Falconio Case starts in Darwin

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3973]

Outback handcuffs 'contaminated'

 

Cable ties used to bind the hands of British backpacker Joanne Lees were contaminated by a forensic scientist, a court in northern Australia has heard.  The cuffs were allegedly used by Bradley Murdoch, 47, who is accused of killing Miss Lees' boyfriend Peter Falconio, 28, during an ambush in 2001.

 

Forensic biologist Carmen Eckhoff told the court laboratory director Dr Peter Thatcher's DNA was found on the cuffs.  She said the presence of his DNA on the "significant" piece of evidence could have got there in a number of ways, despite protocols being in place to prevent it happening.

 

During cross-examination by defence lawyer Grant Algie, Ms Eckhoff said she did not know how Dr Thatcher's DNA came to be on the exhibit.

 

"I was not there when he was handling it, but I'm aware he was handling it on a number of occasions," she said.

 

On Friday defence barristers told the court that police may have contaminated the handcuffs, saying they were photographed next to tape found at the home of the suspect.  In other DNA evidence the jury heard on Tuesday that blood on Miss Lees' t-shirt was 150 million billion times more likely to be Bradley Murdoch's than any other local white male's.

 

Sealed bag

 

When asked in court on Wednesday about the cable bindings Ms Eckhoff said she asked Dr Thatcher - director of the Forensic Science Laboratory - how his DNA came to be there and that he provided an explanation. Prosecutor Anthony Elliott objected when Mr Algie asked what that explanation was.

 

He again objected when Mr Algie asked which protocol Dr Thatcher may have broken.  Mr Algie asked the prosecution to call Dr Thatcher as a witness later in the trial.  Ms Eckhoff said Dr Thatcher had the cable ties signed out to him on three occasions in 2001 and 2002.

 

During cross-examination Ms Eckhoff said she did not agree with the cable ties being taken to Yatala Prison in Adelaide, South Australia, where Mr Murdoch was on remand in October 2002.

 

"I was unhappy about them leaving my possession, particularly if the forensic examination may not have been completed."  She made her feelings known to Dr Thatcher, who gave the handcuffs to Senior Constable Tim Sandry so he could take them to Adelaide.

 

Earlier, Ms Eckhoff said that if anyone wanted to continue testing an item, such as the cable ties, it was "not ideal" to take them out of the laboratory.

But she said that if they remained in a sealed bag and were put in the same room as Mr Murdoch's items, or Mr Murdoch himself - as they were when police visited Yatala Prison - they would not be contaminated as long as the bag was not opened.

 

When asked about the possibility of deliberate contamination of the cable ties with Mr Murdoch's DNA she said that the samples from him that were stored in the freezer were of a very high concentration.  She said it was only possible to find DNA on the cable ties by using a method called "low copy number" because there was very little present.

 

The trial continues.

51929[/snapback]

 

You seem desperate to hang this girl Rob. Is she an old girlfriend who dumped you or something?

[Rob W 0]

naaa - its the People's Paula that has my heart as you are well aware-

 

it's an interesting case tho and when there is a verdict a whole load of people will be on here spouting off - this sort of acts as a running archive of what was actually said in evidence for future reference

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3973]

naaa - its the People's Paula that has my heart as you are well aware-

 

it's an interesting case tho and when there is a verdict a whole load of people will be on here spouting off - this sort of acts as a running archive of what was actually said in evidence for future reference

51958[/snapback]

 

My only problem with this is we aren't in court. We have to rely on Journalists and they are the 2nd bottom rung on the evolutionary c*nt ladder. Just above lawyers and just below expert testifiers.

[Guest alex]

Rob did it. FACT!

 

[Rob W 0]

Rob did it. FACT!

 

52268[/snapback]

 

 

I can prove I was on grassy knoll at the time.................... with Princess Di and the Duke Of Edinburgh

[Guest alex]

Rob did it. FACT!

 

52268[/snapback]

 

 

I can prove I was on grassy knoll at the time.................... with Princess Di and the Duke Of Edinburgh

52276[/snapback]

Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. FACT!

[Rob W 0]

Bonds 'link' to Falconio suspect

J

DNA found on cable ties used to bind Briton Joanne Lees when she was attacked in Australia matched the man accused of her kidnap, a court hears. The sample was 100 million times more likely to come from Bradley Murdoch than from anybody else, said British forensic expert Jonathan Whitaker.

 

Dr Whitaker said the sample came from adhesive on the inner layer of tape taken from inside the cable ties.

 

"The profile matched Mr Murdoch's," Dr Whitaker told the court in Darwin, Northern Territory. He said: "If the DNA originated from an unknown person unrelated to Mr Murdoch, a fair and reasonable estimate [of that] would be one in 100 million.

 

"That means it's 100 million times more likely to get that DNA profile if it came from Mr Murdoch than from somebody else."

 

Lab examination

 

He was asked to examine the cable tie by a Northern Territory forensic scientist because he specialised in "low copy number" DNA - a method which amplifies a DNA sample in order to get a result which could be used.

 

Mr Murdoch examined the cables in his laboratory in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, and also found DNA from Ms Lees.

 

The trial continues.

[Rob W 0]

Rob did it. FACT!

 

52268[/snapback]

 

 

I can prove I was on grassy knoll at the time.................... with Princess Di and the Duke Of Edinburgh

52276[/snapback]

Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. FACT!

52279[/snapback]

 

 

The bugger never paid me my agreed fee and THAT is a fact - bloody interfering Jack Ruby..........

[Guest alex]

Rob did it. FACT!

 

52268[/snapback]

 

 

I can prove I was on grassy knoll at the time.................... with Princess Di and the Duke Of Edinburgh

52276[/snapback]

Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. FACT!

52279[/snapback]

 

 

The bugger never paid me my agreed fee and THAT is a fact - bloody interfering Jack Ruby..........

52284[/snapback]

'Funny' case this Falconio one like. Personally I can see the guy being acquitted.

[Rob W 0]

certainly there is a bucket load of "doubt" here - is it enough to get him off???

 

Watch this space

[Rob W 0]

DNA LOW COPY NUMBER (DNA LCN)

Research scientists at The Forensic Science Service® (FSS®) have developed the most sophisticated DNA profiling service to date – DNA Low Copy Number (DNA LCN). This enables scientists to produce DNA profiles from samples containing very few cells.

 

DNA LCN is super-sensitive, and has already been used in investigating both current and older cases. It takes longer than routine DNA profiling techniques – usually several weeks – and is currently used only in the most serious cases, where other DNA techniques have failed or would not be suitable.

 

As with all forensic evidence, the context and interpretation need to be considered carefully.

 

This is even more important with DNA LCN, due to its sensitivity.

 

Science behind the technique

DNA LCN is an extension of the routine FSS SGM Plus profiling technique. Profiles obtained using the technique are compatible with the National DNA Database® and are produced by copying 10 informative DNA sites.

 

DNA LCN is more sensitive than FSS SGM Plus because a greater number of copies are generated from a smaller amount of starting material.

 

DNA LCN has the same discriminating power as the routine technique – about one in a billion. This means that if the DNA found at a crime scene matched a suspect, then the chance of obtaining the profile if it had originated from someone other than and unrelated to that suspect, is approximately 1 in a billion.

 

 

The Forensic Science Service is a UK registered trademark. FSS is a registered trademark. The National DNA Database is a UK registered trademark. As Custodian, the Forensic Science Service manages the National DNA Database on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers.

[Renton 22001]

Rob did it. FACT!

 

52268[/snapback]

 

 

I can prove I was on grassy knoll at the time.................... with Princess Di and the Duke Of Edinburgh

52276[/snapback]

Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. FACT!

52279[/snapback]

 

 

The bugger never paid me my agreed fee and THAT is a fact - bloody interfering Jack Ruby..........

52284[/snapback]

'Funny' case this Falconio one like. Personally I can see the guy being acquitted.

52288[/snapback]

 

I'd hang him to be on the safe side tbh. And her, just to be sure.

[Rob W 0]

Outback suspect 'was drug runner'

 

The man accused of UK backpacker Peter Falconio's murder took amphetamines to stay awake as he ran drugs across Australia, a court has heard.

 

Bradley Murdoch, 47, also carried a gun, his former drug trade partner James Hepi told the Darwin court. Mr Murdoch seemed "scattered" on his return from a drugs run in July 2001, having taken amphetamines for up to five days, Mr Hepi said.

 

Mr Hepi, a New Zealander, also told how his ex-drugs partner had shaved off his moustache and cut his hair short to change his appearance after the trip, at the time of Mr Falconio's disappearance.

 

Handcuffs

 

When Mr Falconio's disappearance was reported in the media, the defendant had said: "It wasn't me", the Northern Territory Supreme Court heard. Mr Hepi said Mr Murdoch always carried a handgun in his pickup truck as he drove across the country with marijuana hidden in the fuel tank.

 

He also described for the court how he had discovered Mr Murdoch making handcuffs out of cable ties in his backyard shed before Mr Falconio, 28, disappeared.

 

The court also heard Mr Hepi say his former drugs partner had told him that a drainage trench on an Outback road was a "fairly good place to put a body". Mr Falconio's body has never been found.

 

Under cross-examination, Mr Hepi denied he had made up the story to get a lighter sentence when he was arrested for drugs in Broome in 2002. He told the court he had fallen out with Mr Murdoch over a drugs deal.

 

The trial continues.

[sweetleftpeg 0]

They both did it.

[Rob W 0]

"When Mr Falconio's disappearance was reported in the media, the defendant had said: "It wasn't me","

 

i'm surprised the police witness didn't say he'd confessed the whole ghastly deed tbh

[Ketsbaia 0]

They both did it.

54807[/snapback]

 

That's what i'm beginning to think tbh.

[zico martin 90]

Under cross-examination, Mr Hepi denied he had made up the story to get a lighter sentence when he was arrested for drugs in Broome in 2002.  He told the court he had fallen out with Mr Murdoch over a drugs deal.

 

The trial continues.

54802[/snapback]

 

say what you see

 

 

I dont think it needs Mr Chips to point out what happened here!

 

allegedly

[Rob W 0]

Suspect's outback trip 'dramas'

 

The man accused of UK backpacker Peter Falconio's murder told a friend he had to "deal with" someone during an outback drugs run, a court has heard.

 

Beverley Allan told the Darwin court that Bradley Murdoch, 47, had confided in her that there had been "a few dramas" on his trip to fetch marijuana. "He suspected that somebody was following him on that occasion and he had to deal with them," she said.

 

Ms Allan said that Murdoch was "fairly strung out" and "fairly stressed" when he returned to his home town of Broome following his long outback journey from South Australia. "He told me that it hadn't been a good trip," she told the Northern Territory Supreme Court.

 

He had not elaborated on his story about having to deal with someone, she said.

 

'Changed appearance'

 

Ms Allan said that, when he got back from the drugs run, at the time of Mr Falconio's disappearance, Murdoch felt unwell and had shaved off his moustache and shaved his hair short.

 

CCTV pictures of a man filling his pickup truck with diesel in Alice Springs a few hours after Mr Falconio was allegedly shot were released to the media within weeks of his disappearance. Ms Allan said she had seen the pictures in a newspaper and had thought it was Murdoch.

 

But he had denied it was, she said. "I was fairly convinced it was him," she added. "When you know somebody, you know someone."

 

The trial continues.

[zico martin 90]

Suspect's outback trip 'dramas'

 

The man accused of UK backpacker Peter Falconio's murder told a friend he had to "deal with" someone during an outback drugs run, a court has heard.

 

Beverley Allan told the Darwin court that Bradley Murdoch, 47, had confided in her that there had been "a few dramas" on his trip to fetch marijuana.  "He suspected that somebody was following him on that occasion and he had to deal with them," she said.

 

Ms Allan said that Murdoch was "fairly strung out" and "fairly stressed" when he returned to his home town of Broome following his long outback journey from South Australia.  "He told me that it hadn't been a good trip," she told the Northern Territory Supreme Court.

 

He had not elaborated on his story about having to deal with someone, she said.

 

'Changed appearance'

 

Ms Allan said that, when he got back from the drugs run, at the time of Mr Falconio's disappearance, Murdoch felt unwell and had shaved off his moustache and shaved his hair short.

 

CCTV pictures of a man filling his pickup truck with diesel in Alice Springs a few hours after Mr Falconio was allegedly shot were released to the media within weeks of his disappearance.  Ms Allan said she had seen the pictures in a newspaper and had thought it was Murdoch.

 

But he had denied it was, she said.  "I was fairly convinced it was him," she added.  "When you know somebody, you know someone."

 

The trial continues.

55155[/snapback]

 

oh i take it back then, open and closed case byt the sounds of it!

[Rob W 0]

No doubt the defence will find she plea bargained her way out a charge of "Knowingly appearing in an Australian Soap Opera"

[Rob W 0]

Falconio suspect 'caught on CCTV'

 

The man accused of the outback murder of backpacker Peter Falconio was seen on CCTV hours after the Briton vanished, a court has heard.

 

A forensic expert told the Darwin court that Bradley Murdoch, 47, was captured on camera at a petrol station. Anatomy expert Meiya Sutisno said the image of a man buying ice and diesel had several distinctive features suggesting it was Mr Murdoch. The indistinct image was caught in Alice Springs in the early hours of the morning after the alleged incident, which took place 300km (186 miles) to the south.

 

"The multiple number of features matched indicated the level of identification to be the same person," the expert told the court.

 

Key features included sloping shoulders, long torso, and a distinctive jaw, chin and walking manner. But the judge warned that deciding that the man in the video was indeed Mr Murdoch would not be enough to convict him of the murder.

 

Ambush account

 

Chief Justice Brian Martin said: "The fact that the accused was in Alice Springs, if that's your finding eventually, in the early hours of 15 July of course by itself, and I stress by itself, cannot prove that the accused was the offender. "What we're talking about here are a series of circumstances which eventually you'll be asked to put together [and] make findings about."

 

 

The trial continues.

[Rob W 0]

Murder weapon artist 'inexperienced'

From: AAP

 

November 16, 2005

 

 

THE sketch artist employed by police to draw the alleged murder weapon in the Peter Falconio case was not familiar with guns, a Darwin court has been told.

Schoolteacher David Stagg told the Northern Territory Supreme Court he had never worked as a police artist before he was called into Alice Springs Police Station in July 2001.

 

Mr Stagg worked with Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees to draw a gun and vehicle belonging to the man Ms Lees said had attacked the couple a week earlier.

 

Police later used the sketches in their investigations into the British tourist's disappearance.

 

"I have never been in the role of a police artist before," Mr Stagg told the court.

 

He said he was "extremely nervous" during the process.

 

Advertisement:

Mr Stagg said Ms Lees told him the gun had a silver barrel and distinctive scrolling on its side.

 

"I'm no expert at drawing guns, that was my first attempt," he said.

 

He said neither he nor Ms Lees were familiar with guns.

 

Broome mechanic Bradley John Murdoch has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Falconio and not guilty to assaulting Ms Lees and depriving her of her liberty beside the outback Stuart Highway in July 2001.

 

The trial continues.

[Rob W 0]

Lees recalled in Falconio trial

 

Ms Lees' return to the stand was unexpected

 

Joanne Lees, the girlfriend of British backpacker Peter Falconio, has been recalled to give more evidence at the trial of the man accused of his murder. After returning to the stand, Miss Lees was challenged about comments made to a police officer a few days after she was attacked on an Outback road in 2001.

 

She spent nearly half an hour in the witness box while the defence questioned her about the precise nature of comments made to an officer in Alice Springs.

 

When asked whether she told the female officer, Libby Andrews, about having a "strong feeling" that the gunman's truck had shelving and bottles in the back, she said: "No." By way of explanation, she added: "It seems to me a description of shelving in my Kombi (camper van)."

 

Mr Falconio's girlfriend was later shown a copy of the notes with her initials on the back and agreed it was her signature. But when pressed on how they came to be there, she said: "They are my initials but I don't remember reading them before."

 

Handcuffs

 

Miss Lees also insisted that she did not talk to the officer about the truck, only the police artist who drew the vehicle. Earlier in the trial Miss Lees told the court she escaped from her boyfriend's killer by jumping out of his vehicle and hiding in a bush.

 

She also gave a demonstration of how she freed herself from makeshift handcuffs. Miss Lees' re-examination came shortly before the prosecution were expected to wind up their case against Mr Murdoch.

 

The trial continues.

[Rob W 0]

Falconio accused smuggled drugs

 

The man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio in Australia has admitted in court he regularly smuggled cannabis across the country. Mechanic Bradley John Murdoch, 47, denies murder and abducting Mr Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees, near Alice Springs on 14 July 2001.

 

Mr Murdoch also told the court in Darwin that he routinely changed the appearance of vehicles he drove. He said he loved doing this, describing it as an "obsession".

 

Drug runner

 

The prosecution had claimed Mr Murdoch tried to disguise his pick-up truck after shooting the 28-year-old on the Stuart Highway, north of Alice Springs. After taking the stand for the first time, Mr Murdoch said he and another man, James Hepi, regularly ran "large quantities" of the drug across Australia stashed in a spare fuel tank on the back of his truck.

 

He said he usually drove along four different routes from south Australia state to the north-western city of Broome, including the so-called Tanami track. Police claim the defendant took the track road back toward Broome after murdering Mr Falconio.

[Rob W 0]

Falconio suspect 'was miles away'

 

The man accused of murdering Briton Peter Falconio in Australia has said he does not know how his DNA got on the clothing of Mr Falconio's girlfriend. Bradley Murdoch, 47, admitted running drugs and said he was hundreds of miles away at the time of the alleged attack.

 

He denies murder and abducting Mr Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees, near Alice Springs on 14 July 2001. Murdoch also told the Darwin court that it was not him or his vehicle caught on CCTV in Alice Springs that night.

 

Changed appearance

 

He said he had been in Alice Springs that day but left at 1530 local time to run cannabis across central Australia. Murdoch said he was more than 370 miles (600km) away at around 2000 local time, when the alleged attack took place.

 

The defendant said he could not explain how his DNA profile was found in a spot of blood on a T-shirt worn by Ms Lees on the night of the alleged attack. "I know I went through Alice Springs. I don't know whether I crossed their paths or not," he told the Northern Territory Supreme Court.

 

He admitted changing his appearance and that of his vehicle after the trip, but said regularly doing so was necessary for drug running.

 

The prosecution had claimed Mr Murdoch tried to disguise his pick-up truck after shooting 28-year-old Mr Falconio on the Stuart Highway, north of Alice Springs.

 

Drug runner

 

After taking the stand for the first time, Mr Murdoch said he and another man, James Hepi, regularly ran "large quantities" of cannabis across Australia, stashed in a spare fuel tank on the back of his truck.

 

The defendant said he had since had a disagreement with Mr Hepi, who has testified against him.

 

Mr Murdoch denied Mr Hepi's claims that he talked about ways of disposing of a body. He did admit owning two guns which he carried for protection while transporting drugs.

 

 

The trial continues.