Police close in on arrest for Falconio murder

By GREG ANSLEY

CANBERRA - Northern Territory detectives were yesterday preparing to charge a 44-year-old mechanic with the murder last year of British tourist Peter Falconio and the attempted abduction of his girlfriend, Joanne Lees.

The detectives flew to interview Bradley John Murdoch in Adelaide, where he is being held on unrelated charges of abduction and rape of a woman and her 12-year-old daughter.

The move comes after scientific comparison in Darwin of a DNA sample surrendered by Murdoch - after a Supreme Court bid to block the tests was withdrawn - and one from blood found on Lees' clothing.

Although police refused to confirm that the samples had been matched, Northern Territory Assistant Commissioner John Daulby said Murdoch could no longer be excluded from the investigation.

Falconio was killed at Barrow Creek, north of Alice Springs, on July 14 last year.

"We'll be moving towards seeking a warrant for [Murdoch's] arrest at an appropriate time in the not-too-distant future," Daulby said.

"I can say that we have conducted inquiries in a number of states ... and I'm confident we'll achieve that warrant."

The murder of Falconio and abduction of Lees gripped the world after the 28-year-old escaped and hid in the barren Outback from a killer who hunted her with gun and dog.

But, as the killer eluded police for months and searchers failed to find Falconio's body, the British media published accusations the couple had faked the murder.

In a replay of the early campaign against Lindy and Michael Chamberlain - Lindy was jailed then pardoned after a dingo took their baby Azaria on Ayers Rock - Lees was attacked for her apparent lack of emotion and poor recollection.

Lees made no comment yesterday, but her stepfather, Vincent James, told ABC Radio that the apparent DNA breakthrough and police statements about an imminent murder arrest vindicated her.

"Joanne's told the truth all the time. It's just a pity that some people didn't believe her."

Falconio's parents are on holiday in Italy, but his brother Nick said the family would return to Australia after this week's dramatic developments became more clear.

"We'll just play each day as it comes and see what happens," he told ABC. "We will go to Australia, but not yet."

Peter Falconio was on holiday with Lees when their VW Kombi was flagged down in the late evening by a man in a white 4WD utility just out of Barrow Creek, an isolated outpost on the lonely road to Darwin.

Lees told police that Falconio was shot in the head when he inspected the rear of the Kombi.

She said she had been dragged from the Kombi, bound hands and feet with battery cable wires and dumped in the rear of the utility.

When the killer went to get Falconio's body, she managed to escape and run into the mulgra scrub.

She hid for six hours while the killer searched for her with gun, torch and dog.

Eventually she was picked up by a road train and taken to Barrow Creek.

Murdoch, who bears a strong resemblance to a man in an Alice Springs security video issued by police in their hunt for the killer, was among the early suspects, but could not be linked to the crime.

A mechanic and sometime truck driver with a troubled background and a reputation as a hard, gun-loving man, Murdoch was jailed in 1995 after firing shots into a crowd of about 200 Aborigines celebrating a rugby league victory in the northern Western Australian town of Fitzroy Crossing.

After his release he returned to the coastal town of Broome, where he had lived for about 15 years, and later moved in with an expatriate New Zealander from Whangarei, James Tahi Hepi.

Hepi, a cannabis dealer who also owned property in South Australia's Riverland region, is understood to have provided police with important information about Murdoch after he was arrested and charged with drug offences.

Murdoch moved to Hepi's SA property after the Falconio murder, and during his stay is alleged to have abducted and raped the 12-year-old girl and her mother, who lived on a nearby property.

The SA charges, which also include drugs and firearms counts, could delay Murdoch's appearance in a Northern Territory court because he will serve any Adelaide sentence first.