Murder in the Outback, Channel 4 tonight and next 3 nights

[Chicchicchicchiclana]

Anyone else watching?

I was quite gripped by the first part. I sort of remember the case although I was very caught up in the world of having a new baby when it happened back in 2001 and probably wasn't fully engaged with the news.

I do remember reading several fairly long news articles about the case over the years and know that Joanne Lees has always been regarded with suspicion in some quarters.

The thing I'm taking from tonight's episode is - how are they going to explain away the suspect/accused Brad Murdoch's DNA being present on her t-shirt?

Also, the defence lawyer. I don't know about him.

Being unable to find the body isn't significant as Murdoch had time to dispose of it. It's much easier to hide something in Australia, just because it's so big and there's so much unpopulated and largely unexplored land. I remember reading somewhere that there was a plan which crashed - it was on radar, everyone thought they knew exactly where it had crashed, but they have never been able to find it.

What about the fact they only found JLs footprints?

Can of coke and a Mars bar. Definitely Peter as that is a true Brit in action right there

I thought the same I find it strange they didn't try to stall him or phone the police straight away. Didn’t the shop keep mention something about his accent? And that he said he recognised it straight away that it was from a certain area but I can’t remember. He didn’t mention about an English accent however.

@Custardcreamies101

Can of coke and a Mars bar. Definitely Peter as that is a true Brit in action right there

I thought the same I find it strange they didn't try to stall him or phone the police straight away. Didn’t the shop keep mention something about his accent? And that he said he recognised it straight away that it was from a certain area but I can’t remember. He didn’t mention about an English accent however.

He said it was a Pommy accent......so English.

I’m sure I’ve read before that the blood on the road has been analysed and is Peters.

Am watching this but feel like I'm learning more from this thread misogynistic voyeurism at its worst.

I'm going to guess people are used to being more self sufficient in the outback but all the locals seemed very reluctant to deal with the police about anything or to go to them with anything that may be important.

It's the 10min running into the outback and it getting far or getting lost and not being found by a man with a dog and a gun, when you were a vital witness to the murder he's just committed that seemed off to me. I don't think she did it, but I'm not sure they got it right about what did happen either.

My dog couldn't find his own arse if it wasn't covered with chicken so I'm not taking that into any account

The concept that all dogs are trackers is simply incorrect. Dalmatians certainly aren't kept for their tracking ability.

Has the programme dealt with the fact that they found Joanne Lees' hair tie in amongst Murdoch's belongings?

I think JL is innocent .She is being made into some sort of shady character , she is a tough northern lass born into poverty, who went on to get a degree from Sheffield University. Probably not the damsel in distress so popular with DM et al. Surely the DNA found on her top, and the wrist ties (which also found traces of BM DNA )shows beyond doubt he did it.As far as disposing of the body he could have bundled PF back into the camper and driven off down the road ? (lots of disused mine shafts there) or driven further and dumped the body .Could have been eaten by wolves/whatever.Our Dalmatian is not exactly a bloodhound either! BM could have taken a good hour or two to dispose of the body and come back to get Joanne who luckily had the presence of mind to run into the bush and hide.The Lawyer is looking for a good exit case from his lucrative career as a defence lawyer who ended up struck off due to his 100k a year Cocaine habit!

My dog certainly wouldn’t go and find a person even though he’s trained to retrieve objects and he can find other things on cue. He isn’t interested in other people on walks. Unless I specifically trained him to locate people I might as well ask a cat 🤷‍♀️

Any dog wouldn't find a (any) person within 35m? I admit I'm not a dog expert but it seems strange that they wouldn't be aware of the presence of a human.

Also that she ran for her life for 10min but only got 35m and that the perpetrator gave up the search so easily with so much a stake.

I agree the "lawyer" is, I'm sure, presenting things in a way that supports his theory.

My dog would be aware a human was there at 35m but I’ve trained him to ignore other people on walks. I don’t allow or encourage him to run up to people. It simply would not occur to him to run to someone even if they were standing waving their arms.

I’m guessing Murdochs dog wasn’t trained to find people either.

There are two irrefutable pieces of evidence;

1. The blood on JL tee shirt was proven by DNA to be that of Murdoch.

1. The blood on the road was proven by DNA to be that of Peter Falconio.

Those two dodgy investigators were remarkably quiet about that.
Guess they were too busy having their 15 minutes of totally unwarranted game.

I listened to a Casefile podcast on this, that was pretty indicting of Murdoch.

JL was defensive and mistrustful which got people's back up, but you can't trust the press or the fucking cops!

I have mixed feelings about this so far. I do remember at the time that Joanne Lees was not acting in the sort of way that people who have been through something like this, act. But that doesn't mean to say she is guilty of anything, except being wary

Have you ever been through a deeply traumatic attack? I have. I was calm and composed afterwards and never cried about it, even when giving statements to the police. There is no specific 'way to act' and I'm surprised that anyone would think there is.

@ExclamationPerfume

The truck driver said about the car in his police statement at the time. I don't think the police did a good job investigating at all. Joanne is now with Pete's brother which I find odd.

Is that the same brother she was holding hands with in the press conference quite soon after his death?!

What happend to/with Nick? It was odd to be organising the next trip so soon after such a traumatic event but doesn't for a minute make her guilty of anything.

I thought public displays of affection with the brother early on were much more than brotherly support, but again, a bit odd rather than an indication of anything sinister.

The insurance thing? Was there actually a policy?

Obviously I can't know for sure and hope I never do but I can imagine me coming across as cold and uncooperative while I tried to hold myself together in such circumstances. I certainly wouldn't be volunteering to face the press, someone would need to be very persuasive about how important it was to solving the case.

I think Joanne Lees didn't want to do press conferences because she knew she'd had and affair and cheated on Peter very recently. She knew at some point it would come out and she'd be asked questions by the media and those questions would make her look bad. She actually said they make witnesses look bad and guilty.

I know, but then when she did appear she did it holding his brother's hand!

Peter and Joanne had been together 6 years. She must have been very familiar and friendly with his family. Holding a friend's hand after a horrific ordeal would be quite normal. There was no sister. If there had been she may have held onto her hand?

I've always been pretty much sure Madeleine McCann was abducted from her apartment by a paedophile who knew the area, familiar with the complex and had only one thought, to abuse and murder the girl and bury her body in a remote spot he was familiar with. This is the most logical reason and sadly looks to have been true.

Bradley Murdoch was arrested for abduction and rape of another woman and her child but charges dropped. He was a thug and a criminal. I have no doubt he was high on drugs and had seen Joanne somewhere on their journey and decided to snatch her and rape her, then dispose of her body. It's not at all unusual for offenders to murder the boyfriend before abducting and raping the girl.

The whole program is total shite and not in any way a balanced discussion. The lawyer asked why she couldn't have been found hiding in sparse bush? Australia has had years of droughts and bush was denser then. She also ran and hid at a diagonal to the truck and the night (according to the lorry driver) was pitch black. Of course she could have hidden successfully. BM picked up Peters body and took it with him to bury somewhere remote.

Why look for ridiculous conspiracy theories and judge the reactions of the victim agains 'typical' victims. BM was as guilty as hell www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/dec/13/australia.world1

I am so glad she took her chance and escaped from BM vehicle. It would've been a very different ending if she hadn't done that. If it were me, I would've been too shell shocked to do anything.

I managed half a program, misogynistic, victim blaming drivel. What the fuck channel 4?!!

So it took them 4 hours to point out that at most, the DNA evidence which helped convict Murdoch might not have been totally reliable.

That's it?

They proposed no alternative scenario. They cast aspersions at Joanne but never set out any theory whereby she might have been involved. She had absolutely no motive anyway. And as for nearly 2 decade old 'memories' of 'sightings' of Falconio after the event... isn't that a well-known phenonemon? How people are certain they've seen a person who's in the news even if they couldn't possibly have? Surely a defence lawyer would know that?

The whole thing could have been wrapped up in a single programme. Loads of repetition, filler, and innuendo. Or better yet, they shouldn't have bothered in the first place.

I have no doubt he was high on drugs and had seen Joanne somewhere on their journey and decided to snatch her and rape her

According to the programme BM was in the red rooster in (I think) Alice springs at 10:30ish the morning of the murder. PF and JL we’re in it later on that day before they set off on their journey. I think BM had been hanging around the place for a few hours and spotted JL- decided she was his target and followed them.