Man found guilty of Falconio murder

Drug-runner Bradley Murdoch was today found guilty of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio on a remote stretch of desert highway in the Australian Outback more than four years ago.

Murdoch, of Broome, Western Australia, was also found guilty of depriving Mr Falconio’s girlfriend Joanne Lees of her liberty and of assaulting her on the Stuart Highway, near Barrow Creek, about 200 miles north of Alice Springs, on July 14, 2001.

The 47-year-old drifter flagged the couple down in their orange camper van and shot Mr Falconio dead before threatening Ms Lees, 32, of Brighton, with a gun to her head and tying her up with her hands behind her back, the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin heard.

She managed to escape and hide in the bush for more than five hours on the moonless night before being rescued, but Mr Falconio, 28, of Hepworth, Huddersfield, was never seen again and no body has been found.

All the verdicts were unanimous.

Trial judge Chief Justice Brian Martin sentenced Murdoch to life imprisonment. The minimum term will be set at a later date.