Drifter threw British teen to her death after robbing her of $10
A drifter and former drug addict was sentenced to life in prison yesterday after being found guilty of murdering a British backpacker by pushing her off a bridge after robbing her of A$1.80 ($10).
The verdict came at the end of a three-week trial which attracted huge publicity, particularly in Britain, from where thousands of backpackers head to Australia each year.
Ian Previte, 32, had pleaded not guilty to murdering 19-year-old Caroline Stuttle by forcing her off a bridge over the muddy Burnett River, in the Queensland town of Bundaberg, on the night of April 10, 2002.
Stuttle, from York in northern England, was on a three-month backpacking trip before starting university. She had crossed the bridge to call her boyfriend in England from a public telephone box.
On the way back, at 9.30pm, she was attacked by Previte, who told police he wanted money to buy drugs.
He grabbed her shoulder bag and after a fierce struggle hoisted her, screaming, over the bridge railings, sending her plummeting nine metres to the river bank below. Stuttle's spine was snapped and her skull fractured, killing her instantly.