Timeline in the disappearance of Peter Falconio

Timeline in the disappearance of Briton Peter Falconio and the murder conviction of Bradley John Murdoch:

Timeline in the disappearance of Briton Peter Falconio and the murder conviction of Bradley John Murdoch:

- 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.

- 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.

- Sunday, July 15, 2001, around 1am - Truck drivers take Ms Lees to the Barrow Creek Hotel, where they call police.

- Sunday, 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 lengthy 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 Northern Territory 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. Murdoch's lawyers consider taking their case to the High Court within an allocated 21 days.