Falconio killer to launch appeal

The drug smuggler convicted of killing British backpacker Peter Falconio and attempting to kidnap his girlfriend on a remote Outback highway six years ago will launch a bid for an appeal in Australia’s highest court later this week, prosecutors said today.

Bradley Murdoch is serving a life sentence for murdering Mr Falconio, on July 14 2001, and trying to kidnap his girlfriend, Joanne Lees.

An application by the former mechanic, who is serving at least 28 years behind bars, for special leave to appeal to the High Court has been listed for hearing in Brisbane on Thursday, a department of justice spokeswoman said.

In February, lawyers for the 48-year-old marijuana courier filed High Court papers seeking leave to appeal against his conviction on the grounds that prosecutors were wrong to use testimony from 33-year-old Miss Lees, of Brighton - the sole eyewitness to the event.

Today, a department of justice spokeswoman said: “The applicant seeks leave to present an appeal to the High Court arguing that the Court of Criminal Appeal of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory incorrectly applied the principles governing the admission of identification evidence and incorrectly applied the proviso in the circumstances of the case.”

A proviso is where an appellant succeeds on a point of law but the court still dismisses the appeal if it is satisfied that no miscarriage of justice has actually occurred.

The spokeswoman added: “The applicant will argue that the questions raised require consideration by the High Court in the interests of the administration of justice both generally and in this particular case.

“The Crown will argue that an appeal to the High Court should not be permitted.”

Murdoch’s lawyers say Miss Lees’ evidence was tainted because she had seen a photograph of Murdoch on the internet a month before reporting him to police.

In January this year, a three-judge panel of the Northern Territory Court of Criminal Appeal rejected Murdoch’s appeal, saying DNA evidence of his blood on Miss Lees’ t-shirt established “beyond a reasonable doubt” his presence at the scene.

At trial, Miss Lees’ testimony was central to the prosecution case, which claimed that Murdoch shot Mr Falconio, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in the head after waving down the couple’s orange camper van near the outpost of Barrow Creek.

The 28-year-old’s body has never been found, but authorities believe Murdoch hid the body somewhere in Australia’s vast interior.

Miss Lees said Murdoch threatened her with a gun, punched her in the head and bound her with cable-tie restraints.

She told the court she managed to escape and cowered in the bushes for hours as her attacker hid Mr Falconio’s body and then stalked her with a dog.