Persons Missing : Home of The Missing Persons Register

Northern Territory
The Barrow Creek Saga.. continues
| Page 1 | Page 2 |Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7
HEADLINES
If you want any of the links just ask me
July 10
Backing for police on outback murder - Owen Bowcott, The Guardian UK
Police stand by girlfriend in outback murder case - Barbie Dutter, Daily Telegraph UK
July 09
Falconio Case Supported - Sky News UK
Outback chase could aid Falconio investigation - Guardian, UK
Police back up Joanne's story - Itv UK
Witnesses support outback murder story - Reuters/CNN
Police exonerated in Falconio case - BBC News
No let-up in hunt for tourist's 'killer' - Ananova
Witnesses back girlfriend's ambush account - Reuters
Falconio probe widens - Rod McGuirk, News Interactive
New Falconio case findings released - John Highfield, The World Today
Falconio investigation sound says police review - ABC News online
Falconio investigation on track: NT Police - ABC News Online
Falconio investigation examines Qld link - ABC News Online
Falconio disappearance still shrouded in mystery - Murray McLaughlin, 7.30 Report
Internal review salutes Falconio investigation, Anne Barker, ABC PM
July 08
Police dismiss Peter Falconio 'insurance scam' claims - Ananova
Outback tourist faked death or insurance says informant - Billy Adams, NZ Herald
Australian police go public over missing tourist - NZ Herald
Falconio theories thrive - Anna Cock, News Interactive
Falconio may have faked own death ABC News Online, PM
Falconio may have faked own death - Anne Barker, ABC PM
July 07
Falconios slam 'fake' claim - News Interactive
Peter Falconio's dad 'not ruling out faked disappearance' - Ananova
Lack of tears damned Lees in media eyes - Frances Grant, NZ Herald
Falconio 'fake' probe - News Interactive & The Sunday Mail
Police dismiss Peter Falconio 'insurance scam' claims - Ananova
July 06
'Police investigating if Peter Falconio faked his death' - Ananova
Falconio 'may have faked' death - News Interactive
July 05
Further tragedy for Lees - News Interactive
Bush outback victim's mum dies - News Interactive
July 01
Safety tips for backpackers - News Interactive
June 15
Falconio's girlfriend not surprised DNA didn't match - Ananova

PRESS
Falconio may have faked own death
In the Northern Territory, the case of missing British tourist Peter Falconio is no closer to solution even though police have now confirmed they've examined evidence that Mr Falconio may have faked his own death in an insurance scam. The accusation was in an anonymous letter sent to police last February from someone claiming to be a friend of the missing man. Police are so far discounting the claims and are still treating the case as a homicide.
Source: ABC News Online, PM

Falconio 'fake' probe
NORTHERN Territory police are investigating sensational claims that missing British backpacker Peter Falconio faked his own Outback murder. Police yesterday told The Sunday Mail they had received a letter from an anonymous British informant saying 28-year-old Mr Falconio had asked for detailed information about life insurance policies and ways in which deaths could be faked – before he left for Australia. Police said they were still conducting a murder investigation but would consider all information supplied to them.
Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees has said they were ambushed as they were stopped on a remote section of the Stuart Highway by a stranger with a "Mexican" moustache on July 14 last year. The 28-year-old from England told police Mr Falconio was gunned down. She said she was tied up in the back of the gunman's truck but she managed to escape and hide in scrub.Mr Falconio has not been seen since.
The claims made in the letter, received by police on February 25, match allegations made in a separate affidavit written by a friend and workmate of Mr Falconio. The existence of the affidavit was revealed yesterday by Britain's Daily Mail newspaper. NT police said they had "no evidence suggesting it was an insurance scam" but a spokeswoman said investigators would consider speaking to the author of the affidavit. "We have a similar letter, which was anonymous, that was sent to us from Britain," she said.
British police have also interviewed a backpacker who claims he recently saw Mr Falconio on the east coast of Australia. While they are convinced of the informant's sincerity, investigators have ruled it out as a positive sighting.The police spokeswoman said: "As far as we're concerned this is still a murder investigation. "We don't want to discourage anyone in the public from giving new information. But we're quite clear we have no evidence suggesting an insurance scam." NT Police Assistant Commissioner John Daulby said he was worried about the impact the claims of a faked disappearance might have.
"I am also concerned for Joanne Lees and the family of Peter Falconio who have already faced media scrutiny for almost a year and are victims in this matter," he said.
"I have discussed this matter with the Falconio family and have assured them that we are continuing with this homicide investigation and I am confident that we will find the offender."
NT police will hold a press conference within the next few days to reveal the results of a review of their performance on the case.Police have been criticised for their slow response to several aspects of the investigation, including delays in releasing security video images from an Alice Springs service station which showed a man matching the description of the gunman several hours after the attack.They have also faced criticism over the time it took for roadblocks to be set up along the Stuart Highway and other Outback roads after the attack, over the efficiency and effectiveness of NT forensic investigations, and over the fact there was a delay of a week before an Aboriginal tracker was brought in to examine the attack site. Source: News Interactive & The Sunday Mail

New Falconio case findings released
COMPERE: Next Sunday, Les Pilton and his partner Helen Jones will mark the anniversary of one of the Australia's greatest outback mysteries with a quiet toast, a toast to the peace and tranquillity of the British Falconio family and Joanne Lees. Mr Pilton and Ms Jones are the licensees of the isolated Barrow Creek pub on the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory. They were the ones to give first comfort to the sobbing, terrified Joanne when she was brought in by a motorist after her ordeal in the scrub on July 15 last year. This morning the Northern Territory Police Service has released the findings of an independent review of its year long investigation into the disappearance of Joanne's boyfriend of six years standing, Peter Falconio. Police have come under constant criticism for their handling of the case, from apparent delays in setting up roadblocks on the night of the apparent kidnapping, to delays in releasing an Alice Springs truck stop video of a person of interest to the investigation, a man with a canvas backed four-wheel-drive.
JOANNE LEES: I am feeling positive and strong and believe that it is only a matter of time now before the man responsible will [inaudible] to be with myself in court. I am confident that everything is being done and I'm hoping one of these leads the police are following up leads to him being found. I am confident that he will be found. If I could say one thing to this man who did this I would ask him to let the police know where he is.
COMPERE: The British tourist Joanne Lees and her ordeal. We today the Northern Territory Police announced the results of an independent review but they also revealed something else. There had been a similar in Queensland some months before the incident in the Northern Territory, Anne Barker our Northern Territory correspondent is covering things at the New Conference at the Police Headquarters in Darwin, she joins us now on the line. Anne, what did the Police Service of the Northern Territory have to say about their investigation?
ANNE BARKER: Well as you said John largely this investigation was to look at the police handling of the case in the year since the incident happened. Not so much at the case itself. There has been criticism on several fronts going back to night when it happened when road blocks were set up. Questions about whether those road blocks should have been put up a lot earlier to stop the gunman from getting away. Questions about the release of that video from Shell Shop stop in Alice Springs. The fact that it was only done several weeks afterwards. Right down to administrative details for handling of information technology and the way the police handled media questions about the whole investigation. The potential contamination of the crime scene, the fact that police went in on the night and potentially contaminated the evidence. And on all fronts the police have largely being clear of any mishandling of the case. Certainly the Police Commissioner, John Dolby, has said that there's always room for improvement in any major crime investigation. But largely the way it was handled was very professional. The forensic staff involved carried out their activities with absolute professionalism. The fact that the scene may have been contaminated was justifiable because in the early hours of the investigation it was possible that Peter Falconio was still alive and therefore the police went in. And the video the [inaudible] who did the review has accepted all the reasoning behind the delays there. So largely, it's a tick for the detectives and the task force involved in this investigation and the way they carried out the case.
COMPERE: But they still haven't come up with a result. They have this morning as I understand it revealed that in Queensland there was an incident which had some similarities some months before.
ANNE BARKER: Yes, two weeks before Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio headed north from Alice Springs there was apparently an incident at Hewenden which is about two hours out of Brisbane in remote Queensland. Apparently, a group of tourists who were also travelling in a Comby van on the Flinders Highway and a man in a four-wheel-drive had driven by twice and slowed down and obviously interested in what appeared to be two women driving this Comby van. They apparently became very alarmed and there was there was another man travelling with them who was in the back of the comby van, out of view. However this tourist did actually take the registration number of that car and the police checked on it and found that it should have been on a Mitsubishi car from further down south in Victoria. And obviously and not belonging to a four-wheel-drive. They haven't revealed any information about this before, but they said today that they're going to renew enquiries into that and certainly make the public aware of it. Perhaps it's a line of enquiry that might now give them the missing link in the whole case.
COMPERE: Did they indicate as to whether this four-wheel-drive with apparent stolen plates on it though, answered a similar description of the one in the Northern Territory with the canvas back on it and so on.
ANNE BARKER: The only information they had was that one was a dual cab and that was the one that Joanne Lees has reported in the Northern Territory. And that this one in Queensland had two doors, whether than means a match or not is yet to be seen. But they certainly didn't say that there was anything else that showed any similarity between the two incidents.
COMPERE: And just finalising it briefly Anne, I believe that they did also dismiss the speculation, tabloid speculation in the UK over the weekend if it being an insurance scam.
ANNE BARKER: Yes, John Dolby today did say that he confirmed again that the police did receive a letter from Brighton in England back in February from a man who was said to be a friend of Peter Falconio. And as we know from the last few days that letter apparently claimed that Peter Falconio had staged his own disappearance as part of an insurance scam and that he'd made enquiries in the days leading up to his departure from England about life insurance policies and so on. The police have said that there is no evidence to support that claim, and of course there is considerable evidence to support the case that he did in fact, he was shot dead in Northern Territory. Certainly based on Joanne Lees case, and interestingly, apparently the amount of insurance that is at stake for Peter Falconio was insignificant. So I guess that that too would put paid to any suggestions that kind. COMPERE: Anne Barker was speaking to us from Police Headquarters in Darwin. Source ABC: The World Today Jul 2002
Falconio investigation sound says police review
A review of Northern Territory police's investigation into the disappearance of British tourist Peter Falconio in July last year has proved positive for the police. Mr Falconio has been missing since a gunman stopped his car north of Alice Springs 12 months ago and attempted to abduct his girlfriend Joanne Lees. Assistant Commissioner John Daulby says the review is a positive outcome for police on the way they have handled the investigation. Mr Daulby says the review team accepted the reason for delaying the release of a critical security video from an Alice Springs truck stop. He says police still need to know the identity of the driver seen at the truck stop some three hours after the attack. Mr Daulby says there are still more than 800 reports to be investigated and while the police team is being scaled down, he is confident the attacker will be found. Source: ABC News Online 9 Jul 2002

Falconio investigation on track: NT Police
Northern Territory Police say an internal review of their investigations into the disappearance of a British tourist last year shows they are on the right track. A gunman tricked Peter Falconio into stopping on the Stuart Highway, north of Alice Springs and then tried to abduct his girlfriend Joanne Lees. Mr Falconio has not been seen since. Assistant Commissioner John Daulby says the review shows criticism of the police investigations is largely baseless and police acted quickly and appropriately.Mr Daulby says there are still many leads to follow and he believes the mystery will be solved."I'm confident we'll catch the killer. I'm confident the answer's out there," he said. "I'm confident that someone in some point in time will give us that piece we're looking for. "And we've said all along, this wasn't going to be easy, it's not easy at all. We've worked very hard on this. There's still a lot to be done." Source: ABC News Online 9 Jul 2002

Falconio investigation examines Qld link
A man driving a four-wheel-drive Toyota utility with a canvas canopy stalked three British tourists near Hughenden in Queensland, two weeks before the attack on Peter Falconio in the Northern Territory. Police say the man followed the tourists and passed them twice before driving away when he realised one of the tourists was a man. Northern Territory Assistant Commissioner, John Daulby, today released a review into the taskforce investigating the disappearance and suspected murder of Mr Falconio, near Barrow Creek, north of Alice Springs, in July last year. Police say a gunman tricked Mr Falconio and his girlfriend Joanne Lees into stopping their van, apparently shot Mr Falconio and attempted to abduct Ms Lees. Mr Daulby says while there are differences in the description of the man in the Queensland incident, the utility may have had false number plates. He says attempts to track the vehicle have failed. Mr Daulby says the review identified the need to track the driver of the utility. Source: ABC News Online 9 Jul 2002

Falconio disappearance still shrouded in mystery
KERRY O'BRIEN: Welcome to the program.
This weekend marks the anniversary of the disappearance in central Australia of the young English tourist Peter Falconio. According to his girlfriend, Joanne Lees, their vehicle was intercepted late at night on the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek, north of Alice Springs. Joanne Lees managed to escape their armed hijacker, but Peter Falconio has never been found. From the start, NT police have believed Joanne Lees's story. But she's been the subject of continuing rumour and speculation in the British tabloid press. Only in the past week came suggestions that Peter Falconio could have faked his death. Despite the biggest manhunt in Territory history, an arrest seems as far away ever. Earlier this year, persistent criticism prompted an internal police inquiry into the investigation.
Murray McLaughlin reports on the findings.
MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Joanne Lees was holding back tears when she fronted the Australian news media in Alice Springs, for the first and only time 11 days after the disappearance of her partner, Peter Falconio.
JOANNE LEES, JULY 25, 2001: I am feeling positive and strong and believe it's only a matter of time before the man responsible for what has happened to Pete and myself is caught.
MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: That man has not yet been caught. Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio were driving their Kombi van to Darwin when it was hijacked 280km north of Alice Springs. It's suspected that Falconio was shot. Lees says she escaped after being dragged from the van and hunted by an armed male attacker and his dog. The subsequent investigation has tested the resources of the NT police. Today the media room at police headquarters in Darwin was crowded for a briefing about a six-week review of the police investigation. The review was done by a superintendent and a retired assistant commissioner from SA. According to police themselves, their year-long investigation has passed muster.
JOHN DAULBY, ASST COMMISSIONER, NT POLICE: The review team gave the task force investigating the disappearance a positive report card. However, we found that like any major incidents or investigations of any serious crime, or major crime, there's always room for improvement.
MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: The review is not being released to the public. Police say it's a working document. But it does apparently dismiss criticisms of their investigation which have dogged Territory police over the past year such as whether they set up roadblocks quickly enough.
JOHN DAULBY: The review team found that the roadblocks were put up in a timely fashion, taking into consideration the time received of the call to police at Alice Springs. I think that was about 2:05 on the morning of the 15th. However, they did find there was a lack of uniformity in record-keeping.
MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Then there was the question of why it took police until May this year to release a surveillance video from a service station on the outskirts of Alice Springs. The customer in black shopped here within hours of the hijack and remains unknown to police. Having first denied their knowledge of any video, police later said it needed to be specially enhanced before it could be released.
JOHN DAULBY: The review team accepted the reasoning behind the delayed release f that.
MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: But there were hints of shortcomings in the management of the police investigation. There was inadequate follow-up to a report of threats to tourists on the Flinders Highway in north-west Queensland only days before the Falconio incident. And the police computer system wasn't up to the job of collating the 23,000 pieces of information and checks of 2,300 so-called "persons of interest" relating to the investigation. The system is called PROMIS, standing for Police Realtime Online Management System.
JOHN DAULBY: While the PROMIS system is a very effective and efficient system for the day-to-day management of incidents and to a lesser extent serious crime management in a matter such as this, considering the huge amount of information they were dealing with on a daily basis, the enormity of it was such that it was found to be somewhat inefficient. MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Most emphatic today was police support for Joanne Lees's version of what happened. A forensic scientist displayed the soiled top she was wearing that night. From it, police have extracted a yet-to-be matched DNA sample. Also revealed, photographs of injuries which she sustained on her knees and elbows.
JOHN DAULBY: I haven't dragged these out before. I guess I get a bit exasperated with it. You've probably asked the question before. Of course I believe Joanne Lees. She is very much a victim, as is the Falconio family.
MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: There's been yet more grief for the Falconio family this week with the Daily Mail newspaper in England reporting an affidavit by an acquaintance of Peter Falconio. The acquaintance said Falconio had asked questions soon before he left for Australia about how a death could be faked overseas.
RICHARD SHEARS, DAILY MAIL NEWSPAPER: The reason why this particular person knew so much about faked deaths was that he previously worked in an insurance company and was privy to a department that actually investigated deaths overseas. He thought it was rather interesting that Peter Falconio, having asked so many questions about "How do you go about it?" should then travel to Australia and suddenly disappear under mysterious circumstances.
MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: The Territory police are unmoved by this latest twist.
In February, they received similar information anonymously and are discounting the latest story.
But until the crime is solved, speculation hurtful to the distant families will continue to swirl.
RICHARD SHEARS: Every day I wake up with a different thought about it, but perhaps this will be one of those ongoing mysteries which even Agatha Christie didn't have the depth of mind to draw up.
JOHN DAULBY: I'm confident we will catch the killer. I'm confident that the answer is out there. I'm confident that someone at some point in time will give us that piece we're looking for. We've said this all along. This wasn't going to be easy and it's not easy at all and we've worked very hard on this and there's still a lot to be done. Source: The 7.30 Report, 9th July 2002.