Falconio man may be ordered to give DNA

Police were today launching a legal bid to get DNA samples from the man suspected of abducting and murdering British tourist Peter Falconio.

The move came as it emerged the mechanic Bradley John Murdoch admitted he was the person in a surveillance video circulated by police hunting the killer.

Murdoch, 44, was said to have "seemed agitated" when he denied to a fellow garage worker that he had killed Mr Falconio, 28, who has not been seen since he was shot by a mystery gunman in an outback ambush over a year ago.

Detectives want to examine DNA from Murdoch in case it matches a bloodstain on the T-shirt left by the gunman.

It also emerged Murdoch paid over £2,000 to have the back cover of his four-wheel drive utility truck altered to a metal one. It previously had a canvas cover identical to the vehicle described by Mr Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees. Ms Lees, 28, from Hove, East Sussex, fought with her armed attacker and gave a good description of the gunman to police.

Murdoch matched that description and his vehicle had hidden compartments which contained home-made handcuff-style ties similar to those used to bind Miss Lees.

Murdoch, who is due to face Adelaide magistrates' court today to face unrelated charges of the rape and abduction of two women, faces a legal application from Northern Territory police to use his DNA, which is given voluntarily as evidence in the rape allegations.

Murdoch, from Broome in Western Australia, admitted he was the mystery man with a moustache and black baseball cap who was caught on camera at an Alice Springs petrol station just hours after the outback ambush in which, police believe, Mr Falconio was shot and killed.

Upholsterer Loi O'Dore said Murdoch told him the picture was of him and that he had been "hassled" by police about the British backpacker's suspected murder. He got Mr O'Dore to change the canvas cover on his Toyota Landcruiser for a metal back.

"He told me it was him filling up his car with petrol," Mr O'Dore said. "He said 'I've been hounded by the cops'." Police released the video pictures two weeks after they were taken at the

Shell Truckstop at Alice Springs on 14 July last year when Mr Falconio, 28, and Miss Lees, 28, were ambushed on an isolated stretch of the Stuart Highway at Barrow Creek.

Miss Lees escaped but Mr Falconio has not been seen since and is presumed dead.

Broome detective Bill Black said he went to see Murdoch last November to ask about his whereabouts on July 14 and his vehicle. At the time, he was not asked by police to supply a DNA swab. Murdoch was known to police. In 1995 he was jailed for 21 months for firing rifle shots into a crowd.

James Hepi, 35, who worked with Murdoch at a cattle station in Western Australia, said he arrived back at the station on 16 July. Murdoch told him he had driven "across the desert" along the Tanami Highway from the Stuart Highway. Mr Hepi said Murdoch denied having killed Falconio.

"He wasn't even asked about it," Mr Hepi said. He said that Murdoch seemed somewhat distressed.