Police check DNA to determine outback murders link

Police are testing DNA found on a murdered outback chef to see if it matches that on the girlfriend of missing British tourist Peter Falconio.

The Proton car hired by Stuart Rhodes has been found in South Australia, 280 miles away from the murder scene near Alice Springs.

Mr Rhodes's body was found in scrub near a rest stop about 37 miles south of Alice Springs on Sunday. A pathologist said he had been repeatedly stabbed in the neck two or three days earlier.

Northern Territory Assistant Commissioner John Daulby told Australian Associated Press that police had not yet established if the car had been driven by his murderer.

Police have not ruled out a link between Mr Rhodes's murder and the disappearance of British tourist Mr Falconio, from Huddersfield, on the same road 217 miles to the north on July 14.

Mr Falconio, 28, has not been seen since he was shot by an unknown man who attempted to abduct his girlfriend, 27-year-old Joanne Lees.

Mr Rhodes's clothing has been taken to Darwin for DNA matching against data banks which include DNA taken from Ms Lees' T-shirt.

Mr Daulby said it was likely to take a week to find out whether there was a match.