ALL that the jury knew about Bradley Murdoch during the trial was that he was a drug smuggler.

What they did not know until after they delivered their verdict was that he was a gun-obsessed thug who repeatedly claimed that police had framed him for firearms and sex offences. Murdoch was arrested for the Falconio murder almost by accident.

Police had been investigating the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Riverland, South Australia, when they arrested and charged Murdoch with the offence. He was subsequently acquitted, but police noticed a number of similarities between the two cases.

The alleged rape victim said that her attacker had driven a white Toyota Land Cruiser with a dark canopy. Ms Lees said that her attacker was driving a similar vehicle. The rape victim said that her attacker blindfolded her and tried to tape her mouth shut. Ms Lees’s attacker tried unsuccessfully to tape her mouth.

When Murdoch was acquitted of rape he was already a prime suspect in the Falconio case. When he was arrested the first time, police discovered a hoard of weapons in his vehicle, including a rifle, a loaded .38 Beretta semi-automatic pistol, a crossbow with 13 bolts, an electric cattle prod, almost 800 rounds of ammunition, chains, shackles and night vision goggles. They also found two longhandled shovels, a jockey whip and five pairs of disposable gloves.

At the time of his first arrest he vehemently resisted attempts to have his DNA analysed — tests that eventually showed that he was 100 million times more likely than anyone else to be Mr Falconio’s killer.

Murdoch had a violent past, and had served 21 months in jail for shooting at a group of Aborigines who he claimed were harassing him. He transported large amounts of cannabis across Australia, often carrying a gun in a compartment within the driver’s door of his vehicle for protection. He was known to change his appearance to help avoid being noticed by the police.

During his closing arguments, Rex Wild, QC, the state’s director of public prosecutions, said that Murdoch’s actions had not been those of a crazed gunman, but of “a cunning, fastidious, obsessive man” who cleared the scene and disposed of the body as quickly as he could.

Mr Wild suggested that Murdoch’s motive could have been either his mistaken assumption that Ms Lees was driving the camper van alone, or that the vehicle was following him.

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