Murdered backpacker’s girlfriend ‘positive’ of attacker’s identity

THE girlfriend of a British backpacker murdered on a desert road more than four years ago told a court yesterday she was “very positive” she had identified his killer.

Joanne Lees was giving evidence for the third day when the jury was shown a police video of her pointing to a photograph of the man charged with attacking her and killing Peter Falconio, 28, on an Australian highway on July 14, 2001.

Bradley Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia, denies murder, depriving Miss Lees of her personal liberty and unlawfully assaulting her in aggravating circumstances at the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin.