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| Falconio, Peter July 2001 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 26 2006, 09:54 AM (753 Views) | |
| monkalup | Jul 26 2006, 09:54 AM Post #1 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Falconio![]() Peter Falconio From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees.Peter Falconio was a British tourist from Hepworth, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire who disappeared in the Australian outback whilst travelling with girlfriend Joanne Lees during July 2001. He was a graduate of Brighton University and was 28 years-old at the time of his disappearance. Although his body had not been found, Bradley John Murdoch was convicted of his murder on December 13, 2005. [edit] Missing person or murder? Lees reported that while travelling at night along the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek (between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek) in the Northern Territory on July 14, 2001, the pair were stopped by a man waving for the couple to stop their car and indicating trouble with their car's exhaust. Falconio got out of the van to help, and shortly afterwards Lees heard a gunshot. She believed that Falconio had been shot dead. At the committal hearing in December 2004 Lees told the court that her assailant then tied her wrists together, put a sack over her head and forced her into his car. She said she escaped from his car and fled into the dark, hiding under bushes, while he tried to find her with a torch and a cattle dog. Falconio's body has not been found despite a massive police search. Some two years after the disappearance, Bradley Murdoch (a man living in Adelaide charged with rape) was found to have a possible connection to Barrow Creek on July 14, 2001. When Joanne Lees identified his photograph as being the man who abducted her, and DNA from Lees's body matched that from Murdoch, Murdoch was charged by police and extradited to the Northern Territory for trial. [edit] Trial of Bradley Murdoch Main article: R v Murdoch [edit] Summary The jury trial began on October 18, 2005 in the Darwin branch of the Northern Territory Supreme Court, where Bradley John Murdoch from Western Australia was tried for the murder of Falconio and assaults on Joanne Lees. The trial concluded on December 13 with the conviction of Murdoch on all counts. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 28 years. Police mugshot, Bradley John Murdoch.Northern Territory Director of Public Prosecutions Rex Wild, QC, has said in court there are three pieces of evidence linking Murdoch to the scene of the crime. His DNA was a match with bloodstains on Joanne Lees's t-shirt, a smear of blood on the gearstick of the couple's car, and DNA located on tape used by the killer to bind her wrists. These assertions have all been disputed by Murdoch's defence team, who are Grant Algie and Mark Twiggs. To cope with the demands of the trial and the huge media contingent covering the trial proceedings, the Darwin branch of the Northern Territory Supreme Court was refitted at a cost of AUD$900,000 [1]. [edit] Main people in the trial Judge: The Hon. Brian Ross Martin, Chief Justice Prosecutor: Northern Territory Director of Public Prosecutions Rex Wild, Queen's Counsel Defence lawyers: Grant Algie and Mark Twiggs Main Prosecution Witness: Joanne Lees Defendant: Bradley John Murdoch Also see: James Hepi - the man Murdoch says framed him. [edit] Evidence heard in the trial [edit] Prosecution evidence On October 17, 2005, Lees positively identified Murdoch as her attacker - but only after seeing his image on a BBc website - and described how he stopped their van, then spoke with Falconio. Lees claims to have heard a gunshot, then Murdoch appeared at the door, threatened her with a gun, bound her, and put her in the back of his four-wheel drive. Murdoch was a supplier of marijuana across Australia, and was on a drug run from Sedan, South Australia, to Broome, Western Australia at the time of the offence. The blood on the side of the road has been confirmed to be that of Peter Falconio. An Aboriginal woman saw a car speed away from Barrow Creek shortly after the attack. This woman was the only person who could account for the existence of a second vehicle on the night of the attack. Forensics were unable to find any bullets or evidence of any bullets being fired at the scene of the crime, either in the van or on the ground nearby. Joanne Lees had stated that she heard a gunshot, which she believed was Falconio being shot. Prosecution argued that the evidence of a shot may have been wiped away by police while dusting for fingerprints. An expert in gun manufacture demonstrated how a bullet can lodge in the skull and have no exit wound, with no evidence of it being fired, if it was fired directly in to the skull from close range. Witnesses told how Murdoch was a serious drug dealer. James Hepi, the man who Murdoch often travelled with to export marijuana from one part of Australia to another, told how Murdoch regularly carried a hand gun with him on such trips. The judge ordered that the jury ignore evidence given by this man, because he was verified to be an unreliable witness. A former girlfriend of Murdoch said how in July 2001 after a drug run, Murdoch told her that he had to "get rid of someone" on the drug trip. Defence called this person an unreliable witness. Prosecution said that it proved guilt. The judge ordered the jury to ignore her evidence. The same former girlfriend said that in her opinion Murdoch matched the description originally given by Lees, and that he was the killer. The judge ordered the jury to ignore her evidence. Police spent over six days covering a 300,000 square metre area with metal detectors to try to find a murder weapon, but were unable to find anything.[2] An expert forensic anatomist said that Murdoch was almost certainly the person who was captured by video at the Alice Springs truck stop in the early hours of July 15, 2001, just hours after the murder of Peter Falconio. Defence argued that this footage could have been of anyone. The judge ordered the jury to dismiss defence arguments and to accept the prosecution statement that the man in the video was in fact Murdoch, but stressed that this alone was not enough to convict Murdoch of the murder and that it only counted as circumstantial evidence. The man who was captured by close circuit television at the Alice Springs truck stop left the truck stop just minutes before police arrived to buy food and drink. After Falconio's story was on the news, Murdoch boasted to friends about how he would be able to easily make hand ties from cable wires, and explained how someone would be able to attack Joanne Lees and kill her, and get away with it. Defence argued that this was merely Murdoch explaining a hypothetical. Prosecution argued that that was effectively a confession of guilt. A console operator told the court that he was working at an Alice Springs service station the night Mr Falconio disappeared in July 2001. He said a tall man with a slim build and a moustache driving a white four-wheel drive came to the petrol station and bought fuel, ice, a milk drink and water. Prosecution argued that Murdoch went to Barrow Creek along the Stuart Highway, murdered Falconio and assaulted Lees, before heading back to Alice Springs, then leaving to go to Broome via the Tanami Highway. Defence argued that Murdoch would not have made a diversion via Barrow Creek, 280 kilometres away, and then gone back to Alice Springs afterwards before heading back out again. Defence argued that Murdoch did not go via the Stuart Highway at all. Several eye witnesses, including a mechanic who helped to make modifications to Murdoch's vehicle, state that he had major modifications made to his car in August 2001, just weeks after the offence. Murdoch had previously offered to sell a gun to a woman he had met while travelling on the Nullarbor Plain. Experts suggested that road conditions across the Top End of the Northern Territories were good on July 14 and July 15, 2001, making it possible to complete the trek from Alice Springs to Broome in less than sixteen hours; while Murdoch, in fact, had twenty hours to drive back after he killed Falconio. The canopy of the vehicle captured on closed circuit television at the Alice Springs truck stop was visible, and a man who fitted a canopy on Murdoch's vehicle prior to the murder suggested that it may have been the one that he fitted. A man who shared a house with Murdoch at the time of the murder has testified that Murdoch had a gun with him. Narcotics experts have testified that people who are regular users of speed, like Murdoch was, are capable of driving up to thirty six hours with high levels of concentration, as Murdoch would needed to have done, in order to have committed the murder yet still been in Fitzroy Crossing less than twenty hours later. Four people independently approached police prior to Murdoch's capture suggesting that he was the man that killed Falconio. Murdoch admitted that he was a drug dealer. Murdoch admitted carrying firearms, stating that they were for protection. Several of Murdoch's friends thought that he was the man pictured in the CCTV images from the Alice Springs truck stop. [edit] Defence evidence Joanne Lees admitted to having cable ties in the back of her Kombi, but has denied that she used the ties to bind herself. [3] Both Falconio and Lees were heavy users of marijuana, and occasional users of ecstasy. Lees and Falconio had a joint just 20 minutes prior to the offence. Defence argued that Lees may have been stoned at the time of the offence. Murdoch, Falconio and Lees were all positively identified at the same fast food restaurant in Alice Springs on the night of the alleged attack, which defence argues accounts for the DNA match, as Lees and Murdoch may have bumped in to each other. The maximum speed of Lees's Kombi van was 80 km/h, yet for the times she gave to police to be correct, she would have had to drive at 176 km/h. Lees admitted having an affair, without Falconio's knowledge, with a man named "Nick" from Sydney. Closed circuit television image of Bradley John Murdoch, at the Alice Springs truck stop.The DNA on the hand ties that were used to tie Joanne Lees has been contaminated by poor police procedure and could not be used as evidence. Specifically, the hand ties were taken to Yatala Labour Prison in Adelaide, where Murdoch was held in November 2002 and shown to him prior to DNA tests being conducted on the hand ties, leaving a good opportunity for Murdoch's DNA to be left on the hand ties. Prosecution and police claimed that this did not happen, but the judge ordered, during the April 2005 Voir dire, that the DNA from the hand ties could not be used in court. Murdoch does not own a cattle dog, the dog said to have been with Lees's attacker. Murdoch owns a dalmatian cross. Prosecution argued that either Lees confused Murdoch's dalmatian with a cattle dog or that Murdoch borrowed a cattle dog for the crime. Murdoch did not closely match the description initially given to police by Joanne Lees in July 2001. Prosecution argued that Murdoch radically changed his physical appearance to conduct the crime. The description of Murdoch's vehicle vastly differed from the description initially given to police by Joanne Lees in July 2001. Prosecution argued that Murdoch also changed his vehicle's description to conduct the crime. Several pieces of evidence, including lip gloss and black tape were not found until three months after the offence. Defence argued that this means that the evidence was planted. Prosecution argued that they may have simply been hard to find. The doctor who examined Lees after the incident found that she had no head wounds consistent with being punched in the head, as she had claimed had happened. Lees and Falconio were positively identified at a remote road house between Alice Springs and Barrow Creek just hours before the alleged attack, completely changing the timeline of events. Joanne Lees continues to deny being at the road house. Falconio was in Australia on a work visa [4] and had been incorrectly taxed by his Australian employers as if he was an Australian resident. As a result, were he to lodge a tax return, he would have owed money (approx $3,000 – $5,000). On the day of his disappearance, he had made inquiries to England about how to avoid paying the money back, and also had asked about how to fake his own death. An anonymous informant had called police in April 2002 to provide them with evidence in relation to this. Police had dismissed the evidence as inconclusive. The forensic laboratories that conducted all DNA testing in this case was not up to accreditation standards and hence all DNA tests were "unofficial". Defence argued that all DNA tests could not be used, as DNA from some samples could have ended up on others, and that that, combined with the question mark about the validity of the DNA found on the hand ties and the t-shirt, meant that the DNA could not be used. Prosecution argued that the state of the forensic laboratories was only technically below standard and that it would be impossible for any contamination to occur. Forensics confirmed that the likelihood that Murdoch's DNA matched that found on the hand ties used to bind Lees and the t-shirt that Joanne Lees was wearing when found was in the order of 100 million to 1. However, the hand ties could not be used in evidence because of contamination from the laboratory, and specifically because three DNA profiles were found on the hand ties – Murdoch's, that of one of the forensics team, and a third unknown person. The DNA on the t-shirt does not appear to be contaminated, however the general contamination of the forensics laboratory is under question from defence, as was the claim that Murdoch and Lees could have bumped in to each other at an Alice Springs fast food restaurant prior to the alleged attack. The search for Peter Falconio has continued from July 14, 2001 until as recently as October 2005. The search has thus far not found any trace of him, other than the blood found at the scene of the crime. Some broken branches and three foot prints were also found in the search, but the broken branches were believed to probably be from Lees sitting down, and the three foot prints have not been attached to anyone. Bradley MurdochThe sketch artist used by police to help Joanne Lees was inexperienced in police work. A footprint expert has confirmed that the four unidentified footprints found at the scene of the crime do not match Bradley John Murdoch, but belong to someone else. Murdoch believes that he was set up by his former business partner James Hepi. Murdoch says that he refuelled at Fitzroy Crossing at 8 p.m. on July 15, which would have meant that for him to have committed the murder at midnight, he would have had to have travelled 1,700 km in 20 hours (avg speed 85 km/h) if he drove non stop from midnight to then, travelling along the roughest country imaginable. Murdoch further states that for him to have been the man caught in Alice Springs at 3 a.m. on July 15, he would have to have travelled 2,000 km in 17 hours (avg speed over 100 km/h). Murdoch claimed that James Hepi planted Murdoch's DNA on evidence to help police to frame him for the murder. Murdoch's vehicle does not have a second compartment, where Lees says she was pushed in to; nor would it be possible, had the vehicle been of the variety implied, for a person to be pushed from the front section into the rear. Murdoch says that he had modified his vehicle before the offence, and continued to make modifications to the vehicle up until the time of his arrest in September 2002. He states that this was a hobby "Some might call it an obsession." - as well as an attempt to avoid detection by narcotics border patrols (with regard to his drug-smuggling activities.) Several eye witnesses said that Murdoch regularly changed his vehicles in an obsessive way, as he was a mechanic, and that this had started over a decade before the crime in 2001. It has been reported that Murdoch admitted to have "dobbed in" former drug dealing business partner James Hepi to police for drug running. Murdoch displays several notable physical attributes. One of which is the absence of upper front teeth. This was apparently caused by him working as a truck driver and taking amphetamines in 1997. Every person who knew Murdoch described this as "unmistakable" and that any description of Murdoch would focus on it. In Lees's 2001 description of her attacker, she did not mention anything about Murdoch's teeth. Defence claimed that this meant that Murdoch could not have been her attacker. Prosecution argued that Murdoch could have worn false teeth or capped teeth or that Lees merely didn't notice the absence of front teeth. Murdoch sold drugs to a woman along a remote stretch of Australia, with her following close behind him, doing lines of speed with her every hour, suggesting that this may have been how Falconio and Lees knew Murdoch. Two shop owners in Bourke, New South Wales, testified that they served Falconio with another man on 22 July 2001, eight days after his murder. However, their testimonies contradict each other in that they both claim to have served him, and they each gave different descriptions of what Falconio looked like. Murdoch was positively identified by four separate people as being in Fitzroy Crossing 20 hours after the time of the murder. Defence lawyer Algie claimed that James Hepi took cigarette butts smoked by Murdoch to give to police so as to extract DNA to frame Murdoch. Murdoch was interviewed by police three months after the murder in relation to James Hepi's drug smuggling, when police asked him about his car, but police did not connect the car's appearance to the description given to police by Lees. Bradley MurdochThe police officer in charge of the case has denied that he planted DNA on hand ties when taking them to Yatala prison in Adelaide to see Murdoch, and insisted that the hand ties were never shown to Murdoch, and not removed from the bag, in spite of being taken all the way to Adelaide so as to aid in an interview with Murdoch in relation to them. Police officers took notes saying that Lees' kombi van had shelves, and show Lees' signature. Lees denied making the statement and says that she cannot remember saying that to police. Murdoch claimed that he was 370 miles away in Yuendumu at the time of the alleged offence. Murdoch and his defence lawyer Grant Algie demonstrated how Murdoch could not have been the man captured in close circuit television at the Alice Springs video, and that his vehicle did not match the vehicle in the video. 10 people independently approached police after Falconio's disappearance saying that they saw him alive. A number of Falconio's personal items have never been recovered. Lees phoned a friend in New Zealand 2 hours after she had earlier claimed to have done, thus putting the time of Falconio's disappearance back by 2 hours. Lees has admitted to earlier saying something that was not true. A police officer has admitted receiving cigarette butts from Murdoch's former co-drug dealer James Hepi, that he gave to police in order to frame Murdoch. The police officer denied accepting the cigarette butts, however, and denies that police agreed to frame Murdoch. A forensics expert has said that Murdoch was not the man in the CCTV video at Alice Springs truck stop, as Murdoch's build was far larger. A forensics expert has said that the methods used to try to extract DNA from the hand ties was incorrect, and clearly showed that it was not Murdoch's DNA. Murdoch accused the prosecutor Rex Wild, QC of playing dirty tricks to make him look guilty. [edit] Defence closing argument Grant Algie and Mark Twiggs, lawyers representing the accused, Bradley John Murdoch, argued the following: Peter Falconio faked his own death, and that when Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees stopped by the side of the road near Barrow Creek, it was to meet with a third man, of description unknown, in order to take Peter Falconio away, alive. Police planted evidence, with the assistance of Murdoch's former drug running partner James Hepi, who had "both motive and opportunity" to frame Murdoch, after Murdoch had been central to Hepi's arrest. They pointed to the absence of blood at the crime scene, to the mix ups with DNA, the lack of a body, the sightings of Falconio in the days thereafter, the inconsistency of Lees' testimony, the poor police procedures in handling evidence, and the lack of a positive identification of Bradley John Murdoch. They suggested that sometimes, from time to time, for reasons best known to themselves, people just disappear. That sometimes they are found again, sometimes not. [edit] Prosecution closing argument Rex Wild QC stated that this is what really happened: Bradley John Murdoch saw Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio while in Alice Springs, and believed that they were following him. So he drove behind them as they travelled along the Stuart Highway, and then stopped, so as to get rid of them, because he feared that they may be spying on him and may contact police in relation to his drug running. After stopping them, he panicked and killed Peter Falconio, making sure that there was no blood anywhere by making a shot directly to his head, then abducted Joanne Lees, binding her with cable ties, and putting her in the back of his vehicle. Once in the back of his vehicle, Murdoch was trying to dispose of the body when Joanne Lees escaped in to surrounding shrubland. Murdoch then searched for her with his dog and a flashlight, but after five hours of searching he gave up. Murdoch then buried Falconio in a place unknown in the Central Australian outback, wrapping Falconio's head with Lees' denim jacket so as to prevent any blood getting in the vehicle. Then Murdoch panicked, and, rather than driving through the bush straight to Broome, he drove all the way back to Alice Springs, where he was spotted on close circuit television at the truck stop, getting supplies before heading out to Broome, where he travelled non stop at great speed, taking amphetamines to keep himself awake and alert. Murdoch then altered his physical appearance as well as his vehicle's appearance so as to avoid detection, and immediately stopped running drugs because he feared that he might be linked to the murder. Mr Wild suggested that there was no evidence whatsoever of any police corruption, and urged jurors to dismiss any suggestions as an unfounded conspiracy theory that was "plucked out of thin air". He has suggested that all of the evidence points to one obvious conclusion - that Murdoch killed Falconio. He stated that whilst no body has been found yet, it will be eventually, that it was only a matter of time, but that it "may be quite some time". Mr Wild stated that Joanne Lees should be expected to have mild discrepancies with Murdoch's appearance, such as the length and colour of his hair, not noticing his teeth, the description of his car and dog, and other inconsistencies, because Lees was under a lot of stress and pressure during the incident. Mr Wild asked the jury to ignore the evidence of the sightings of Peter Falconio and to dismiss them as not accurate, highlighting discrepancies in the stories of the various people who said to have seen him alive in the days after the attack. Mr Wild stated that the DNA did match, and that there was no chance that it was not Murdoch's DNA,a and hence the jury must find him guilty. Mr Wild said that Murdoch was a methodical killer, and that the crime was premeditated to "get rid of" someone, and suggested that he may have thought that Lees was travelling alone, since Falconio was asleep in the back when she drove by. He suggested that the methodical actions to get rid of any evidence suggesting he did it, as well as quickly getting away suggests the act of someone with extreme premeditation, and that it is the work of an obsessive methodical person, a man just like Murdoch. Mr Wild asked the jury to ignore coincidental evidence that seemed to suggest that Murdoch didn't do it, stating that he had ample time to change the evidence to fit the story, to later suggest that he didn't do it. [edit] Chief Justice Brian Ross Martin's summation Chief Justice Brian Ross Martin, the trial judge of the trial, made the following instructions to the jury: "How you approach the evidence is a matter entirely for you. There are many issues that have been raised for your consideration. You may or may not find it necessary to resolve all the issues. You may or may not be able to resolve all of the issues. You must put aside the flamboyant suggestions of counsel that we do not need experts from the mother country to teach us colonials a thing or two," "Please put aside all the hyperbole and concentrate on the evidence before you. That's why you look at all the evidence, not just the experts. The question to be considered by you is whether you are satisfied the accused's blood came to be on the T-shirt in the course of attacking Miss Lees. Are you satisfied that the DNA came to be on the item because of contact in the course of the accused attacking Miss Lees? Or is it a reasonable possibility that the DNA came to be on the item through an innocent contact, or through some form of contamination either deliberate or accidental?" The judge said that, if the jury was satisfied that the blood came from Mr Murdoch, the Crown put the case that it was deposited while he was attacking Miss Lees. "Ladies and gentlemen, if that's your view, if you are satisfied the Crown's submission is correct, and you are satisfied that the man who attacked Miss Lees killed Peter Falconio, then the Crown will have proved its case of murder," "You must not reason that, because of those other activities, the accused is the type of person who is likely to have committed the offences charged. It provides the setting for the accused's travel and explains why he was on the road that weekend. If, from a consideration of all the other evidence, you are satisfied it was the accused and his vehicle at the truck stop, it will follow that you are satisfied that the accused has not been truthful with you and others," [edit] Media related links In early 2005 a film made in Australia, Wolf Creek was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and shown on national release in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 16 September 2005. It was released in Australia on 3 November 2005 (apart from the Northern Territory, where it will be released after the trial has finished), so as to not unduly influence the jury. The film is meant to be based on 'true stories', although the producers have said that it is not directly linked to any specific stories. Many media outlets have suggested that it is based on the 1989-1992 backpacker murders and the Peter Falconio disappearance, whilst the 1992-1999 Snowtown murders has been suggested because of the manner with which the people were killed. [edit] Red Rooster alibi During Murdoch's committal hearing, Lees mentioned that she and Falconio had stopped at a Red Rooster restaurant in Alice Springs. Murdoch claimed to have stopped at the same restaurant to buy chicken for himself and his dog - "First thing in Alice, pulled into the Red Rooster... Chicken roll, box of nuggets for Jack... Full chicken for the trip." Grant Algie suggested that Murdoch might have cut himself and inadvertently left blood at the restaurant which later transferred to Lees' shirt, explaining the presence of his DNA there. In April 2006, The Bulletin reported that Murdoch had refused to be served chicken while incarcerated during the committal and trial, claiming he was allergic to it, and that he has a standing medical certificate at Berrimah Prison requesting that he never be served chicken.[5] |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:30 PM Post #2 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=2355452005 Falconio 'may have staged disappearance in Outback' BRITON Peter Falconio may have staged his own disappearance in the Australian Outback more than four years ago, a murder trial jury was told today. Barrister Grant Algie raised the prospect that Mr Falconio, of Huddersfield, could still be alive as he summed up the defence case at the trial of Bradley Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia. Murdoch denies murdering Mr Falconio, 28, and abducting and assaulting his girlfriend Joanne Lees after flagging down the couple's orange camper van on a remote stretch of highway on July 14, 2001. Mr Algie told the jury at the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin that "from time to time people disappear themselves for reasons best known to them". The trial was adjourned until tomorrow and the jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict early next week. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:34 PM Post #3 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=2359132005 Falconios weep as court told body will be found THE parents of murdered backpacker Peter Falconio today wept as a court heard one day their son's body would be found. Rex Wild QC, made the statement as he opened the prosecution's closing arguments in the case against drug runner Bradley Murdoch. Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia, denies murdering Mr Falconio and abducting and assaulting his girlfriend Joanne Lees. Mr Falconio's parents, Joan and Luciano, of Huddersfield, cried in the public gallery as Mr Wild referred to suggestions made by the defence that Mr Falconio could have faked his own death. Mr Wild said: "He's not disappeared himself, as in my learned friend's description, he has been disappeared by Bradley Murdoch." Mr Wild also said of Murdoch: "He has been very dismissive of other human beings." |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:36 PM Post #4 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=2368012005 DNA 'provides damning evidence' in Falconio case RHIANNON EDWARD DNA samples linking the drug-runner Bradley Murdoch to the disappearance of Peter Falconio are "powerful, damning evidence" that he killed the British backpacker in the Australian Outback, a court was told yesterday. Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia, denies murdering Mr Falconio and abducting and assaulting his girlfriend, Joanne Lees, on a remote stretch of road about 200 miles north of Alice Springs in July 2001. But matches to his DNA were found on the blood-stained T-shirt worn by Miss Lees on the night in question, inside the manacles used to restrain her and on the gear-stick of the couple's camper van that was allegedly moved by her assailant, the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin heard. Rex Wild, QC, prosecuting, said: "It really is the linchpin in this case. "Any one of these might be capable of an innocent explanation, but the strength of the three separate pieces of DNA comes not from looking at them alone, but from looking at them together." The case continues. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:37 PM Post #5 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=2376412005 Judge tells Falconio jury to put aside their emotions THE judge in the murder trial of British backpacker Peter Falconio has urged jurors to put aside their emotions as they begin the task of considering their verdict. In his summing up, Chief Justice Brian Martin said although the evidence was "very distressing" jurors must begin to assess the case "objectively" and "dispassionately". Bradley Murdoch, 47, denies murdering Mr Falconio in 2001, and attacking and kidnapping his girlfriend Joanne Lees. The Australian jury has listened to two months of evidence in the Darwin court. Mr Justice Martin was forced to pause momentarily as the victim's mother fled the courtroom in a distressed state. He had been talking about the lack of a trail of blood and human tissue at the scene of the alleged murder on a remote stretch of highway near Barrow Creek, 200 miles north of Alice Springs. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:39 PM Post #6 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=2400642005 Falconio killer jailed for life WESLEY JOHNSON DRIFTER Bradley Murdoch was today jailed for life for murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio in the Australian Outback. The jury at the court in Darwin also convicted him of abducting and assaulting Mr Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees. Murdoch, 47, had denied killing Mr Falconio on an Outback highway in July 2001. It took the 12 members of the jury eight hours to find Murdoch guilty after a 37-day trial which saw a total of 85 witnesses give evidence. Murdoch was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the minimum term to be set at a later date. He flagged the couple down in their orange camper van on the Stuart Highway, about 200 miles north of Alice Springs. He then shot Mr Falconio dead, before threatening Miss Lees, 28, of Brighton, with a gun to her head and tying her up with her hands behind her back. She managed to escape and hide in the bush for more than five hours before being rescued, but Mr Falconio, also 28, of Hepworth, Huddersfield, was never seen again and no body has been found. The trial had heard how a catalogue of mistakes by police and forensic scientists hampered the hunt for the killer. Vital evidence was contaminated, while officers missed key clues at the scene of the attack and made the only witness feel pressured, vulnerable and "not entirely safe" during the first few days of her ordeal. Statements also had to be taken repeatedly after computer errors and mistakes by officers meant they were lost. Inside the court Miss Lees, who had been the victim of smears ever since her boyfriend's disappearance, sat shaking in the public gallery as the jurors returned to their seats. Mr Falconio's brother Paul, of Huddersfield, placed his arm around her shoulder for support and as the jury's verdict was read out, Miss Lees cried into Paul's shoulder. Sitting in front of them, Mr Falconio's parents Joan and Luciano, of Holmfirth, Huddersfield, held hands and turned around to shake hands with their sons Paul and Nick. In the dock, Murdoch, wearing a blue shirt, showed no emotion as the jury's verdict was read out nor when he was sentenced to life imprisonment. The judge told Murdoch: "You have been found guilty by a jury of the crime of murder. "There is only one judgment that is practised by the law in the Northern Territory and that is imprisonment for life." Murdoch's lawyer Grant Algie told the court he had been instructed to appeal. The jury in Darwin was not given details of Murdoch's police record. Although it was revealed during the trial that he was a drug smuggler, he was also a gun-obsessed thug who repeatedly claimed the police framed him for violence and sex offences. He was also obsessed with the Falconio case. Murdoch was arrested for Mr Falconio's murder by police investigating the rape of a 12-year-old girl - a crime Murdoch was cleared of two years ago. In November 2003, he was found not guilty of charges of rape, false imprisonment and assault following the case, which had several similarities to Mr Falconio's murder. Prosecutors had alleged that Murdoch raped a 12-year-old girl before abducting her and her mother "for insurance" while in a state of drug-fuelled paranoia that police were framing him in the Falconio case. During the 25-hour ordeal at Swan Reach, in Riverland, South Australia, in August 2002 Murdoch allegedly denied killing Mr Falconio, but admitted having one of his T-shirts, the South Australia District Court heard in October 2003. The court heard Murdoch told the mother and daughter, who thought they were Murdoch's friends, that he was "on the run" because the police had framed him. The jury trying Murdoch for murder heard he had put black cable ties around Miss Lees's wrists and tried to put tape around her legs, but she kicked out and he was unable to tighten it. Miss Lees also told the murder trial that her attacker was driving a white four-wheeled drive vehicle, similar to a Toyota Landcruiser, which had a dark-coloured canopy over its rear. Two years earlier, the alleged rape victim, who was 13 when she gave evidence, said Murdoch had a white Landcruiser with a green canopy. Miss Lees's attacker covered her head with a sack during the attack and tried to tape her mouth shut. The 13-year-old girl said she was blindfolded while her mouth was taped. Murdoch had a violent past and had already served 21 months in jail for shooting at a group of Aborigines he claimed were harassing him |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:40 PM Post #7 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=2403952005 Murdoch gets life for backpacker murder STEPHEN MCGINTY A VIOLENT drug smuggler was yesterday found guilty of murdering Peter Falconio, the British backpacker who vanished on a remote stretch of desert road in the Australian Outback four years ago. Bradley John Murdoch, 47, was also convicted of abducting and assaulting Joanne Lees, Mr Falconio's girlfriend, in the attack which took place on the Stuart Highway, near Barrow Creek, about 200 miles north of Alice Springs, on 14 July, 2001. Yesterday, Miss Lees, who has endured years of suspicion since the attack to which she was the only witness, asked Murdoch to reveal the location of Mr Falconio's body. Murdoch, a mechanic, had flagged down the couple, who were touring the Outback in a camper van. He then shot Mr Falconio, threatened Miss Lees with the gun and tied her hands behind her back. During the struggle Murdoch left a DNA stain on Miss Lees' T-shirt. Miss Lees was able to escape and then hid before being rescued by a passing lorry driver. After an eight-week trial at the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin, the jury yesterday delivered a unanimous guilty verdict on Murdoch who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Chief Justice, Brian Martin. Outside the court Miss Lees, 32, a care worker from Brighton, stood side-by-side with Mr Falconio's parents and two brothers and urged Murdoch to reveal what he had done with her boyfriend's body. She said: "I would like Bradley John Murdoch to seriously consider telling me, Joan and Luciano [Mr Falconio's parents] what he has done with Pete." This is considered unlikely as Murdoch's lawyer, Grant Algie, told the court he had been instructed to appeal. After the trial it emerged that Murdoch was obsessed by guns, and also with the Falconio case. It also emerged that he was arrested for Mr Falconio's murder by police investigating the rape of a 12-year-old girl. In November 2003, he was found not guilty of charges of rape, false imprisonment and assault following a case which had several similarities to Mr Falconio's murder. Prosecutors had alleged that Murdoch raped a 12-year-old girl before abducting her and her mother "for insurance" while in a state of drug-fuelled paranoia that police were framing him in the Falconio case. During the mother and daughter's 25-hour ordeal at Swan Reach, in Riverland, South Australia, in August 2002, Murdoch allegedly denied killing Mr Falconio. Murdoch had told the mother and daughter, who thought they were his friends, that he was "on the run" because the police had framed him. Two years later, the jury trying Murdoch for murder heard he had put black cable ties around Miss Lees' wrists and tried to put tape around her legs, but she kicked out and he was unable to tighten it. He tried a similar method of binding the 12-year-old girl. Miss Lees also told the murder trial that her attacker was driving a white four-wheeled drive vehicle, similar to a Toyota Landcruiser, which had a dark-coloured canopy over its rear. Two years earlier, the alleged rape victim, said Murdoch had a white Landcruiser with a green canopy. Miss Lees' attacker covered her head with a sack during the attack and tried to tape her mouth shut. The girl said she was blindfolded and her mouth was taped. Officers who arrested Murdoch discovered weapons inside his van, including a high-powered rifle, and night vision goggles . They also discovered a jockey whip, five pairs of disposable gloves and two long handled shovels. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:42 PM Post #8 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=2411862005 28 years for murderer of Peter Falconio BRADLEY MURDOCH, the drug runner who killed British backpacker Peter Falconio, was told today that he must serve at least 28 years in prison before being considered for parole. Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia, was jailed for life for murdering Mr Falconio and abducting and assaulting his girlfriend Joanne Lees on a remote highway in the Australian Outback on July 14, 2001. Jailing him today, Chief Justice Brian Martin told the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin that Murdoch was a "cold-blooded" killer whose prospects of rehabilitation were minimal. He said Murdoch had shot Mr Falconio in the head after flagging down the couple's orange camper van on the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek, about 200 miles north of Alice Springs. The judge also praised Miss Lees' courage as he sentenced Murdoch to four years for depriving her of her liberty and two years for unlawful assault with aggravating factors. All three sentences will be served concurrently. Murdoch showed no emotion as he was jailed. The court also heard Murdoch had been given a suspended three-month sentence in 1980 for causing death by dangerous driving in South Australia. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:44 PM Post #9 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=2408212005 Why is the jury still out on Lees? EMMA COWING DARWIN IN December is a hot, sluggish place. Temperatures in the Australian city regularly soar to a narcotic 34C, driving flocks of fruit bats into the banyan trees and leaving the normally packed outdoor cafés deserted. Last week, drawn into the suburbs by the oppressive, tropical heat, a two-metre-long saltwater crocodile was found prowling the streets. No surprise, then, that its residents seek the cool, dark solace of the cinema. In particular, townspeople have been booking tickets for Wolf Creek, an Australian movie that did particularly well at this year's Sundance Festival and opens in Australia this Friday. It tells the story of three backpackers whose car breaks down in the middle of the Outback. When a man in a towtruck comes to rescue them, it becomes clear that he isn't what he seems, and the tourists find themselves in a tense and terrifying struggle for their survival. One, albeit temporary, Darwin resident unlikely to be reserving herself a front-row seat is Joanne Lees, the girlfriend of missing British tourist Peter Falconio. This week, following a two-month trial, Bradley Murdoch was jailed for life for Falconio's murder. Wolf Creek, billing itself as being based loosely on real events, appears so closely tied to the events of Falconio's murder that authorities in the Northern Territory asked distributors to delay its screening until the conclusion of Murdoch's trial. But the film marks the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the mini-industry that has sprung up around the events of 14 July 2001 on Stuart Highway near the town of Barrow Creek. There are five books competing to reach the shelves of bookshops in the UK and Australia. Among them is Bloodstain: The Vanishing of Peter Falconio, by Daily Mail writer Richard Shears, who has covered the story from the very beginning. The last chapter reached his publisher at 2am yesterday morning, following the Falconio verdict, and it goes on sale on Monday. Shears, who clearly believes the jury reached the wrong decision, has been updating the book as the trial has gone on. According to his publisher, the book will leave readers "questioning the verdict". Then there is Sue Williams, whose 100,000 word book And Then the Darkness will be published in January, and who claims to have spoken to many of Lees's close friends, family and colleagues. "I have gained a really well-rounded view of her, what she is like and how she has coped with her ordeal," Williams says. She has also had extensive access to police records, and promises her book will be a "gripping read". It is not only writers and journalists who have jumped on the Falconio bandwagon. Robin Bowles, an Australian former private investigator, spent more than 50 hours visiting Murdoch in prison and even staged a re-enactment of the attack as part of her research. Her book, Dead Centre (the name refers to the fact that the spot where Falconio was killed is only a few miles from the geographical heart of Australia), will also hit the shelves next week. But what of Lees herself? She claims not to have been involved in the research of any of the books, going as far as to tell reporters on the steps of the courthouse following this week's verdict that "there are several books about these events due for publishing after the verdict. I want to say for the record that the authors of these books have not spoken to me." One person Lees did speak to, how-ever, was the reporter Martin Bashir. In March 2002 Lees was paid Ł50,000 for an interview in which Bashir accompanied her to the outback. She complained that police in Darwin virtually accused her of murder, and she herself accused a police officer of not believing her story of how she had managed to move her bound hands from behind her back to her front. Whether she will now give a tell-all interview to another sympathetic journalist is unclear. According to Greg Philo, research director at the Glasgow University media unit, it depends on who she is currently dealing with: "She may have an agent, which would help if she's trying to make a sizeable amount of money, but she would need to be careful. It could backfire if she asks someone for too much - she could end up just looking like a greedy person." There is, however, rumour and counter-rumour as to what Lees is currently involved in. Some Australian newspapers are convinced she has collaborated on at least one of the five books heading for the shelves. Meanwhile David Lightfoot, the veteran Australian producer behind Wolf Creek, was clearly miffed at the Northern Territories Prosecutions' demand not to screen the film until the Falconio verdict had been given. "This is filmmaking, it's not a documentary," he sniped in October. "The Brits are making a movie up in the Northern Territory, with Joanne Lees co-operating." For a woman who has had such a thorny relationship with the media, any decision to co-operate with them at this stage may seem a strange one. This relationship started 11 days after the attack, when she allowed only one cameraman and a reporter into a press conference in Alice Springs. She wore a tight pink vest with the words "Cheeky monkey" emblazoned across the chest, a move deemed "inappropriate". Other reporters had been allowed to submit questions for the conference they couldn't attend but only three questions - all dealing with the way the media had handled the case - were answered. She said: "No-one doubts me. It is only the media who have questioned my story." It was the start of a rocky relationship. Since then her every move has been scrutinised, her choice of clothing, hair and makeup criticised, her story called into question. Lees met Falconio in a nightclub in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, back in 1996 and began living with him the following year in Brighton, where Falconio was studying at university. They moved to nearby Hove, where she found work as a travel agent for Thomas Cook, and began to plan their dream trip abroad, which so notoriously ended in tragedy. In the months following Falconio's death Lees stayed in Australia, returning to Dymocks, the Sydney bookshop she had worked in when she and Falconio had first arrived in the country. She slipped back into the UK before Christmas 2001, staying with her parents near Huddersfield before moving back to Hove. For months she drifted, but eventually fell back into her old job as a travel agent with Thomas Cook. Tragedy was to strike again only two years after Falconio's murder, when her mother, Jennifer, a sufferer of rheumatoid arthritis, died aged just 54. Not long afterwards Lees left Thomas Cook and took a job with a voluntary organisation, helping people with learning difficulties. Through all this, the media hounded her. She has moved at least four times to different rented rooms in Hove. "It's almost as if she behaves like a fugitive," an acquaintance told a newspaper before the trial started. She is likely to return to one of those rented rooms and her care-worker job. She will have been inundated with offers from television companies, newspapers and magazines offering big bucks for her side of the story. Philo believes that if she wants to cash in, she'll need to do it soon: "The public's memory goes fast. There's no longer a constant series of revelations, and the story's likely to be obliterated by Christmas." Whether or not she chooses to tell her story while that window is open remains to be seen. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:46 PM Post #10 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=44512006 Falconio killer lodges appeal against jailing THE drug runner who killed British backpacker Peter Falconio in the Australian Outback more than four years ago launched an appeal against his conviction today. Bradley Murdoch was told he must serve at least 28 years without parole last month after a jury found he shot the 28-year-old in the head before abducting and assaulting his girlfriend, Joanne Lees, at gunpoint on a remote stretch of highway about 200 miles north of Alice Springs, on July 14, 2001. Murdoch's lawyer, Ian Read, lodged the appeal documents with the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin today and sought leave to appeal against the conviction in the Court of Criminal Appeal. Murdoch's barrister during the trial, Grant Algie, indicated Murdoch's intention to appeal within minutes of the jurors returning their guilty verdict. The verdict vindicated Miss Lees, a 32-year-old support worker, from Brighton, East Sussex, who has faced constant smears since her boyfriend disappeared. During the trial she said she had had nightmares about being jailed, had been more scared of being raped than of dying during the attack, and said her dreams of marrying Mr Falconio had been destroyed. Mr Falconio's mother, Joan, of Holmfirth, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, said Murdoch's actions had torn her family apart. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:47 PM Post #11 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=203872006 Falconio killer to appeal Bradley Murdoch, the drug-runner who killed British backpacker Peter Falconio in the Australian Outback more than four years ago, was given leave yesterday to appeal against his conviction and sentence. He was sentenced to at least 28 years without parole in December. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:48 PM Post #12 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=449342006 Girlfriend signs deal for book on Falconio killing BRITISH backpacker Joanne Lees, who survived an Outback attack that resulted in the murder of her boyfriend Peter Falconio, today said she had signed a deal to write a book about the ordeal. The Australian deal comes three months after former truck driver Bradley John Murdoch was convicted of killing Falconio and assaulting Lees in July 2001 after Murdoch flagged down the British couple on a remote highway. Prosecutors said Falconio was shot in the head. His body was never found. Prosecutors said Murdoch threatened Lees with a gun, punched her in the head and bound her with cable-ties. Lees testified she managed to escape and call for help after flagging down a passing truck. Publisher Hodder Australia today said it had struck a deal for the "definitive book" on the attack, to be published in September. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:50 PM Post #13 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=453002006 Falconio girlfriend signs to 'tell all' on Outback killing RHIANNON EDWARD THE British backpacker Joanne Lees, who survived an Outback attack that resulted in the murder of her boyfriend Peter Falconio, yesterday said she had signed a deal to write a tell-all book about the ordeal. The Australian deal comes three months after Bradley John Murdoch, a former truck driver, was convicted of killing Mr Falconio and assaulting Ms Lees, 32, in July 2001 after he flagged down the British couple on a remote highway pretending to need help. Mr Falconio was shot in the head but his body has never been found. Murdoch also threatened Ms Lees with a gun, punched her in the head and bound her with cable-ties. Ms Lees managed to escape and call for help after flagging down a passing truck. In Darwin, publisher Hodder Australia yesterday said it had struck a deal with Ms Lees for the "definitive book" on the attack, to go on sale in September. "My intention is simple - to take the reader on the same journey I took, and have them experience the real truth of it," Ms Lees said in a statement. The publisher declined to say how much Ms Lees had been paid to write the book. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:53 PM Post #14 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=2337882005 Falconio trial hears DNA doubts JOHN INNES TESTS showing that DNA found on handcuffs used to tie up backpacker Joanne Lees was 100 million times more likely to have come from the defendant than anybody else were "dangerous" and "pushed science to the limits", a forensic expert in Australia said yesterday. Dr Katrin Both said she did not accept the technique used to link Bradley Murdoch with the attack on Miss Lees and the alleged murder of her boyfriend Peter Falconio as a valid scientific method. The evidence came as the defence closed its case. The trial, which has heard from 85 witnesses and seen about 350 exhibits over seven weeks, was adjourned until Monday to give counsel time to prepare their closing speeches. Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia, denies murdering Mr Falconio, and abducting and assaulting Miss Lees, on a remote stretch of highway in the Australian Outback, on 14 July, 2001. Dr Both, a part-time scientist at the forensic science service in Adelaide, told the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin that she had "a large number of concerns" about the "low copy number" DNA technique used by Dr Jonathan Whitaker, a senior forensic scientist with the UK's Forensic Science Service. "I think it [the method] is very dangerous," she said. "He's pushing science to the limits." But during cross-examination by Anthony Elliott, prosecuting, she admitted that Dr Whitaker's results could have been independently verified, if defence counsel had chosen to. Dr Both also admitted that Dr Whitaker's "negative controls" in this case were clear, which she agreed suggested that there were no spurious results. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 06:55 PM Post #15 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=2294652005 Petrol workers 'saw Falconio' TWO staff from an Outback petrol station today told a court they believe they saw British backpacker Peter Falconio days after police said he was murdered by a lone gunman 930 miles away. Robert Brown told the Northern Territory Supreme Court that a man he believes was Falconio bought a chocolate bar and drink at his service station in Bourke, western New South Wales state, eight days after the Briton was allegedly murdered. It was not immediately clear why Brown and his girlfriend Melissa Kendall, who also testified that she served Falconio, were called as witnesses by prosecutors. Mechanic Bradley Murdoch, 47, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Falconio, whose body has not been found, and assaulting and abducting Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees. The trial continues. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 07:03 PM Post #16 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=628842004 Falconio accused 'spoke of getting rid of body' AN Australian truck driver charged with murdering a British tourist on an outback highway in 2001 had talked to a business associate about the best way to get rid of a body, a court heard today. The business associate also told the court that the truck driver took regular trips across the Outback, with one coinciding with Peter Falconio’s murder. Bradley Murdoch, 45, is charged with murdering the 28-year-old on a highway north of Alice Springs in the central Australian outback on July 14, 2001. He is also charged with abducting Falconio’s girlfriend, Joanne Lees, who managed to escape and flee into the Outback. The magistrates court hearing in Darwin will determine whether there is enough evidence to send Murdoch to trial. Murdoch has not entered a plea. James Hepi, Murdoch’s one-time business associate, told the court today that after July 2001, Murdoch started talking to him about the best way to dispose of a body. Hepi also told the court that he saw Murdoch making handcuffs out of cable ties after July 2001. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 07:04 PM Post #17 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=592&id=564752004 Outback hijacking victim 'feared for her life' RHIANNON EDWARD BACKPACKER Joanne Lees told police in Australia she feared she was going to be raped and killed after she and her boyfriend were flagged down by a gunman on an isolated Outback road. Her statement was read to a court as a mechanic was charged with the murder nearly three years ago of Peter Falconio, who disappeared leaving only a pool of his blood on the road. The disappearance and suspected killing of Mr Falconio, who has not been seen since he stopped his orange Volkswagen camper van for another motorist and apparently was murdered on 14 July, 2001, remains one of Australia’s most perplexing crimes. Security guards flanked the mechanic, Bradley John Murdoch, 45, as he sat in a specially designed courtroom in the northern port city of Darwin for a committal hearing, which is expected to last about six weeks. "Barrow Creek is an isolated community in the red centre of Australia. Joanne Lees became aware of that isolation when she was the subject of a terrifying ordeal on the Stuart Highway," Rex Wild, prosecuting, told a magistrates court in Darwin. Mr Wild said Mr Falconio and Ms Lees, his girlfriend of six years, were driving near the isolated community in central Australia after dark when they were flagged down by a man driving a white pick-up truck. Ms Lees, from Brighton, East Sussex, heard him tell Mr Falconio that sparks were flying from the exhaust on his vehicle. Mr Falconio stepped away from the van, never to be seen again by Ms Lees, Mr Wild told the court. She heard a bang before the man appeared at the driver’s side window brandishing a pistol. The man punched her, then bound her arms with homemade handcuffs and placed a bag over her head, Mr Wild added. "What do you want? Is it money? Is it the van? Just take it. Are you going to rape me?" Ms Lees allegedly asked her assailant. The gunman replied: "Shut up and you won’t get shot." Ms Lees asked the gunman if he had shot Mr Falconio. The gunman responded: "No," Mr Wild said. The man dumped Ms Lees in the back of his truck. Despite the handcuffs, she managed to escape by sliding off the back of the vehicle when it started moving. She then hid in the desert scrub for several hours until she felt sure he had gone, Mr Wild said. She eventually flagged down a passing truck and was taken to the Barrow Creek Hotel in the early hours of 15 July. Forensic tests later found "a quantity of blood" at the crime scene, which had been covered by dirt, that matched the DNA from Mr Falconio’s asthma inhaler, Mr Wild said. The tests showed that a bloodstain on a blue T-shirt worn by Ms Lees matched the DNA of Murdoch. The tests showed the DNA was at least 640 billion times more likely to have come from Murdoch than from an unrelated person picked at random in the Northern Territory. At the end of the current hearing, the magistrate, Alasdair McGregor, will decide whether the evidence is strong enough to merit a full jury trial. Murdoch was not required to enter a plea to charges of murdering Mr Falconio and abducting and assaulting Ms Lees. He sat taking notes as prosecutors outlined the case. He shook his head and sometimes smiled. Murdoch shifted in his seat when two of Mr Falconio’s brothers, Paul, 34, and Nicholas, 36, both from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, entered the court and took seats directly opposite him. Mr Wild, the Northern Territory director of public prosecution, said Ms Lees would give evidence today. Mr Wild told the court that Murdoch was away from his home in the town of Broome, on the north-west Australian coast, at the time of the apparent killing. He arrived back after the date of Mr Falconio’s disappearance and immediately began to change his appearance, apparently in an attempt to disguise himself, Mr Wild said. Murdoch also painted his pick-up truck black. If convicted of murder at trial, Murdoch faces a mandatory life sentence. Mr Falconio’s brother, Paul, was the only witness yesterday, telling the court that he had not heard from his brother since his disappearance. The evidence was aimed at establishing the fact that Mr Falconio was dead and not simply missing. Paul Falconio told the court the close-knit family would have heard from his brother "without any doubt whatsoever" if he was still alive. In the days after Mr Falconio’s disappearance, police using helicopters and riding motorbikes helped by Aboriginal trackers searched an area of the Outback roughly the size of France - hunting for Mr Falconio or his attacker - without any success. The hearing will continue today. Related topic |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Nov 30 2006, 07:06 PM Post #18 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://z13.invisionfree.com/PorchlightEuro...opic=576&st=15& |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| Dianne | Dec 23 2007, 12:08 AM Post #19 |
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Advanced Member
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/23/2126224.htm DNA controversy prompts call for Falconio trial review Posted 8 hours 0 minutes ago Updated 7 hours 52 minutes ago Print Email Add to My Stories DNA controversy prompts call for Falconio trial review Posted 8 hours 0 minutes ago Updated 7 hours 52 minutes ago ![]() The same technique was used to help convict Bradley Murdoch of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio. (File photo) (AAP: Rob Hutchison) Civil libertarians are calling for evidence in the Falconio murder trial to be re-examined because of the DNA controversy in the United Kingdom. After the collapse of a case against an accused bomber in Northern Ireland, England and Wales have suspended use of low copy number DNA testing, pending a review. The same technique was used to help convict Bradley Murdoch of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio in 2001. Lawyers who were involved in defending Murdoch say they will be watching to see the overseas review of DNA testing opens any avenues for him to appeal. Terry O'Gorman from the Australian Council for Civil Liberties says the evidence used against Murdoch must be reviewed. "Mr Murdoch should be immediately given a special grant of legal aid with a special component to examine the forensic evidence," he said. "If there's a serious question mark over it, it should go back to the Court of Appeal and the Court of Appeal should reconsider whether his conviction is safe." Tags: courts-and-trials, cloning-and-dna, australia , nt, |
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All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. ~Edmund Burke | |
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| monkalup | Jul 13 2011, 08:09 AM Post #20 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://www.smh.com.au/national/peter-falco...tml?from=smh_sb Peter Falconio's whereabouts still a mystery Larine Statham July 13, 2011 - 9:41AM Still missing ... Peter Falconio, pictured in his van with Joanne Lees, before they were ambushed by a Bradley John Murdoch. Still missing ... Peter Falconio, pictured in his van with Joanne Lees, before they were ambushed by Bradley John Murdoch. Photo: Reuters Every time bones are discovered in central Australia it arouses suspicion and speculation that the remains of murdered British backpacker Peter Falconio might have finally been found. In one case, police said bones found were part of an Aboriginal grave site, and on other occasions remains have been found to be little more than that of a cow or horse. When Bradley John Murdoch was found guilty of murder in 2005, Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees issued a statement pleading with the Broome mechanic to reveal where he'd disposed of the body. Advertisement: Story continues below Joanne Lees .. worte a book about the ordeal. Joanne Lees ... wrote a book about the ordeal. Photo: Glenn Campbell One year later, while in Australia to promote her book titled No Turning Back, Ms Lees said she had accepted it was unlikely her travelling companion's body would ever be found. Murdoch has consistently denied shooting Mr Falconio alongside a remote section of the desolate Stuart Highway. Mr Falconio and Ms Lees, who were touring Australia in an orange Kombi van, were about 100km north of Ti Tree in the Northern Territory on the evening of July 14, 2001, when a man in a white four-wheel-drive gestured for them to pull over. Bradley John Murdoch ... denies killing Peter Falconio. Bradley John Murdoch ... denies killing Peter Falconio. Photo: Bryan Charlton Ms Lees gave evidence that Mr Falconio got out of the van to talk to the man, before she heard what sounded like a car backfiring. Ms Lees was threatened with a gun, punched and restrained with cable-tie handcuffs before escaping and hiding among the spinifex for hours, until she waved down a passing road train. What followed the ordeal was a long legal battle and a public dissection of the lives of many of those directly involved in the case. To mark the 10-year anniversary of Mr Falconio's disappearance, Woman's Day this month described how Ms Lees, now 37, was still the victim of gossip, spite and innuendo. Ms Lees reportedly told the magazine she and Mr Falconio's family felt it would be wrong to keep talking about it. "The anniversary is obviously difficult for us and the best approach is for us to deal with it in our own way, out of the spotlight," she said. While a real-life drama played out in the NT Supreme Court, outside the building there were rumours Ms Lees was having an affair and had played a part in the disappearance of her partner of six years. A woman who owned a Kombi van came forward saying she was the intended target of the drug runner's highway ambush. Some claim Mr Falconio is still alive and that he conspired with Murdoch to disappear just hours after being told he had a large tax debt. Countless support groups that claim Murdoch is the victim of a police set-up have been established on social networking websites, such as Facebook. There are those who support Murdoch's claim that finding Mr Falconio's body would help exonerate him, while others say it would finally end the many rumours and conspiracy theories. Justice Dean Mildren's book titled Big Boss Fella, All Same Judge, which was released this year to mark the centenary of the NT Supreme Court, contains a chapter about the legal saga. Justice Mildren said many questions had been raised over the years about the reliability of the DNA testing that helped convict Murdoch, but that it wasn't the only evidence against him. He said Murdoch's 28-year non-parole period was upheld at appeal because "no substantial miscarriage of justice had occurred". Murdoch was arrested in November 2003 in relation to Falconio's disappearance, after a jury in South Australia acquitted him of raping and falsely imprisoning a 12-year-old girl. There were several similarities between the two cases, including the use of cable ties. DNA matching Murdoch's profile was found on the make-shift handcuffs worn by Ms Lees, as well as on her T-shirt. Experts said the chance of the DNA donor being someone other than Murdoch was less than one in 13,000. The orange Kombi was located by police about 100 metres off the highway, not far from where bloodstains that matched Mr Falconio's DNA profile were found. Ms Lees identified Murdoch in a photo board examination and it was established Murdoch, who was known to carry guns in his vehicle, was in the area at the time of the murder. However, Murdoch gave evidence that on the night in question he was driving through the Tanami Desert to Broome in Western Australia. Justice Mildren said that finding the body, although unlikely, would clear the matter up completely. "If Peter Falconio was shot, the body is likely to have marks on the skeleton showing there was a bullet," he said, adding that the discovery of a slug could help identify the murder weapon. "Then it would not just be beyond reasonable doubt but beyond any doubt at all." In recent years, many people have come forward claiming to know the whereabouts of Mr Falconio's body. Everyone has their reasons for wanting to find Mr Falconio - perhaps, no one more so than Murdoch, who will be 73-years-old by the time he is eligible for parole. Such a discovery could cement his conviction, or prove what he's maintained all along. The fact that Mr Falconio's body remains hidden in the desert is a sobering reminder to many that their loved ones who have disappeared in central Australia over the years may never be found. That same simple fact, coupled with suggestions the real murderer is still on the run, offers little comfort to the many tourists who travel by road through the heart of Australia each and every year. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/peter-falco...l#ixzz1RzTO9Ymm |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jul 13 2011, 08:14 AM Post #21 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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Timeline: Falconio still missing after 10 years July 13, 2011 - 9:41AM November 15, 2000: Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees set off from their English home on their round-the-world trip. January 16, 2001: The couple arrive in Sydney on the Australian leg of their holiday. June 2001: Mr Falconio and Ms Lees set off on their driving trip around Australia in their 30-year-old orange VW Kombi van from Sydney, travelling through Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Port Pirie, Coober Pedy and Alice Springs. Advertisement: Story continues below July 14, 2001: The tourists attend the Camel Cup in Alice Springs, Mr Falconio visits an accountant, and Ms Lees uses the internet, before they continue their journey north up the Stuart Highway in the afternoon. July 14, 2001, 6.20pm: They stop at Ti Tree, north of Alice Springs, to buy fuel and watch the spectacular red centre sunset and share a marijuana joint. About 100km or so up the road, a man in a white four-wheel drive waves the Kombi over, and Mr Falconio disappears, believed shot dead. Ms Lees is threatened with a gun, punched and restrained with cable-tie handcuffs before escaping and hiding in the bushes for several hours, until she waves down a passing road train. July 15, 2001, around 1am: Truck drivers take Ms Lees to the Barrow Creek Hotel, where they call police. July 15, 2001: NT police launch a search for Mr Falconio and the gunman. They find a pool of Mr Falconio's blood covered with dirt beside the highway near Barrow Creek. October 15, 2001: Police officers on an orientation visit to the site uncover more evidence - tape used to restrain Ms Lees and her lip gloss tube - apparently missed during a police search three months earlier. Early 2003: Some 2,500 people have been identified during the long police investigation as "persons of interest". November 14, 2003: Broome mechanic Bradley John Murdoch is charged and faces Darwin Magistrates Court over Mr Falconio's murder. May 17, 2004: A committal hearing into the charges is heard in Darwin Magistrates Court over three weeks, resuming for a further two weeks in August, 2004. August 18, 2004: Murdoch is committed to stand trial in the NT Supreme Court on the charges. May 2005: Authorities send a portion of the cable-tie restraints to the United Kingdom for specialist DNA testing, which finds a DNA sample 100 million times more likely to have come from Murdoch than anyone else. October 17, 2005: The Northern Territory Supreme Court trial begins into Mr Falconio's murder. December 13, 2005: Murdoch is found guilty of murdering Mr Falconio, assaulting Ms Lees and depriving her of her liberty. He is given a mandatory life sentence and minimum 28-year non-parole period. December 12, 2006: Lawyers for Bradley John Murdoch begin a three-day appeal against his conviction and sentence in the NT Court of Criminal Appeal in Darwin. January 10, 2007: Three judges in the NT Court of Criminal Appeal unanimously dismiss his appeal. February 28, 2007: Human bones found about 100km southwest of the service station where Murdoch refuelled hours after killing Mr Falconio are described by police as probably belonging to a missing Aborigine. June 21, 2007: Murdoch's application for special leave to appeal in the High Court is denied. August 4, 2007: A prison guard reportedly tells News Limited Murdoch is doing it easy in a minimum security section of Darwin's Berrimah prison. August 15, 2007: Media reports emerge that Murdoch's family are pushing to have him moved to a jail in Western Australia but the WA government says it has not received any such applications. December 24, 2007: The Age newspaper reports that Murdoch's lawyers will push to have the case reopened after British police suspended their use of so-called low copy number (LCN) DNA testing, which was used in the crown's case against Murdoch. August 25, 2007: NT authorities deny reports that Murdoch had been caught trying to break out of prison in Darwin. Murdoch is transferred from Berrimah Prison to the Alice Springs Correctional Centre. February 15, 2008: With a second more rigorous review of LCN DNA testing underway in the UK, Perth QC Tom Percy, who specialises in the miscarriage of justice, begins examining the legitimacy of the DNA evidence used in Murdoch's trial and possible grounds for appeal. May 27, 2008: The orange van that was obtained as evidence during police investigations is released from the NT Supreme Court basement, and Ms Lees orders that it be destroyed. June 5, 2010: News Limited reporters accompany a clairvoyant, who is adamant she can find Mr Falconio's grave, into Central Australia without success. December 13, 2010: Bones found in a dam 80km north of where Mr Falconio is believed to have been murdered, are forensically tested and found to belong to a large animal and not Mr Falconio. AAP Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/timeline-fa...l#ixzz1RzUVByL9 |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jul 13 2011, 08:18 AM Post #22 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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Falconio killer was 'framed', claims new book By Nick Squires in Sydney Last Updated: 4:03pm BST 02/10/2007 Australian police framed the truck driver imprisoned for murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio, a new book has claimed. Former trucker Bradley Murdoch was convicted in 2005 of shooting dead Mr Falconio and attempting to kidnap his girlfriend Joanne Lees on a desert highway in the Northern Territory. Crime writer Robin Bowles alleges in a new book that an NT police officer told her during Murdoch's trial in Darwin: "We know he wasn't the shooter. But he's going down for it." "I was talking to him saying, how can you charge this guy [Murdoch] with this stuff, if you don't even know Falconio has been shot?" Melbourne-based Ms Bowles said. "All we have is Joanne Lees saying she heard a bang... subsequently she says she saw a silver pistol pointed at her, but police have never been able to find this pistol. It's a huge leap of faith to say that Falconio's been shot." Telegraph.co.uk |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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