Bradley Murdoch Dies

 

I'm totally against the death penalty. Now, I know very well that there are criminals who deserve hanging; you only have to switch on the news and you can see them. However, there is a risk you might hang the wrong man, after all we regularly imprison the wrong people. Again, just doomscroll for a few minutes and you'll see a story about a person who has had a conviction overturned by a court of appeal. If a capital sentence is quashed after it has been carried out, there is no judge who can bring the innocent man back to life. This is the sole reason I oppose capital punishment. One of the best arguments in favour of reintroducing the death penalty is modern forensic technology that allows police detectives to know with certainty whether a person was present at the scene of a crime by collecting their DNA. But is it really the crystal ball its proponents think it is? Is it really a magic wand that allows an investigator literally to know everything? An Australian convict has just died. Bradley John Murdoch has succumbed to cancer at the age of sixty-seven in a hospital near the prison he has been incarcerated in since 2005. A man called Luciano Falconio has told the press that he felt relieved that Murdoch had died, but wished "he'd left us something". This was because Murdoch was serving a life sentence for murdering his son Peter. The core of the prosecution's case was DNA evidence. Traces of DNA from the suspect were found on the victim's clothes, the gearlever of their campervan and some homemade handcuffs. Peter Falconio was a young British tourist who was taking a road trip in Australia with his girlfriend Joanne Lees. On the 14th of July 2001 they were in the outback and stopped for dinner at a restaurant in Alice Springs. Also at the restaurant was Bradley Murdoch, a man with a long history of violent crime. He had been a Hell's Angel, had shot at people playing sports and had beaten his wife and son. The couple headed north out of the town and at about the same time Murdoch also did in his own vehicle, a Toyota Ute truck. What happened after that we only know about from the sole survivor of the incident, Joanne Lees. According to her, Murdoch followed them along the road and a few hours later, not long after sunset, the truck drew alongside the campervan and the driver gestured to them to pull over. When they did so he warned them that their exhaust pipe appeared to be on fire. When Peter went have a look, Murdoch pulled out a gun and shot him. He then attempted to kidnap Joanne by shackling her hands with the cuffs and locking her in his van. She managed to escape and fled into the scrub alongside the road. Murdoch searched for her with a torch and his dog, but eventually gave up. When he had gone Joanne returned to the road and stopped a passing lorry to get help. Source: https://news.sky.com/story/bradley-murdoch-man-who-murdered-british-backpacker-peter-falconio-in-2001-dies-without-revealing-location-of-victims-remains-13397223.

Police went to the scene a few hours later with an Aboriginal tracker to help them. They found a pool of blood on the road, identified as Peter's, but apart from that there was very little evidence. They found Joanne's footprints at the roadside, but none from anybody else. Peter and Joanne's campervan was found parked a short distance from the road. Of Peter there was no sign at all. It took a whole year but eventually the police matched the DNA at the scene with Bradley Murdoch and arrested him. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and was consistent in protesting his innocence for the rest of his life. His defence team said that the forensic investigation had been handled badly and some samples had been thrown out for being contaminated. The DNA found at the scene from Murdoch could have ended up there if, for example, Peter and he shook hands or shared a sauce bottle at the restaurant. Murdoch also turned down a sweetheart deal. He was offered a transfer to a lower security prison where he would be given nicer food and more time outdoors, and early probation, if he simply told the Falconio family where he had disposed of Peter's body. Murdoch had nothing to lose at that point, so why did he refuse? He repeated that he didn't know because he hadn't killed Peter. There were inconsistencies in Joanne Lees' testimony and also a sense that she was exhibiting a strange demeanour, showing no signs of grief or trauma. Fingers started pointing at her. This reminded many Australians of the Lindy Chamberlain case, a woman who was imprisoned in 1982 for murdering her own baby daughter, also in the outback. Her conviction was overturned in 1988 following an extremely controversial appeal hearing. The researcher Keith Allan Noble has written a book about the Peter Falconio incident entitled Find! Falconio, which I have not read, in which he argues for Murdoch's innocence and the reopening of the case. Noble has also questioned the official story of many other Australian crimes, such as the Port Arthur massacre, see here for details: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2023/09/third-rail-radio-programme-153.html. I personally question the official story of the disappearance of Peter Falconio; however, it's important to note that just because of that, I do not assume any alternative theory is automatically correct. At the present time, in my view, there is not enough evidence to accuse anybody else of killing Peter. The ordeal of Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees is emblematic of the catchphrase that sums up the Australian outback, out of sight- out of mind. I went there myself in 2000. It is so wild and remote that almost anything could happen there and nobody uninvolved would ever know about it. Maybe that is why the CIA chose to put the Pine Gap secret intelligence base there, see:  https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2023/04/pine-gap-alien-video.html and: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2018/12/ben-emlyn-jones-on-kev-baker-show-41.html. As for Bradley John Murdoch, he sounds like a pretty unpleasant individual and I doubt if anybody is mourning him right now. He may well be having a very problematic discussion with St Peter at the moment. However, he only deserves to be punished for the crimes he did commit, never those he didn't.
See here for more information: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2025/04/third-rail-radio-programme-206.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2021/03/elisa-lam-netflix-docu.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2014/08/richplanet-live-in-london.html.