Terror of outback Briton

Backpacker Joanne Lees told for the first time today how she feared she was going to be raped and murdered in the Australian outback.

Her dramatic statement was read to a court in the case of a drifter accused of murdering her boyfriend Peter Falconio.

Ms Lees, 29, told how the killer pulled the couple over in their camper van before shooting Mr Falconio, 28, and then trying to abduct her. She told how she heard a shot ring out and was then bound and hooded by her attacker.

Ms Lees, 29, a travel agent from Hove, revealed that she pleaded for her life and asked her attacker: "Have you shot Peter? Where is my boyfriend?".

She asked him: "What do you want? Is it money? Is it the van? Just take it. Are you going to rape me?" The man replied: "No. Shut up and you won't get shot."

Mr Falconio, from Huddersfield, has not been seen since the incident 200 miles from Alice Springs in July 2001. Police found a pool of his blood in the road.

The couple were on a driving holiday when they were flagged down by a motorist who said they had a problem with their exhaust.

Ms Lees told how Mr Falconio was lured to the back of their camper van. She said she heard a shot and seconds later found herself locked in a struggle with a man who pointed a silver pistol at her head.

Bradley John Murdoch, 48, a mechanic, is accused of murdering Mr Falconio and of the kidnap and aggravated assault of Ms Lees. Her evidence emerged at a pre-trial committal hearing in the Supreme Court in Darwin.

Prosecutor Rex Wild, QC, outlined the case against Murdoch, from Broome, Western Australia, who is not required to enter a plea at this stage. He has always denied the charges.

Ms Lees is likely to be the next witness tomorrow. There has been a delay in the prosecution handing over DNA evidence - which the defence may challenge.

One of the crucial pieces of evidence will be how a spot of blood came to be on the back of a T-shirt Ms Lees was wearing as she attempted to fight off her attacker.

When she appears in court it will be the first time Ms Lees will have come face to face with Murdoch since his arrest almost 18 months ago.

Mr Wild said Ms Lees will give detailed evidence for the first time of her ordeal at Barrow Creek.

She will tell how the stranger pushed a gun into her face and tied her up.

He then put a sack over her head before he bundled her into his truck. She never saw her boyfriend again. Ms Lees managed to move her hands from behind her back to her front and rolled out of the back of the truck.

She cowered in the darkness for seven hours.

Ms Lees later told police how she crouched down, hardly breathing, as the attacker searched for her in vain with a torch.

The man came within a few feet of her several times before giving up the search.

She then heard their camper van being driven away and then the other vehicle being driven off. She was eventually rescued when she ran out in front of a huge lorry which almost ran her down.

Truck driver Vince Millar had to cut her hands free with a bolt cutter before driving her to the nearby Barrow Creek Hotel to raise the alarm.

The first witness to be called today was Paul Falconio, 34, one of Mr Falconio's three brothers.

Paul, from New Mills, near Huddersfield, said the Falconios, including father Luciano and mother Joan, were extremely close. Asked if he or any of the family had heard from their brother since the incident, Paul replied in a firm voice: "Unfortunately not."

He said Peter, who had moved away to work in Sussex after studying at Brighton University, had been in regular touch throughout his travels with Ms Lees.

"My mother had spoken to him only a day or so before the incident," said Paul, who added in answer to Mr Wild that he was in no doubt that they would have heard from Peter by telephone or email if he was alive.

The proceedings which began today are for a magistrate to determine whether there is sufficient evidence against Murdoch.

A trial date will then be set, probably early next year.

At this stage, the defence does not have to present its case in detail.

Ms Lees flew into Darwin just over a week ago with Mark Sanders, one of Mr Falconio's best friends who studied with him at Brighton.