December 13, 2005

Australian guilty of Briton’s outback murder: jury

DARWIN (Reuters) - An Australian jury found a truck driver
guilty on Tuesday of murdering British tourist Peter Falconio
and abducting his British girlfriend on a lonely stretch of
outback highway in 2001.

Australian Bradley Murdoch flagged down Falconio and Joanne
Lees, claming smoke was coming from the back of their van, as
they drove along the Stuart Highway in Australia's Northern
Territory in July 2001, the court was told during the trial.

The prosecution said that when Falconio went to the rear of
the van, Murdoch shot him, but his body was never found. Lees
told the court Murdoch then put a gun to her head and bound her
wrists with homemade handcuffs, but she escaped into bushes.