Missing backpacker’s girlfriend comes face-to-face with suspect

THE girlfriend of a British backpacker who disappeared in the Australian Outback four years ago finally faced his alleged murderer in court yesterday.

Joanne Lees was giving evidence on the opening day of the trial of Bradley John Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia, who denies murdering Peter Falconio.

The jury at the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin heard the prosecution claim that Ms Lees curled up "like a rabbit" and hid in the bush for five hours to escape Murdoch.

Ms Lees, who sat just yards from Murdoch in the packed courtroom, admitted having an intimate relationship with a man called Nick in Sydney behind her boyfriend's back.

But she insisted she was "very happy" with Mr Falconio and just hours before the attack they had shared a cannabis joint and watched a "beautiful sunset" in Australia's wilderness.

Mr Falconio was killed while travelling with Ms Lees in an orange camper van at or near Barrow Creek, north of Alice Springs, on July 14, 2001.

Opening the case against Murdoch, director of public prosecutors Rex Wild QC told the court that around an hour after they had watched the sunset, the British couple stopped their van when another driver indicated there was a problem with its exhaust and they were attacked.

Mr Wild said Ms Lees was "determined to survive", alone with her hands tied painfully behind her back, a sack over her head and loose tape around her feet in the back of Murdoch's vehicle.

He said she could see light seeping in from the bottom end of the canopy, and slid down the vehicle on her back before dropping over the edge.

"Her feet touched the ground and she was off," Mr Wild said.

"Running as fast as she could."

He said she ran straight into the bush until she was about 100ft from the road and around 200ft from where the attack took place.

There she curled up "like a rabbit" and buried herself behind trees and scrub.

Mr Wild said it was pitch black at night and she could see nothing, but heard one of the vehicles being driven north and then, a short time later, heard someone come back. Then she heard the noise of something, possibly Mr Falconio's body, being pulled along the gravel.

At around 8pm, she could not hear anything and was able to pass her bound hands underneath her bottom and under her feet, Mr Wild said.

The court was told that she waited for five hours until a large road train truck came along, with all its lights on, and jumped out in front of it at the last minute, around six miles north of Barrow Creek. She left it so late that the driver, Vince Millar, thought he had hit her as he braked.

Mr Wild said no one had seen Mr Falconio, 28, of Huddersfield, since that night and his body has never been recovered.

One of the last images Ms Lees could remember was of him having a Western-style revolver pointed at his head.

Fifteen jurors the six men and six women who will try the case along with three reserves heard that she also feared the attacker would rape her. When she was called to give evidence, Ms Lees, 32, a support worker for people with learning difficulties, was asked about her relationship with a man called Nick in Australia.

She told the court she had "overstepped the boundary of friendship" and had become intimate with him while working in Sydney. The affair had ended and they later became friends again, without Mr Falconio knowing what had gone on between them.

Mr Falconio's father Luciano, of Huddersfield, testified to say they were a very close family who kept in touch regularly. Breaking down in tears in the witness box, Mr Falconio said his son and Ms Lees had been working in Sydney.

As he wiped tears from his face, he said: "If he was alive, he would have definitely rung to let us know."

Earlier, the court heard that Murdoch, who worked for West Kimberley Diesel as a casual employee, was involved in transporting cannabis from South Australia to Broome in Western Australia, and regularly made the 2,113-mile (3,400km) journey.

Mr Wild said the court would hear that Murdoch had said that in July 2001 he had not had a good trip and had been convinced someone was following him so he had to "deal with it".

In another conversation, Murdoch allegedly said: "The best place to bury bodies is in a storm drain on the side of the road, just cover them in dirt."

Mr Wild also told the court that DNA evidence on three items Ms Lees's T-shirt, the gearstick in the camper van and the tape around the cuffs linked Murdoch to the murder.

Murdoch has also pleaded not guilty to depriving Ms Lees of her personal liberty and of unlawfully assaulting her in aggravating circumstances, so that she suffered bodily harm and was threatened with a gun.

The trial, one of the most high-profile court cases in Australian history, was adjourned until today.