had shelves, and show Lees's signature. Lees denied making the statement and says that she cannot remember saying that to police.
  • Murdoch claimed that he was 370 miles away in Yuendumu at the time of the alleged offence.
  • Murdoch and his defence lawyer Grant Algie demonstrated how Murdoch could not have been the man captured in close circuit television at the Alice Springs video, and that his vehicle did not match the vehicle in the video.
  • 10 people independently approached police after Falconio's disappearance saying that they saw him alive.
  • A number of Falconio's personal items have never been recovered.
  • Lees phoned a friend in New Zealand 2 hours after she had earlier claimed to have done, thus putting the time of Falconio's disappearance back by 2 hours. Lees has admitted to earlier saying something that was not true.
  • A police officer has admitted receiving cigarette butts from Murdoch's former co-drug dealer James Hepi, that he gave to police in order to frame Murdoch. The police officer denied accepting the cigarette butts, however, and denies that police agreed to frame Murdoch.
  • A forensics expert has said that Murdoch was not the man in the CCTV video at Alice Springs truck stop, as Murdoch's build was far larger.
  • A forensics expert has said that the methods used to try to extract DNA from the hand ties was incorrect, and clearly showed that it was not Murdoch's DNA.
  • Murdoch accused the prosecutor Rex Wild, QC of playing dirty tricks to make him look guilty.

[edit] Defence closing argument

Grant Algie and Mark Twiggs, lawyers representing the accused, Bradley John Murdoch, argued the following:

Peter Falconio faked his own death, and that when Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees stopped by the side of the road near Barrow Creek, it was to meet with a third man, of description unknown, in order to take Peter Falconio away, alive.
Police planted evidence, with the assistance of Murdoch's former drug running partner James Hepi, who had "both motive and opportunity" to frame Murdoch, after Murdoch had been central to Hepi's arrest.

They pointed to the absence of blood at the crime scene, to the mix ups with DNA, the lack of a body, the sightings of Falconio in the days thereafter, the inconsistency of Lees' testimony, the poor police procedures in handling evidence, and the lack of a positive identification of Bradley John Murdoch.

They suggested that sometimes, from time to time, for reasons best known to themselves, people just disappear. That sometimes they are found again, sometimes not.

[edit] Prosecution closing argument

Rex Wild QC stated that this is what really happened:

Bradley John Murdoch saw Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio while in Alice Springs, and believed that they were following him. So he drove behind them as they travelled along the Stuart Highway, and then stopped, so as to get rid of them, because he feared that they may be spying on him and may contact police in relation to his drug running.
After stopping them, he panicked and killed Peter Falconio, making sure that there was no blood anywhere by making a shot directly to his head, then abducted Joanne Lees, binding her with cable ties, and putting her in the back of his vehicle.
After putting Lees in the back of his vehicle, Murdoch was trying to dispose of the body when Joanne Lees escaped into surrounding shrubland. Murdoch then searched for her with his dog and a flashlight, but after five hours of searching, he gave up.
Murdoch then buried Falconio in a place unknown in the Central Australian outback, having wrapped Falconio's head with Lees's denim jacket so as to prevent any blood getting in the vehicle.
Then Murdoch panicked, and, rather than driving through the bush straight to Broome, he drove all the way back to Alice Springs, where he was spotted on close circuit television at the truck stop, getting supplies before heading out to Broome, where he travelled non-stop at great speed, taking amphetamines to keep himself awake and alert.
Murdoch then altered his physical appearance as well as his vehicle's appearance so as to avoid detection, and immediately stopped running drugs because he feared that he might be linked to the murder.

Mr Wild suggested that there was no evidence whatsoever of any police corruption, and urged jurors to dismiss any suggestions as an unfounded conspiracy theory that was "plucked out of thin air". He has suggested that all of the evidence points to one obvious conclusion - that Murdoch killed Falconio. He stated that whilst no body has been found yet, it will be eventually, that it was only a matter of time, but that it "may be quite some time".

Mr Wild stated that Joanne Lees should be expected to have mild discrepancies with Murdoch's appearance, such as the length and colour of his hair, not noticing his teeth, the description of his car and dog, and other inconsistencies, because Lees was under a lot of stress and pressure during the incident.

Mr Wild asked the jury to ignore the evidence of the sightings of Peter Falconio and to dismiss them as not accurate, highlighting discrepancies in the stories of the various people who said to have seen him alive in the days after the attack.

Mr Wild stated that the DNA did match, and that there was no chance that it was not Murdoch's DNA and hence the jury must find him guilty.

Mr Wild said that Murdoch was a methodical killer, and that the crime was premeditated to "get rid of" someone, and suggested that he may have thought that Lees was travelling alone, since Falconio was asleep in the back when she drove by. He suggested that the methodical actions to get rid of any evidence suggesting he did it, as well as quickly getting away suggests the act of someone with extreme premeditation, and that it is the work of an obsessive methodical person, a man just like Murdoch.

Mr Wild asked the jury to ignore coincidental evidence that seemed to suggest that Murdoch didn't do it, stating that he had ample time to change the evidence to fit the story, to later suggest that he didn't do it.

[edit] Chief Justice Brian Ross Martin's summation

Chief Justice Brian Ross Martin, the trial judge of the trial, made the following instructions to the jury:

  • "How you approach the evidence is a matter entirely for you. There are many issues that have been raised for your consideration. You may or may not find it necessary to resolve all the issues. You may or may not be able to resolve all of the issues. You must put aside the flamboyant suggestions of counsel that we do not need experts from the mother country to teach us colonials a thing or two,"
  • "Please put aside all the hyperbole and concentrate on the evidence before you. That's why you look at all the evidence, not just the experts. The question to be considered by you is whether you are satisfied the accused's blood came to be on the T-shirt in the course of attacking Miss Lees. Are you satisfied that the DNA came to be on the item because of contact in the course of the accused attacking Miss Lees? Or is it a reasonable possibility that the DNA came to be on the item through an innocent contact, or through some form of contamination either deliberate or accidental?" The judge said that, if the jury was satisfied that the blood came from Mr Murdoch, the Crown put the case that it was deposited while he was attacking Miss Lees. "Ladies and gentlemen, if that's your view, if you are satisfied the Crown's submission is correct, and you are satisfied that the man who attacked Miss Lees killed Peter Falconio, then the Crown will have proved its case of murder,"
  • "You must not reason that, because of those other activities, the accused is the type of person who is likely to have committed the offences charged. It provides the setting for the accused's travel and explains why he was on the road that weekend. If, from a consideration of all the other evidence, you are satisfied it was the accused and his vehicle at the truck stop, it will follow that you are satisfied that the accused has not been truthful with you and others,"

[edit] Media related links

In early 2005 a film made in Australia, Wolf Creek was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and shown on national release in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 16 September 2005. It was released in Australia on 3 November 2005 (apart from the Northern Territory, where it was released in January 2006 after the trial had finished), so as to not unduly influence the jury. The film was advertised as being based on 'true stories', although the producers have said that it is not directly linked to any specific stories. Media outlets have suggested that it is based on the 1989-1992 backpacker murders and the Peter Falconio disappearance[citation needed], whilst the 1992-1999 Snowtown murders has been suggested because of the manner with which the people were killed[citation needed].

[edit] Red Rooster alibi

During Murdoch's committal hearing, Lees mentioned that she and Falconio had stopped at a Red Rooster restaurant in Alice Springs. Murdoch claimed to have stopped at the same restaurant to buy chicken for himself and his dog - "First thing in Alice, pulled into the Red Rooster... Chicken roll, box of nuggets for Jack... Full chicken for the trip." Grant Algie suggested that Murdoch might have cut himself and inadvertently left blood at the restaurant which later transferred to Lees' shirt, explaining the presence of his DNA there.

In April 2006, The Bulletin reported that Murdoch had refused to be served chicken while incarcerated during the committal and trial, claiming he was allergic to it, and that he has a standing medical certificate at Berrimah Prison requesting that he never be served chicken.[5]


[edit] External links

[edit] Interviews

[edit] Supreme Court of the Northern Territory Court Decisions

[edit] News reports prior to trial

[edit] Investigations and reports on case

[edit] News reports during trial

[edit] News reports about the verdict

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