The killer of British backpacker Peter Falconio has died. Bradley John Murdoch, who was convicted in 2005 of murdering Falconio, 28, and assaulting his girlfriend Joanne Lees at gunpoint, died after being moved to palliative care last month.
Falconio and Ms Lees, both from Yorkshire, were travelling across the country in a camper van when they were ambushed by Murdoch on the Stuart Highway, an isolated road that runs through the centre of Australia, on 14 July 2001.
Murdoch was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for at least 28 years.
Murdoch, 67, was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer in 2019 and was moved to palliative care from Alice Springs Correctional Centre last month, according to local media reports.
The Northern Territory Government Department of Corrections said on Tuesday that there had been a death in custody and the coroner would be informed.
Falconio and Ms Lees had been driving near the tiny settlement of Barrow Creek, around 300km (188 miles) north of Alice Springs, when Murdoch pulled up beside them claiming to have seen sparks coming from their van.
He shot Falconio in the head as he inspected the vehicle, before forcing Ms Lees into his vehicle and binding her wrists with cable ties.
She managed to escape, hiding in the Outback for hours before flagging down a passing truck.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Murdoch was likely to have disposed of the backpacker’s body somewhere in the vast, remote expanse of desert between Alice Springs and Broome. Despite repeated searches, Falconio’s body has never been found.
Ms Lees, who returned to the UK, told Australian current affairs programme 60 Minutes in 2017 that she still wanted to “bring him home”.
“Pete lost his life on that night, but I lost mine too,” she said. “I’ll never be fully at peace if Pete’s not found, but I accept that that is a possibility.”
Murdoch lodged several unsuccessful appeals over the years, with Australia’s highest court refusing to hear his case in 2007.
Last month police announced a new A$500,000 (about £240,000) reward for information leading to the discovery of Falconio’s remains.
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