By David Crowe, Josefine Ganko and Penry Buckley
The parents of Peter Falconio have expressed relief at the death of Bradley John Murdoch, who murdered their son when the British backpacker was travelling in the Australian outback with his girlfriend Joanne Lees in 2001.
Luciano and Joan Falconio said they felt a weight had been lifted after hearing on Wednesday in Britain that Murdoch had died after spending the past 24 years in prison.
While the killer never revealed where he hid the backpacker’s body, the Falconios said they still hoped the remains would be found one day.
Bradley John Murdoch is led through the compound at the back of the Adelaide Magistrates court on November 13, 2003.Credit: Associated Press
“Upon hearing that Bradley John Murdoch had died, our first feeling was of relief, it’s like a weight that’s been lifted,” they said in a statement to Australian reporters from their home in Yorkshire.
“We are only forced to think about him now that he’s died, we don’t want to let him ruin our lives more than he already has.
“The awful thing is our family’s future with Peter was cruelly taken away. Today we instead focus on the three children we have left and our grandchildren.
“We didn’t have much faith, but we were hoping Bradley John Murdoch would reveal where Peter was before he died. But even now, we still hold out hope that his remains will be found.
“Finally, we wish to express our profound thanks to the Northern Territory Police for the support and continuing efforts to investigate our son’s murder.”
Murdoch, one of Australia’s most notorious killers, died in custody in the Northern Territory, as his family claims he was “much more than the headlines” despite his murder conviction.
Joanne Lees, 27, and Peter Falconio, 28, in their campervan in an undated picture.
Murdoch, 67, was serving a life sentence for the murder of Falconio, who was 28 when he was killed in 2001.
The convicted murderer’s death from throat cancer in the palliative care unit at Alice Springs Hospital ended the Falconio family’s hope that he would finally disclose where the backpacker’s body was dumped.
Murdoch was convicted of murdering Falconio, and assaulting and attempting to kidnap Lees. The young couple, both from Yorkshire, had met in 1996 and had travelled through Asia before their trip across the Northern Territory.
A representative for Lees said on Wednesday that all requests for interviews had been declined with no comment in response to Murdoch’s death.
Lees said in 2006 that she could not say goodbye to Falconio or hold a ceremony until his body was found.
“I would love to be able to take him home and have him near his friends and family in England,” she told the ABC that year, when her autobiography, No Turning Back, was published.
A statement shared by Murdoch’s lawyer on behalf of his family lamented that he was known “only for the events that led to his conviction” despite always denying responsibility for Falconio’s death.
“When given the opportunity, Brad was a devoted father, father-in-law, and proud poppy who never missed a chance to brag about his grandchildren.”
The statement continued that Murdoch was “well liked and respected by fellow inmates” and that he was a “gentle giant with a heart of gold”.
“Above all, he was someone who, no matter the circumstances, always extended a helping hand to those around him.”
The family claimed Murdoch had been working on a petition for mercy, a last-ditch attempt to be pardoned from his sentence after exhausting all his appeals.
“He was deeply loved. He will be deeply missed,” the statement concluded.
But the former Northern Territory police officer who led the investigation, Colleen Gwynne, said Murdoch’s “prolonged refusal” to cooperate with police to provide the information needed to find Peter Falconio’s body had caused “agony” for the Falconio family.
“It’s something that’s with them every day ... and you can hear it in their voice,” she told ABC’s News Breakfast on Wednesday.
Police say Falconio was shot on a remote stretch of the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek, about 300 kilometres north of Alice Springs, in July 2001. Falconio’s blood was found where police believe he was murdered before his body was moved.
Lees told police that at about 7pm on July 14, 2001, the pair became aware that a car was following them as they travelled north up the Stuart Highway towards Devil’s Marbles in their orange Kombi van.
Driving a white Toyota 4WD ute, Murdoch gestured at Falconio, who was driving the van, to pull over, which he did. Murdoch then told Falconio he’d seen sparks shooting out of the Kombi’s exhaust.
Lees was sitting in the front of the parked van when the two men went to examine the exhaust, and she heard a loud bang. Murdoch then appeared in the front window, brandishing a silver handgun, which he pointed at Lees’ head.
“I just kept thinking this was not happening to me. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. I felt alone. I kept shouting for Pete and thought I was going to die,” Lees told the jury at Murdoch’s 2005 trial.
“I was more scared of being raped than being shot by the man,” she said.
Murdoch moved Lees to his vehicle and tied her wrists behind her back, punching her in the head as she struggled. Murdoch then became distracted, with Lees reporting that she heard “gravel scraping on the ground, as if he was moving something”.
Lees slid out of the vehicle, dropped to the ground and scrambled to a hiding spot behind a bush where she stayed for up to five hours in the dark. Once she was sure Murdoch was gone, she flagged down a truck that took her to Barrow Creek.
A widespread manhunt was launched and the search for Falconio’s body began. The case received intense media interest, both in Australia and the UK, with Lees facing particular scrutiny over her recounting of the attack.
The murder is cited as one of the inspirations for the 2005 Australian horror film Wolf Creek.
The first breakthrough came early in the investigation when a man reported that Bradley John Murdoch was responsible for the crimes.
Murdoch was under arrest in South Australia, facing charges over the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl and her mother. A DNA sample was taken in the hopes it could be linked to evidence found at the Northern Territory crime scenes.
While Murdoch has always maintained his innocence, his defence was ultimately undone by his decision to keep an elastic hair tie that belonged to Lees, which an officer had noticed wrapped around Murdoch’s holster in a search of his possessions. Gwynne speculated to the ABC in 2016 that he might have kept it as a “trophy”.
In 2003, Murdoch was acquitted of the South Australia rapes and immediately rearrested and extradited to the Northern Territory, where he was charged with Falconio’s murder.
In 2005, Bradley John Murdoch was convicted of murdering Falconio, and assaulting and attempting to kidnap Lees. He was serving a life sentence in Alice Springs prison with a non-parole period of 28 years when he died.
A court sketch of Bradley John Murdoch giving evidence during the trialCredit: Liz Howell
“Your conduct in murdering Mr Falconio and attacking Ms Lees was nothing short of cowardly in the extreme,” Northern Territory Supreme Court Justice Brian Martin said in his sentencing.
Murdoch never revealed the location of Falconio’s body, and under the Northern Territory’s 2016 “no body, no parole laws”, he may have never been granted parole.
On Wednesday, Gwynne told the ABC Murdoch’s refusal to disclose the details of what he had done with Falconio’s body was evidence of his “narcissistic” personality.
“The night that Joanne escaped and we lost Peter, he lost control. And as a result of that, he felt wronged, and he felt angry.
“[His way] to gain some control was to never cooperate, and to have that power over the Falconio family by not disclosing any details of what he did with Peter to allow us to narrow that search.”
Murdoch twice appealed to overturn his convictions, but was unsuccessful.
Born in the West Australian town of Northampton in 1958, Murdoch spent most of his life in Broome working as a mechanic.
Murdoch had a history of violent crime, serving time in a Western Australian jail in the mid-1990s for shooting at a crowd of Aboriginal football fans.
As with all deaths in custody, Murdoch’s death will be investigated by the Northern Territory Coroner.
On Tuesday this week, Luciano Falconio pleaded for assistance in locating his son’s body so that Peter could be buried while he and his wife are still alive.
“I still hope, yeah I still hope, but I don’t know if we [will] live long enough”, he told News Corp.
“I wish I could find him and make an end to it, bury him.”
Luciano Falconio and Peter’s brother Paul visit the bush crime scene on July 19, 2001, five days after the murder.Credit: AAPIMAGE
In a statement, NT Police said it was “deeply regrettable” that Murdoch had died without ever disclosing the location of Peter Falconio’s remains.
“His silence has denied the Falconio family the closure they have so long deserved. Our thoughts are with the Falconio family in the United Kingdom, whose grief continues,” the statement read.
“The Northern Territory Police Force remains committed to resolving this final piece of the investigation.”
Less than a month ago, NT Police upped its cash reward to $500,000 for information that would lead to the discovery of Falconio’s remains.
“We recognise the passage of time that’s transpired, however it’s never too late to reach out and start that conversation with police,” NT Police Acting Commander Mark Grieve told a press conference on June 25, adding that he still had hope.
“You just never know how beneficial that information that you may hold, may be – essentially, you just don’t know what you know.”
The renewed bid for information was made amid reports that Murdoch was in palliative care in Alice Springs Hospital.
Grieve said Murdoch had never positively engaged with the police despite “numerous approaches” including in the same week.
“There may be someone out there that he’s confided in – whether that’s family and friends – we just don’t know,” Grieve said.
“We think there’s still people out there that may hold some information.”
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