Spotlight on sensational Outback murder case as trial starts

Trucker accused of killing British backpacker

When truck driver Bradley John Murdoch goes on trial in Darwin today he will be the focus of the nation's most closely watched murder case for years.

Murdoch, 46, is accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio on a lonely desert highway in July 2001 before taking his girlfriend captive, only for her to escape into the desert. The case, with its Outback setting and unsuspecting tourists as victims, has already spawned a movie and a handful of books.

Apart from murder, Murdoch is charged with unlawful assault and deprivation of liberty of Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees, 32, from Sussex, England. He has pleaded not guilty and faces life imprisonment if convicted.

Ms Lees' ordeal at the hands of a violent gunman tapped into a deeply held fear of Australia's forbidding desert interior. For parents who have watched their children set off on backpacking trips, it was the embodiment of their worst nightmare.

Murdoch allegedly flagged down the couple in their VW Kombi van on the Stuart Highway, near the isolated settlement of Barrow Creek.

He is accused of shooting dead Falconio and trying to abduct Ms Lees into his truck. She says she managed to escape and evade Murdoch and his dog until being rescued hours later by a passing truck.