Bradley John Murdoch

Bradley John Murdoch (born 1958) is a convicted Australian murderer, currently serving life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 28 years for the July 2001 murder of disappeared British backpacker Peter Falconio. Murdoch currently resides in Berrimah Prison in Darwin . He will be 74 when eligible for parole. In January 2006, Murdoch lodged an appeal against his conviction.

Early life

Murdoch had previously lived in Broome, Western Australia and worked as a truck driver and mechanic. He was arrested in South Australia during August 2002 and was charged with various offences, one of which was a rape offence involving a 12 year old girl and her mother, for which he was acquitted. During the course of this trial, the South Australian courts ordered a buccal swab be taken from Murdoch for DNA testing, to assist with the prosecution team in the Falconio matter.

Previous convictions

In 1980, aged 21, Murdoch received a suspended sentence after being convicted of causing death by dangerous driving. [1]

In 1995 Murdoch served 15 months imprisonment for shooting at Aborigines who were celebrating at a football match in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia. [2]

Peter Falconio murder

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Murdoch being escorted by members of the Northern Territory Police.

In December 2005, Murdoch was convicted by the Supreme Court in Darwin for the murder of Peter Falconio on a remote stretch of road in outback Northern Territory on July 14 2001. The trial also saw him convicted of other assault-related charges on Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. On December 15, 2005, Murdoch was sentenced to a non-parole period of 28 years in prison.

Murdoch has maintained his innocence. During his trial, defence lawyers claimed that police procedures were not followed correctly, that Joanne Lees' testimony was inconsistent, and that it was impossible for him to have committed the crime. Since his conviction, Joanne Lees has called upon him to reveal the location of Peter Falconio's remains.

Arrest

As a result of amendments to the New South Wales Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act, Murdoch's DNA profile became available for analysis and use by law enforcement agencies outside of South Australia. His DNA was found by a Northern Territory forensic team to match DNA found on Joanne Lees' clothing at the time. Immediately following his acquittal of rape charges, Murdoch was arrested and charged for the murder of Peter Falconio and extradited to the Northern Territory and remanded in custody until trial.

Peter Falconio murder trial

Prosecution evidence

DNA from Joanne Lees' t-shirt when she was found matches Murdoch.
DNA from cable ties that Lees was bound with when found matches Murdoch.
DNA from black tape and lip gloss found at the scene of the crime matches Murdoch.
Joanne Lees positively identified Murdoch first at a UK web site; secondly from a photograph of Murdoch from 12 photographs of men during a police interview in Sussex, England in November 2002; and thirdly on 18 October 2005 during the first day of the criminal trial.
Murdoch was in Alice Springs the day of the attack, and was travelling north towards Broome.
Footage taken on closed circuit television at the Alice Springs truck stop just hours after the alleged crime shows a picture which a forensic anatomy expert has confirmed is Murdoch.
Murdoch's ex-girlfriend says that Murdoch changed his physical appearance dramatically after the alleged crime, and that he had talked about having to "get rid of someone" who he said was following him.
Murdoch's ex-drug dealing business partner says that Murdoch carried a loaded handgun with him during drug runs.
Murdoch had radically modified his vehicle in the weeks following the alleged attack.

Defence rebuttals

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Closed circuit television image of the man alleged to be Bradley John Murdoch, filmed at a roadhouse near to the scene of the crime.

DNA from Lees' t-shirt could have been from when Murdoch and Lees bumped in to each other while at the Alice Springs Red Rooster fast food restaurant earlier that day.
DNA from Murdoch could have been placed on the cable ties when the cable ties were taken to a South Australian prison prior to his arrest. The judge supported this belief, and ruled during the April 2005 Voir dire that the DNA from the cable ties cannot be used as evidence.
The black tape and lip gloss was located over 3 months after the crime, and DNA could have been planted.
The description initially given to police by Lees did not remotely match Murdoch, his car, or his dog.
Murdoch was in Alice Springs, but was travelling to Broome via the Tanami Highway, while Lees and Falconio travelled along the Stuart Highway. Murdoch would not have travelled 280 km out of his way, and then returned to Alice Springs to kill someone he had never met before.
The video footage was blurry and could have been of anyone. The person manning the register at the time could not positively identify Murdoch in the court room. The judge has ordered that this is circumstantial evidence only.
Defence has argued that the ex-girlfriend is an unreliable witness. The judge agreed and ordered that her evidence be ignored. Defence has secondly argued that Murdoch regularly changed his physical appearance to avoid police capture for his drug running.
Defence has argued that the ex-business partner is an unreliable witness. The judge agreed and ordered that his evidence be ignored.
Murdoch denied modifying his vehicle, saying that he did this 2 months earlier, in May 2001. After witnesses confirmed that he had changed it, defence then produced witnesses who stated that Murdoch regularly modified his vehicle because he was an auto mechanic obsessed with changing his vehicle regularly.

Defence evidence

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Bradley Murdoch

Joanne Lees gave incorrect times as for when she left Alice Springs.
Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio smoked a joint of marijuana just minutes before the alleged attack.
Joanne Lees still had the cable ties on her when found, several hours after escaping.
The DNA laboratories used by the forensics team were below standard, and the tests are "unofficial".
The DNA processes used for this case were non-standard.
The DNA on the cable ties was confirmed to include DNA from the senior forensics expert, as well as an unknown 3rd person.
There is no evidence that a gun was shot in the area.
Murdoch had no motive for killing them, as he didn't know them.
Peter Falconio has never been found.
Had Lees been attacked, the area is so remote that there is no way that she could have escaped.
On the day before his disappearance, Peter Falconio called England to ask how much money he owed on his tax return (he had been working in Australia and was taxed as a resident when he should have been taxed as a non resident on a working visa). Finding out that it could be several thousand dollars owed, Peter Falconio asked if there was any way to get out of paying it. Peter Falconio also asked, on the day before his disappearance, about how he would go about faking his own death.
Bradley John Murdoch does not have any front teeth, which were lost in 1997. This was described unanimously as Murdoch's most distinguishable physical characteristic. Joanne Lees did not mention anything about missing teeth when describing her alleged attacker.
Ex-drug runner James Hepi was convicted of drug running thanks to Murdoch's evidence in 2002. James Hepi had motive and opportunity to frame Murdoch for this murder as revenge for Murdoch testifying against Hepi in 2002. Hepi's testimony in this case was proven to be false, and the jury were ordered to ignore it.

Wolf Creek film banned

During the trial the Australian film Wolf Creek was banned in the Northern Territory for the duration of the trial so as not to influence Bradley John Murdoch's trial. Greg McLean the director of Wolf Creek has stated that the film is only partly based on the murder of Peter Falconio and was surprised about the ban. In a recent article Mclean said, "I was surprised because the film isn't really that story."[3]

References