Bradley John Murdoch: The real story of how the outback killer was arrested inside an SA courthouse

A rape trial, claims of a set-up, a courtroom dash and a comedy of errors worthy of a Naked Gun movie – this is the real story of how Peter Falconio’s murderer was caught.

• Why Murdoch’s denial defied the facts

His high-stakes, sniper-laden shopping centre carpark arrest has become the stuff of true crime legend, told and re-told through countless books and documentaries.

What those productions miss – and indeed, what has been all-but forgotten in the past two decades – is Bradley John Murdoch’s famous arrest was not for murder.

They also fail to tell the real story – that Murdoch’s final moments of freedom were spent running from two different police forces inside SA’s District Court building.

Advertiser photographer Michael Milnes’ iconic photo of Bradley John Murdoch’s arrest on November 10, 2003, ran on newspaper front pages around the world.

In September 2002, a combined SA/NT Police team surprised Murdoch as he walked through the carpark of Woolworths at Port Augusta.

They called for him to surrender and, thankfully, he did – but only after drawing his gun, then thinking better of his situation.

But Murdoch was not being arrested, at that time, for the murder of missing British backpacker Peter Falconio, nor the false imprisonment of his girlfriend Joanne Lees.

He was the prime suspect, but police in both states lacked the evidence necessary to establish sufficient grounds to bring Murdoch in for those offences.

Instead, Murdoch’s arrest warrant alleged he had violently sexually assaulted a girl, 12, and also her mother after taking them hostage in circumstances similar to the Falconio case.

In the District Court in October 2003, Murdoch pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape, two counts of false imprisonment, two counts of indecent assault and one count of common assault.

Before she sat on the bench, District Court Judge Liesl Kudelka prosecuted Murdoch in SA. Picture: Dylan Coker

Barrister Grant Algie KC acted for Murdoch. Picture: Russell Millard

Opening the heavily-suppressed trial, prosecutor Liesl Chapman – now Judge Liesl Kudelka – alleged Murdoch, a known amphetamine user, had committed the crimes while in a frenzied state.

She told the jury Murdoch tied the girl to a bed for six hours, during which time he raped her.

She further alleged he then abducted the girl’s mother at gunpoint, chained both into the back of his LandCruiser four-wheel-drive, and drove with them for the next 19 hours.

Finally, she alleged, Murdoch sexually assaulted the mother before releasing both outside Port Augusta.

“Mr Murdoch abducted the pair as insurance in case the police caught up with him,” Ms Chapman told the trial.

Those allegations were rejected by Murdoch’s barrister, Grant Algie KC.

His client, he insisted, had “been set-up by a three-state conspiracy wanting to frame him” for the Falconio murder.

The trial’s sole purpose, he claimed, was to get Murdoch’s DNA – sampled from a cigarette butt – into evidence to justify an arrest warrant for murder.

SA and NT Police chased Murdoch through the District Court building to arrest him after his acquittal on sexual assault charges. Picture: Michael Milnes

On November 10, 2003, the jury agreed with Mr Algie and found Murdoch not guilty of all offences – triggering a bizarre, bleakly humorous chain of events.

First, Judge Michael David lifted the suppression orders and told Murdoch he was free to go.

Murdoch, clearly shocked, blinked twice and started to move towards the door of the glassed-in custody dock.

NT Police, who had filled the public gallery, immediately leapt up – climbing over the top of seated journalists – to rearrest their prime suspect.

“Sit down, sit down,” Judge David yelled, “it’s illegal to arrest a person inside a courthouse.”

The officers, cowed and perhaps a little confused, stopped dead in their tracks.

Murdoch did not – he legged it, at full speed, out of the courtroom and onto the third floor of the Sir Samuel Way Building.

With the NT’s finest in hot pursuit and journalists watching on, Murdoch rounded the corner and all but hurdled down the building’s famed marble staircase.

He made it to the middle landing before SA Police – who had been radioed by their interstate brethren – came in from outside, catching Murdoch in a pincer manoeuvre.

Murdoch was handcuffed and marched backwards down the rest of the staircase to the underground cells, where he was formally charged.

The moment Murdoch told a reporter from The Australian to “f--- off”, captured by photographer Michael Milnes.

Milnes’ photos of the arrest were used around the world, but the story of how they came to be has been lost to time and true-crime myth. Picture: Michael Milnes

The bulk of SA’s media moved swiftly to the Gouger St side of the courthouse, where prison vans entered and exited the building.

An NT police officer, however, told The Advertiser’s courts team to “stay outside the front doors” because “we want the world to know we’ve got the bastard”.

As a result, legendary courts photographer Michael Milnes was in prime position to snap Murdoch as he was led out of the building toward a waiting police car.

The rest of the media ran – at about the same pace as Murdoch had – to catch up, just in time for a reporter from The Australian to yell “Mr Murdoch, why did you kill Peter Falconio?”

Murdoch replied: “F--- off.”

“Mr Murdoch wants the media and the public to know that the verdict of the jury is a confirmation of his innocence,” Mr Algie said as his client was driven away.

“His defence has always been that he was falsely accused and set-up … he believes the verdict is a clear confirmation of that.”

Milnes’ iconic photograph, meanwhile, ran on the front page of newspapers around the world the next day.