Northern Territory
The Barrow
Creek Saga.. continues
| Page
1 | Page 2 |Page 3 | Page
4 | Page 5 | Page
6 | Page 7
Murder Evidence
Ignored (April 02)
Expert query
on Falconio probe (April 02)
Falconio murder
evidence (April 02)
Falconio murder
evidence 'ignored' (April 02)
Falconio clue
may have been missed (April 02)
Police questioning
man over Falconio disappearance (June 02)
DNA may link
prisoner to Falconio (June 02)
Possible breakthrough
in Falconio case (June 02)
The Courier-Mail,
12 June 20002 p1 "Suspect in UK tourist Murder."
April 26, 2002
(The Australian)
www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,4204913%255E421,00.html
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,4204913%255E421,00.html
Expert
query on Falconio probe
A BIOLOGIST
who testified in defence of Lindy Chamberlain at her murder trial has criticised
forensic biologist Joy Kuhl's role in the Peter Falconio murder investigation.
Emeritus Professor
Barry Boettcher, who retired as head of biological sciences at Newcastle
University in 1993, failed to debunk Mrs Kuhl's crown evidence that foetal
blood was found in the Chamberlains' car following the disappearance of
baby Azaria.
Mrs Chamberlain
was found guilty in 1982 but was later exonerated after Mrs Kuhl's evidence
was found to be wrong.
Prof Boettcher
has now locked horns again with Mrs Kuhl, 20 years later.
He has analysed
a video tape of Mrs Kuhl's examination of the campervan Mr Falconio was
driving on July 14 last year before he was apparently shot by a gunman
north of Alice Springs.
The tape of
Mrs Kuhl's and forensic officer Senior Constable Bill Towers' work was
made by Alice Springs filmmaker Chris Tangey at a police compound soon
after the tragic ambush.
Prof Boettcher
found that a blood test applied to the driver's door appeared to reveal
a partial handprint.
"Such a conclusion
is a reasonable conclusion, but one that is not certain," Prof Boettcher
said.
Mrs Kuhl is
heard to say: "It can't be blood. I went right over that this afternoon."
"It is surprising
that Mrs Kuhl and Bill Towers appeared not to show any interest in the
brightest luminescence found during the taping of the tests on the Kombi,"
Prof Boettcher said of the potential handprint.
"Had they
considered it to be a strong false positive reaction, I would have expected
them to have chatted about such a strong false positive reaction rather
than simply to have dismissed/ignored it.
"I conclude
that the possible handprint luminescence on the driver's door of the Kombi
was something that Mrs Kuhl and Bill Towers did not want to be brought
to attention.
"The situation
was one of a puzzling apparent murder, and since the investigators were
taking unusual pains with the investigation, it seems inappropriate that
the brightest luminescence result was dismissed in such an apparently casual
manner."
Northern Territory
Police Commander Col Hardman said at the time Mr Tangey made his tape public
in February that the examination taped by Mr Tangey did not identify anything
of additional forensic value.
Mt Tangey
has submitted his tape and Prof Boettcher's comments to an independent
review of the Falconio investigation.
AAP
April
2002
Falconio
murder evidence
Falconio
clue may have been missed (The Advertiser)
Falconio
murder evidence 'ignored' (The Courier Mail)
June 2002
Possible
breakthrough in Falconio case (National Nine News)
The family
of Joanne Lees has welcomed news of a possible breakthrough in the hunt
for the suspected killer of her missing boyfriend, Peter Falconio.
As revealed
on National Nine News last night, NSW police will compare blood samples
found on the jumper of Ms Lees with DNA samples taken from a man charged
with a Sydney murder.
Mr Falconio
disappeared last July in the Northern Territory when he and Joanne Lees
were ambushed near Barrow Creek in the Northern Territory.
Since his
disappearance a nationwide manhunt has failed to track down the attacker.
Now Sydney
police holding a man for an unrelated murder charge are working with their
counterparts in the NT to establish if there are any links between the
29-year-old man being held in custody and the outback ambush.
A spot of
blood taken from Ms Lees’ jumper is crucial to the breakthrough.
The blood
is believed to be that of her attacker and will be compared with a DNA
sample taken from the murder suspect and the stolen car he was arrested
in.
NSW Police
Minister Michael Costa has confirmed the exchange of forensic information
between jurisdictions has been discussed with Attorney General Bob Debus,
so as to allow the DNA sample to be sent interstate.
It is understood
the man was identified some months ago as one of a number of suspects in
the outback case.
June 12, 2002
Police questioning
man over Falconio disappearance
Sydney police
holding a man for an unrelated murder charge are working with their counterparts
in the NT to establish if there are any links between the 29-year-old man
being held in custody and the outback ambush.
Police questioning
man over Falconio disappearance
Northern Territory
police have confirmed a man arrested in New South Wales is being questioned
over the disappearance of British tourist Peter Falconio last year.
New South
Wales police have refused to release details about the man, but say they
are cooperating with their Northern Territory counterparts in the investigation.
Mr Falconio
was abducted near Barrow Creek in the Northern Territory in July last year
and is believed dead. His girlfriend Joanne Lees escaped and has since
returned to England.
Mr Falconio's
brother Nick says police have contacted his father about the development
in the case.
"He told me
that the police have been in touch with him in Australia just to tell him
what was happening," he said.
"But the police
aren't convinced, they're only 50 per cent sure that it might be him."
June 12, 2002
DNA
may link prisoner to Falconio
DNA taken
from a NSW murder suspect could solve the disappearance of British backpacker
Peter Falconio in the Northern Territory last year.
NSW police
confirmed they had been working closely with their Northern Territory counterparts
following the arrest of a man in Sydney last week for a stabbing murder.
The suspect,
a 29-year-old unemployed drifter, faced court over the stabbing murder
and was denied bail.
A DNA sample
was taken from him under NSW laws requiring samples to be taken from any
person charged with a serious indictable offence including murder, rape
and serious assault.
The samples
are placed on a national DNA database to help police in other jurisdictions
link prisoners to unsolved crimes.
The suspect
was understood to have been identified as a person of interest by the Alice
Springs-based police task force investigating the case some months ago.
But no-one
from the task force had been sent to Sydney and the DNA had not yet been
compared, a source said.
NT Assistant
Police Commissioner John Daulby said the prisoner was one of a number of
suspects.
Mr Falconio,
28, was shot by a gunman who attempted to abduct his girlfriend Joanne
Lees on the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek, north of Alice Springs on
July 14 last year.
His body was
never found.
A spot of
blood recovered from Ms Lees' jumper and believed to be that of her attacker
was crucial to the case. It is to be compared with the DNA sample taken
from the man in custody in NSW.
NSW Police
Minister Michael Costa said police were doing all they could to assist
investigators in the Northern Territory.
Mr Costa met
Attorney-General Bob Debus on Tuesday to discuss the exchange of forensic
material following a request by NSW police over the weekend.