Man tells court he served ‘murdered’ backpacker

A SERVICE station worker has told a court he personally served missing British backpacker Peter Falconio a week after the traveller was allegedly murdered in the Australian Outback.

Robert Brown and his partner Melissa Kendall told Darwin Magistrates Court they served Mr Falconio at the service station where they worked in the New South Wales outback, a week after the tourist was allegedly killed on the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory.

They had seen photographs of Mr Falconio in newspapers after he disappeared, and looked at the pictures again immediately before and after they said they saw him in their shop in Bourke, the court heard.

Bradley John Murdoch, 45, is facing a committal hearing charged with the murder of Mr Falconio, from Huddersfield, and the unlawful assault and deprivation of liberty of Mr Falconio’s girlfriend Joanne Lees, from Brighton.

The prosecution alleges Mr Falconio was shot dead by a stranger who waved the couple down as they drove along the highway on July 14, 2001.

However, Mr Brown yesterday identified Mr Falconio as the man in his shop on July 22, 2001, from a photograph shown in court. “Yeah mate, that’s him,” said Mr Brown via video-link from Bourke, 500 miles north-west of Sydney.

Mr Brown said he followed the man outside, and saw him with another man and a woman who had a dark-coloured utility truck.

The hearing continues.