Joanne Rachael Lees is best known for her ordeal in Central Australia when, in 2001, as a young English tourist travelling with her partner Peter Falconio, she was attacked and subjected to an attempted abduction by a man later identified as Bradley John Murdoch. Lees escaped her attacker, but Falconio was never found, and in 2005 Murdoch was convicted of his murder. Lees was the chief crown witness in the subsequent murder trial of Bradley John Murdoch conducted in Darwin. She later wrote a 2006 book, and this was made into a, about her experiences.
Early life
Lees was born on 25 September 1973, and lived her first 11 years with her mother Jenny. Her mother then remarried Vincent, who already had a son named Sam, and the new family of four lived in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England. During high school and later studies, she had several part-time jobs as a barmaid, and bacon packer, before securing a job at her local Thomas Cook travel agency. Lees first met Falconio in a nightclub in Huddersfield in 1996 and began living with him the following year in Brighton, England where Falconio was studying at Brighton University. She then transferred her job to a local Cook agency, before the couple took short trips to Italy, Greece and Jamaica. From 1998, the couple had planned a trip to Thailand, Singapore, and Australia. On 15 November 2000, the couple departed, travelling through Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia. By 16 January 2001, they had arrived in Sydney on a working holiday visa, and Lees then job-hunted, finally securing work at the Dymocks bookstore on George Street. After five months, in which the couple had enjoyed Sydney's nightclub scene, Falconio purchased a car for the next stage of their travel plan, a road trip from Sydney to Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin and Brisbane.
Falconio murder
Falconio and Lees were travelling at night along the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek in the Northern Territory, outback Australia, on 14 July 2001, when a man in another vehicle flagged them down, and told them that he had noticed that their camper van had engine trouble. After Falconio went to the rear of the vehicle with the man to investigate, Lees heard a shot. The man then threatened Lees with a gun, and tied her up, but she escaped while he was distracted. She hid for five hours in nearby bushes before running out onto the road and flagging down a truck driver who took her to safety. In the aftermath of attack, Lees was both supported and suspected by the media. Expert testimony presented at the trial indicated that Bradley Murdoch was the man captured in the CCTV footage at the service station. Lees identified Murdoch from police photographs shown to her in November 2002 by NT Police and finally face-to-face during the trial on 18 October 2005. This, combined with the DNA match on Lees' T-shirt, formed the case for Murdoch being charged with the murder. DNA testing procedure and this DNA result greatly assisted in the conviction of Murdoch. Murdoch was found guilty by a jury in a unanimous verdict.
Media coverage
Lees agreed to an interview with Martin Bashir, which was later televised in Australia, for which she was paid £50,000. She later testified in court that she had agreed to this interview to raise awareness of the case in Australia, as she felt the public profile of the case had diminished. Lees wrote No Turning Back, a book about her life. She went to the UK for the launch of the book in October 2006 and a serialisation appeared in The Times newspaper on 2 and 3 October. A lengthy interview with Lees was aired on Andrew Denton's show, Enough Rope on 9 October 2006. The same day, Lees was interviewed on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 by John Humphrys. On 10 October 2006, Lees was interviewed by BBC News 24. In July 2011, Lees was interviewed by Australia's Woman's Day in the lead-up to the tenth anniversary of the murder of Peter Falconio. She stated that she was still single and living a solitary life, and had worked at a travel agency and as a social worker with disabled people. She had also studied sociology at Sheffield University. On 12 February 2017, Australia's Nine Network presented a 60 Minutes extended interview with Joanne Lees who "is determined to honour her partner's memory by confronting the awful past." Australian sculptor Ewen Coates is working with Lees to construct a memorial for Falconio at the crime scene.
