An epidemic of petrol-sniffing among Aborigines in Australia’s central desert has been cured by the introduction of a special “fume free” fuel.

AN Aboriginal woman yesterday said she saw a “big white vehicle” pull on to a remote desert highway on the night a British backpacker disappeared more than four years ago.

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.

Outback ambush survivor Joanne Lees choked back tears today as she relived the night a gunman apparently shot her boyfriend and abducted her on a lonely desert highway in the Northern Territory of Australia.

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.