The drug-runner who murdered British backpacker Peter Falconio will serve at least 28 years in prison before being considered for parole, a court heard today.

Defence lawyers in the Australian Outback hearing into the death of Briton Peter Falconio today attacked the credibility of Joanne Lees claiming she was having another, perhaps secret, relationship when her boyfriend disappeared three years ago.

A British woman who was allegedly assaulted after her boyfriend was gunned down in Australia’s Outback nervously described her suspected attacker today while the man charged with the crimes sat across from her in court.

It was meant to be a trip of a lifetime for British backpackers Joanne Lees and her boyfriend Peter Falconio – but their journey into the red centre of Australia turned to tragedy.

Police investigating the suspected murder of a British backpacker believe his body may be buried close to the remote Outback highway where he was last seen alive, a newspaper reported today.

Today’s reconstruction of the Australian attack in which one tourist vanished and his partner was abducted, lasted three hours.

Police in Australia are following hundreds of leads in the search for a man who attacked a British couple travelling around the continent.

The girlfriend of a British tourist feared to have been shot dead during an ambush in the Australian outback today said she felt lucky to be alive.