Backpacker hurled to her death

A young British backpacker has been thrown off a bridge to her death in a horrific attack while travelling in Australia.

Caroline Stuttle, a 19-year-old student from York, was attacked, robbed and then hurled from a bridge over the Burnett river in Bundaberg, 220 miles north of Brisbane.

Queensland detectives are investigating the possibility she was pushed over the 65ft bridge as her attacker attempted to rape her. They have, however, not discounted the possibility she might have jumped to escape the attacker.

Ms Stuttle lay screaming under the bridge for some time but by the time police arrived she was dead, her mobile phone and handbag missing.

Shortly before the attack yesterday, the teenager had telephoned a friend in Britain to say she was well and happy and having a wonderful time.

Police said she walked from a nearby caravan park across the Burnett Bridge to the town centre to telephone her friend. After the phone call, at about 9.15pm local time, she contacted her female travelling companion on her mobile phone to say she was on her way back to the caravan park.

At 9.32pm, police received an anonymous call reporting screams coming from the bridge, which crosses the Burnett River, from a woman motorist. Ms Stuttle's body was finally found at

11.50pm. One local resident said: "It was terrible, you could hear her screaming in the darkness. None of us slept all night."

Her distraught friend told police Ms Stuttle was carrying a grey bag and a mobile phone when she was last seen but a search failed to find either.

Detective Inspector Jeff Oliphant, leading the murder hunt, said Ms Stuttle was small in stature and it was thought she was robbed and thrown from the bridge, said by locals to be a notorious spot for robberies and attacks. He said her flipflop shoes were found on the ground on the opposite side of the bridge to where the body was found.

He appealed to the woman who reported hearing Ms Stuttle's screams to come forward, along with other passing motorists who may have witnessed the attack. They could have vital information which could lead to the killer.

Ms Stuttle was wearing a beige knee-length corduroy skirt and a light blue hooded jumper at the time. A former student of Huntington Comprehensive and York sixth form college, she had been in Australia for two months while travelling around the world.

She and her friend arrived in Bundaberg for the annual citrus and tomato-picking season where backpackers traditionally earn money to finance further travels. The resort is an integral part of the backpackers' route around Australia.

At her home in Huntington, near York, an unnamed relative said her parents Alan and Marjorie were "too upset to talk to anyone". A Queensland police spokeswoman said: "There was no evidence she had been sexually assaulted, or shot or stabbed. The investigation is focusing on the possibility she was robbed and died from injuries suffered from being thrown from the bridge."

A post-mortem examination is due to be carried out tomorrow.

MAP: Where the tragedy happened