A British tourist whose boyfriend was shot dead in the Australian outback 15 years ago has spoken about her ordeal and revealed how she escaped his killer.
Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio were travelling in a Kombi van on a remote highway in central Australia in 2001 when they were flagged down by Bradley Murdoch.
In what was one of Australia’s most notorious backpacker murders, Murdoch shot dead Mr Falconio, 28, before handcuffing his girlfriend and dragging her into his vehicle.
Ms Lees, kombi Servisi who was 27 at the time, managed to escape, hiding for more than five hours among desert scrub.
Joanne Lees’ (pictured) boyfriend Peter Falconio was shot dead in the Australian outback 15 years ago. She spoken about her ordeal and revealed how she escaped his killer
Ms Lees (right) and Peter Falconio (left) were travelling in a kombi servisi van on a remote highway in central Australia in 2001 when they were flagged down by Bradley Murdoch
Bradley Murdoch (right) shot dead Mr Falconio, 28, before handcuffing his girlfriend and dragging her into his vehicle
The now 43-year-old, originally from the English county of Yorkshire, has returned to the outback and given harrowing details of her ordeal.
‘We were young and carefree,’ she told Channel Nine’s program in an episode due to air next Sunday.
‘We had no idea what was going to happen. We thought we had the rest of our lives together.
‘Pete got out of the Kombi Servisi… Who would expect it to be a gunman? Horror movies have been made about some of the events that happened to me.’
Ms Lees said: We thought we had the rest of our lives together’
A file photo of the camper van that belonged to murdered English backpacker Mr Falconio, in the carpark of the Supreme court in Darwin
Ms Lees, now 43, has returned to Australia and given harrowing details of her ordeal
Ms Lees heard a gun shot but didn’t know if her partner had been killed.
She said her will to escape was driven by the thought that Mr Falconio may not be dead.
Ms Lees fought off Murdoch and made her getaway with ‘the thought that Pete was still alive’.
Mr Falconio’s body has never been found. Flying in a helicopter in the area he was murdered, north of Alice Springs, Ms Lees said: ‘I know that he’s somewhere here.’
The world was suspicious of Ms Lees’ story that Murdoch had shot dead her boyfriend when she appeared emotionless after the incident.
It was later reported that she had taken Valium to numb her grief.
Flying in a helicopter in the area he was murdered, north of Alice Springs, Ms Lees said: ‘I know that he’s somewhere here’
Murdoch, now 58, is serving a life prison sentence in the Northern Territory and has always protested his innocence
The world was suspicious of Ms Lees’ story that Murdoch had shot dead her boyfriend when she appeared emotionless after the incident
‘How could they think that? It was like a stab to the heart,’ she said.
Murdoch was convicted of Mr Falconio’s murder in 2006, largely on DNA evidence which included a spot of Ms Lees’ blood on his T-shirt.
Police later found a pool of blood on the road, but were never able to locate Mr Falconio’s remains.
Murdoch, now 58, is serving a life prison sentence in the Northern Territory.
He has always protested his innocence and insists he can’t reveal where Falconio’s body is because he wasn’t at the crime scene.
It was later reported that Ms Lees had taking Valium to numb her grief. If you have any questions about where by and how to use kombi servisi, you can get hold of us at the internet site. Here she is pictured leaving the Darwin Supreme Court in 2005, after the first day of Murdoch’s trial
