The man who murdered a British backpacker in the Australian outback didn’t reveal where he buried him before dying of cancer.
Bradley John Murdoch was convicted in 2005 of murdering Peter Falconio, 28, and assaulting his girlfriend Joanne Lees at gunpoint on a stretch of road near Barrow Creek in Australia’s Northern Territory on July 14, 2001.
Peter and Joanne had been driving across the country when Murdoch pulled up beside them on the Stuart Highway, an isolated road that runs through the centre of Australia, claiming to have seen sparks coming from their van.
Murdoch shot Peter in the head as he inspected the vehicle, before forcing Joanne into his vehicle and binding her wrists with cable ties.
She managed to escape, hiding in the Outback for hours before flagging down a passing truck.
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Murdoch was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for at least 28 years, before being diagnosed with terminal throat cancer in 2019. He died at the age of 67 this week.
Northern Territory Police Force said Murdoch did not provide any fresh information about the location of Mr Falconio’s body before his death.
In a statement, the police said: ‘It is deeply regrettable that Murdoch has died without, as far as we are aware, ever disclosing the location of Peter Falconio’s remains.
‘His silence has denied the Falconio family the closure they have so long deserved. Our thoughts are with the Falconio family in the United Kingdom, whose grief continues.’
Police issued an additional appeal to anyne who might know where Peter’s remains are, offering a reward of £243,650.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Murdoch was likely to have disposed of the backpacker’s body somewhere in the vast, remote expanse of desert between Alice Springs and Broome, covering more than 1,200 miles.
Despite repeated searches, Peter’s body has never been found.
Joanne, who returned to the UK, told Australian current affairs programme 60 Minutes in 2017 that she still wanted to ‘bring him home’.
‘Pete lost his life on that night, but I lost mine too,’ she said. ‘I’ll never be fully at peace if Pete’s not found, but I accept that that is a possibility.’
Murdoch lodged several unsuccessful appeals over the years, with Australia’s highest court refusing to hear his case in 2007.
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