I didn’t contaminate murder trial handcuffs, says detective

THE man accused of killing British backpacker Peter Falconio laughed in the dock as a detective denied contaminating evidence.

Detective Superintendent Colleen Gwynne has said she could not have contaminated handcuffs allegedly used to tie Mr Falconio’s girlfriend Joanne Lees’s hands behind her back with Bradley Murdoch’s DNA when she took them to the prison where he was being held on remand.

She denied having any access to samples of Murdoch’s DNA and said the closest he ever came to the handcuffs while they were in her possession was about 2.5 metres.

Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia, denies murder and charges of depriving Miss Lees of her liberty and assaulting her in the trial at the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin.

He is accused of killing Mr Falconio on a remote highway near Barrow Creek, north of Alice Springs, after flagging the young couple down on July 14, 2001.

Mr Falconio, 28, of Huddersfield, was never seen again and no body has been found.

Ms Gwynne, of the Northern Territory’s Major and Organised Crime Division, said she was given the handcuffs in a paper bag by Senior Constable Tim Sandry on October 9, 2002.

Murdoch, wearing a light blue shirt and glasses, laughed in the dock when Ms Gwynne said: “I was told they were the manacles, but I never looked inside.”

On the opening day of the trial, the court heard that DNA evidence found between the layers of tape used to construct the handcuffs linked Murdoch to the attack. She said she took them to Yatala Prison in Adelaide, South Australia, where Murdoch was being held on remand and intended to show them to the defendant if he agreed to be interviewed. But she said he had refused and she left them on a table, around 2.5m away from Murdoch. She said Murdoch did not approach the table where they were placed.

The trial continues.