Court date in British backpacker murder case

An Australian truck driver charged with murdering a British backpacker on a lonely Outback highway will appear in court next May for a hearing to decide if he should stand trial for the mysterious killing, a court ruled today.

The date was set at a brief appearance in Darwin Magistrates’ Court by Bradley John Murdoch, 45, who is accused of murdering Peter Falconio on the Stuart Highway north of the central Australian town of Alice Springs on July 14, 2001.

Chief magistrate Hugh Bradley said a committal hearing – at which a court will establish whether evidence against Murdoch is strong enough to merit sending him to trial – would start on May 17 and take about six weeks over two sittings.

Wearing a light green shirt and dark green trousers, Murdoch sat expressionless in the dock throughout the brief hearing. He has yet to enter a plea to the murder charges. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment.

Murdoch was arrested earlier this month in the southern city of Adelaide after his acquittal on unrelated rape charges.

Mr Falconio is believed to have been shot by a gunman who flagged down the camper van in which he and his girlfriend Joanne Lees were touring Australia. His body has never been found despite police and Aboriginal trackers scouring a huge area of the Outback.

Ms Lees was tied up but managed to escape and raise the alarm. She is expected to be a key prosecution witness at the committal hearing and any subsequent trial.

Police say they have DNA evidence linking Murdoch to Mr Falconio’s slaying.