Joanne Lees

Joanne Rachael Lees (born 25 September 1973) is known for her ordeal in central Australia when, as a young British tourist travelling with her partner Peter Falconio, she was attacked and subjected to an attempted abduction by a man later identified as Bradley John Murdoch. Lees escaped her attacker, but Falconio was never found, and in 2005 Murdoch was convicted of his murder.

The events took place on a remote stretch of highway near Barrow Creek in outback Northern Territory, Australia on 14 July 2001. Lees was the chief crown witness in the subsequent murder trial of Bradley John Murdoch conducted in Darwin.

Lees first met Falconio in a nightclub in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England in 1996 and began living with him the following year in Brighton, England where Falconio was studying at university. In 2000, the couple embarked on a trip to Thailand, Singapore and Australia.

Early on the night of 14 July 2001 the young backpackers were travelling on the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek, in the Northern Territory, in their orange Kombi. Falconio was driving and Lees was next to him in the passenger seat. The two had been conscious of the headlights of a car behind them for some time, and were waiting to be overtaken. However, when the vehicle - a white, four wheel drive utility - drew alongside, the man in the cab, Murdoch, gestured at them to pull over. Falconio stopped the van and went to speak with the man, who pulled off the road ahead of them. The man explained he had seen sparks shooting out of the van's exhaust. The two went to the rear of the vehicle to investigate, and Lees slid into the drivers seat, ready to rev the engine. She then heard a loud bang from the rear of the van and, moments later, turned to the window. Instead of the night sky, the man filled it, with a silver gun in his hand. He climbed into the van, threatening her with the gun, as she backed away from him. She let him secure her hand behind her back with cable ties. She was forced out of the van landing on her knees on the gravel and falling to her face on the ground, but she escaped while he was distracted (apparently while moving Falconio's body). She hid for five hours in nearby bushes before running out onto the road and flagging down a truck driver who removed her cable ties and took her to safety at Barrow Creek Hotel from where the police were called.

...
Wikipedia