Police praise outback attack woman

Joanne Lees took part in a reconstruction of the attack

Police in Australia have praised the bravery of the girlfriend of missing British tourist Peter Falconio after she took part in a reconstruction of their ambush.

Joanne Lees, 27, relived her terrifying experience in a remote area of the Northern Territory where she and Peter Falconio, 28, were attack by a gunman who flagged down their camper van.

The couple were flagged down by the gunman on Saturday

Miss Lees, from Almondbury, near Huddersfield, is being comforted by her step-father Vincent James, 58, who flew to Alice Springs to be with her after Saturday night's incident.

DNA samples from the highway where the attack happened are being checked against a national data base.

But there was a setback when police said they did not match those among police records from the Northern Territory.

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A psychological profile of the attacker is also being prepared with experts suspecting he is almost certainly a sexual psychopath.

Sydney University psychologist John Clarke, who prepares criminal profiles for New South Wales police, said the attack may have taken years to plan.

"The main focus of this guy's thinking would have been his sexual fantasy of abducting a woman and keeping her for a long time as a sex slave," Clarke told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"He coldly and calculatedly planned to eliminate the male and get the female for himself.

'Distressed'

Wednesday's reconstruction lasted three hours and involved a replica of the couple's orange camper van to the scene of the attack.

Police said the reconstruction on the Stuart Highway, near Barrow Creek, could help them build a fuller picture of what happened.

Police have released an e-fit of the gunman

Ms Lees' mother Jennifer James, 54, said: "We are just hoping the re-enactment will jog Joanne's memory - or jog the memory of somebody else.

"She's bearing up as well as can be expected but is still very distressed.

"A friend has come up from Sydney to be with her and that's helping, but she's still very traumatised."

Mr Falconio's father Luciano has flown to Australia, and said on Wednesday he still had hopes of finding his son alive.

He said he would stay for "as long as it takes" to find his son.

The ambush happened as the couple were flagged down by a man who suggested there was something wrong with their vehicle.

Mr Falconio got out of the camper van and began talking to the man but shortly after, Ms Lees heard what she thought was a gunshot.

The attacker pulled her from the vehicle, tied her up and threw her into the back of a van. She managed to escape when he was momentarily distracted, Ms Lees said.

The frightened woman then spent several hours hiding in the outback from the gunman - who searched for her with a dog and a torch - for before raising the alarm.

Police face a massive task searching an area of the outback about four times the size of Britain. They are hoping Aboriginal trackers will help pick up a trail.

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