“Rod, we’ve got some sheila out here all bloody tied up – want to come down and give us a hand?”

The committal hearing into the disappearance of British tourist Peter Falconio in the Australian outback may have to be held in secret, a senior prosecutor warned today.

Legal argument today prevented British backpacker Joanne Lees from continuing her evidence in a committal hearing for the man accused of her boyfriend’s murder on a lonely Australian Outback road.

The brother of a missing British backpacker will be among about 40 witnesses to give evidence at a pre-trial hearing later this month for an Australian drifter accused of murdering him, a prosecutor said in Darwin today.

A tour guide in Australia accused of causing the death of a German tourist killed by a crocodile has failed to appear in court for his arraignment.