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Did Bradley Murdoch murder Peter Falconio?

Peter Falconio is a British man who visited Australia with his fiancé, Joanne Lees. They spent a lengthy period of time travelling throughout the country in a camper van they had bought from Sydney. On a lonely stretch of road, which people familiar with the area say it is not unusual for only one vehicle to travel along each day, Falconio and Lees stopped their vehicle. Lees has spoken of how they had seen a man who was having problems with his truck and he had motioned them to stop so that he could be helped. She later stated that the vehicle had been travelling behind them and had pulled up alongside, the driver signalling for them to stop. Falconio, Lees says, got out of the van to see what the problem was. Moments later a gunshot was heard and Falconio has not been seen since.

Lees claims that moments later the man opened the door to the camper van and grabbed her and bound her, with her hands tied behind her back. During the struggle her assailant was seemingly cut as a quantity of blood was left on Lees' t-shirt. The DNA from this blood would later be matched to Bradley Murdoch. Lees was bundled into the back of the man's truck, she says. Strangely she did not see Falconio's body at any point in time and did not notice any blood, which would later be seen on the road.

Lees somehow managed to escape. Her hands were behind her back the whole time, she claims, although when she was found her hands were still tied but in front of her. She was able to demonstrate how she did this, at Murdoch's trial, but this is irrelevant because she admitted to practicing this activity on several occasions with Falconio's brother (source - the Martin Bashir interview).

Lees then ran into bushes and hid for around two hours as the man searched, with his dog, before driving away. If Lees is accurate he must have driven away with Falconio in his truck. Aborigine trackers, renowned for their abilities, could not find any footprints or other traces of anyone having been in the bushes or in the area at all, except for Joanne Lees which is odd if the man and his dog spent hours searching for her. Her supporters have argued rain could have destroyed tracks but could they have destroyed the man's tracks when he covered a large area and not at all destroy the tracks of Lees who stayed almost in the same place throughout? How come her tracks were present but the attacker's were not?

It has been shown Lees was having an affair with someone whose identity remains unknown. She even emailed him from Australia. Falconio had health insurance.

The only evidence against Bradley Murdoch is DNA. This might sound very compelling proof of his guilt, even though Lees has never identified him as the man who attacked her and possibly killed Falconio. However, it should be noted the Australian state of New South Wales has a reputation for planting DNA. Custom and Excise have frequently refused to let the police near ships because they believe the police could plant evidence. Although the state in which Falconio disappeared was the Northern Territory the fact police in Australia have a reputation for planting DNA is of interest. Of course, I am not saying the police in this case have planted DNA. I am merely saying it has happened in the past and most probably is still being used to fabricate evidence by some corrupt officers.

There is one witness who claims Murdoch discussed with him how easy it would be to dispose of a body so that no one would ever find it. The conversation allegedly took place when the news reported on Falconio's disappearance. Therefore it is not necessarily indicative of Murdoch having disposed of the body. He could just have been talking about the case like so many people across the world have. When any person disappears members of the public will discuss the case and question how someone could dispose of a body. As no forensic evidence was found in Murdoch's truck it seems hard to believe he travelled any large distance before disposing the body and therefore surely if he killed Falconio, who must have been bleeding as he had been shot and his blood was found at the alleged crime scene, the body would have been disposed of before news broke of Falconio's disappearance.

Murdoch's motive to commit this crime was allegedly to rape Joanne Lees. He recently stood trial for a rape, but was acquitted. I see one monumental flaw in this argument; the stretch of road on which the incident allegedly took place is, as has been stated, one where very little traffic passes along. It would be incredibly odd for a man to lie in wait, standing beside his truck, on the off chance that a vehicle containing a woman he would like sex with to arrive. He could be waiting there for days. And what if no one stopped? Lees apparently told Falconio to carry on driving and they had argued about this. In this case he could have been there for more than a week. This is hardly the action of a man eager to commit rape.

The prosecution placed great emphasis on the fact Murdoch was in a service station near Alice Springs on the night of the alleged murder, and that this is close to where the 'crime' took place. However, Alice Springs is well over one hundred miles away from Barrow Creek and therefore Murdoch's presence at the service station does not actually implicate him in any way to the crime. The media has commented on how Murdoch was known to be in 'the area' at the time of the incident. The same newspapers had, at the time of Falconio's disappearance, claimed the area was massive. Some stated that the area in which Falconio's body could be is twice the size of England.

In December 2005 Murdoch was convicted of Falconio's murder. At a pre-trial hearing the defence determined that Lees had been having an affair, even though she denied this until confronted with evidence. A number of witnesses said they had never seen Murdoch with a gun and did not think he had any interest in guns. Meanwhile Falconio's body has still not been found.

I intend to write a book about this case. Not from a miscarriage of justice angle, but merely showing the inconsistencies in Lees' evidence and the facts on this high-profile case to determine whether murder has occurred and to see whether Murdoch is Falconio's murderer. At this moment in time I do not have an opinion over whether Murdoch is guilty or innocent. I am merely of the opinion that there are many, many questions surrounding the evidence of the only witness in this case; Joanne Lees. I am pleased that Murdoch is appealing against his conviction because I am not convinced justice has prevailed.

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