Accused outback killer frustrated by court delays

Accused uutback killer Bradley John Murdoch complained today he was wasting his days in court cells while his committal hearing is bogged down in legal argument.

“I’m kept here until after 6pm and and don’t get back to Berrimah until 7.30 or 7.45 at night,” Murdoch said in an outburst when the Darwin court adjourned without hearing witnesses for a second day.

He was then taken from the Northern Territory Supreme Court to Berrimah prison.

Murdoch is accused of murdering backpacker Peter Falconio, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in 2001. His body has never been found.

Defence and prosecution lawyers have been embroiled in legal argument over magistrate Alisdair McGregor’s orders suppressing the publication of vital evidence.

So far only two witness have been heard and one – Joanne Lees (aged 30), Falconio’s girlfriend, is only halfway through her testimony.

Ms Lees, from Brighton, gave evidence for 95 minutes on Tuesday. She told the court she had fought desperately to escape a gunman who forced her into his pick-up truck on a remote outback road after he apparently shot Falconio with a pistol.

She has been unable to return to the witness box because the suppression order bans the media from reporting some of her evidence

Three Supreme Court judges will hear an application to remove the suppression orders on Monday.

But magistrate McGregor indicated today that if the orders were lifted he would consider closing the court to the media and public.

That would instigate a fresh round of appeals.