New witnesses to Falconio case

Australian police today revealed new evidence that supports the account by British backpacker Joanne Lees of her abduction and the shooting of her boyfriend Peter Falconio in the outback.

Assistant police commissioner John Daulby, the man leading the hunt for Mr Falconio's killer, revealed accounts by six witnesses.

They spoke of the gunman's truck and the couple's camper van at or near the crime scene around the time of the shooting in the remote Northern Territory last July.

Ms Lees, 27, set off a massive manhunt after telling Australian police that the killer had pulled the couple over before shooting Mr Falconio, 28, and abducting her on the Stuart Highway nearly 200 miles from Alice Springs.

A pool of Mr Falconio's blood was found but his body has still not been discovered. Ms Lees told police how she had been tied up by the gunman but had managed to escape and hide in the bush before raising the alarm.

Although she said she hoped to stay on until Mr Falconio was found, Ms Lees, who claimed that police originally treated her story as a hoax, has returned to Britain.

Mr Daulby produced a series of witness accounts which he said fully corroborated her story. "I'm confident we will catch the killer," he said. He also completely dismissed a report in one British newspaper over the weekend that a man claiming to be a friend of Mr Falconio's had come forward to say that Mr Falconio, from Huddersfield, had staged his own disappearance as part of an insurance fiddle.

Police said there was no evidence to support that claim, made in an anonymous letter to them last February, but that there was considerable evidence to support the case that he was shot dead at Barrow Creek.

Mr Daulby said police investigations showed that Mr Falconio's personal insurance "was insignificant".

Responding to criticisms of Miss Lees's conduct, he also said it was reasonable to expect some inaccuracies in her statement given that she had undergone "extreme trauma".

"Throughout this investigation I have continuously and quite strongly emphasised that police had evidence to support Joanne Lees's story," said Mr Daulby.

"Not only does the evidence we have at the crime scene support her statement but so too do the witness accounts of those that drove past the incident as it occurred."

The police chief added: "Finally, I would like to express my sympathy for Joanne Lees and the family of Peter Falconio, who are the victims in this case and have been under enormous pressure. It is extremely traumatic to lose a son, a partner, or a friend.

"To do so under the world spotlight in circumstances that some find incredible can only be described as a nightmare.

"But our investigation is heading in the right direction and we will not close this case until Peter Falconio's killer is behind bars and we can bring peace to the Falconio family."

A 32-page case review of the investigation showed that despite their lack of success, the investigation team had followed appropriate procedures and was on the right track. Mr Daulby also revealed that police are investigating a similar incident two weeks before the Falconio shooting.