Falconio killer loses bid to appeal against life sentence

A man convicted of killing a British backpacker and trying to kidnap his girlfriend lost his final bid to overturn his life sentence today when Australia’s highest court refused to hear his case.

Bradley John Murdoch was convicted last year of murdering Briton Peter Falconio on a remote stretch of Outback highway on July 14, 2001, and attempting to kidnap Falconio’s girlfriend, Joanne Lees.

Lawyers for the 48-year-old mechanic and confessed marijuana courier had sought leave to appeal Murdoch’s case to Australia’s High Court claiming the trial court that sentenced him was wrong to allow testimony from Lees – the sole eyewitness to the event.

They claimed Lees’ evidence was tainted because she had seen a photograph of Murdoch on the internet a month before reporting him to police.

The High Court in Brisbane declined to hear the appeal, saying the lower court had not made a mistake in allowing the testimony.

The decision closes the door on further appeals by Murdoch, who is serving a life sentence with a non-parole period of 28 years.

At trial, Lees’ testimony was central to the prosecution case, which claimed that Murdoch shot Falconio, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in the head after waving down the couple’s camper van near the outpost of Barrow Creek. The victim’s body has never been found.

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

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

Authorities believe Murdoch hid the corpse somewhere in Australia’s vast interior. Aboriginal trackers and a clairvoyant tried but failed to find it.