Peter Falconio was a British tourist who disappeared in a remote part of the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek in the Northern Territory of Australia on the evening of 14 July 2001, while travelling with his girlfriend Joanne Lees. In the aftermath of the backpacker murders, the case quickly attracted considerable public and legal attention both domestically and worldwide. Falconio was 28 years old at the time of the disappearance. His body has never been found and he is now presumed dead. On 13 December 2005, Bradley John Murdoch was convicted of Falconio's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Background Peter Marco Falconio (20 September 1972 – 14 July 2001) was the third of four sons in a family who lived in Hepworth, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. In 1996, he started a relationship with Joanne Lees (born 1973) after meeting her in a local nightclub. Lees soon began living with him the following year in Brighton, where Falconio was studying at Brighton University. On 15 November 2000, the couple embarked on a trip to Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Australia (though recent news of the backpacker murders, the Port Arthur massacre, and the Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel fire had made their families anxious about that final leg of this trip). By 16 January 2001, the couple had arrived in Sydney on a working holiday visa, and on 25 June they departed on a road trip planned as Sydney to Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin, and Brisbane. Around 7:30pm on the night of Saturday 14 July 2001, Falconio and Lees were travelling on the Stuart Highway bound for the Devil's Marbles in their orange Kombi. Falconio was driving and Lees sat next to him in the passenger seat. The two had been conscious of a car that had been following them since they stopped at a roadhouse in Barrow Creek, and were expecting to be overtaken. However, when the vehicle - a white Toyota 4WD with a green canopy - drew alongside, the driver gestured excitedly at them to pull over. Falconio stopped the van and went to speak with the man, who had pulled off the road ahead of them. The man explained he had seen sparks shooting out of the van's exhaust. As the two went to the rear of the vehicle to investigate Lees moved into the driver's seat, ready to rev the engine. She then heard