Falconio murder accused took drugs to stay awake

The man accused of killing British backpacker Peter Falconio on an Outback highway took amphetamines for days to stay awake and carried a gun as he ran marijuana across Australia, a court was told today.

Bradley John Murdoch, aged 47, has pleaded not guilty in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to murdering 28-year-old Falconio and assaulting and abducting Falconio’s girlfriend, Joanne Lees, 27, on a central Australian highway on July 14, 2001.