Skip to main contentSkip to footer

Murder in the Outback: The Falconio and Lees Mystery: where is Joanne Lees now? 

Channel 4's Murder in the Outback: The Falconio and Lees Mystery looks at the 2001 disappearance


joanne lees 1
Emmy Griffiths
TV & Film Editor
June 8, 2020
Share this:

Channel 4's new documentary Murder in the Outback: The Falconio and Lees Mystery looks at the terrifying disappearance of Peter Falconio, a British backpacker who was never seen again after he and his girlfriend, Joanne Lees, were attacked in the Australian outback. Peter's body was never found and he is now presumed dead, with Bradley John Murdoch being convicted of his murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2005. However, Joanne survived and has since spoken about her terrifying ordeal. So where is she now? 

falconio lee

Joanne and Peter was attacked while travelling in Australia

Joanne, who managed to escape their attacker by running and hiding for five hours, has spoken about the ordeal on a few occasions and wrote a book about her experiences, No Turning Back, which was adapted into the TV movie Joanne Lees: Murder in the Outback. Speaking about her experience to 60 Minutes, she said: "I just felt the isolation that I was completely alone. I was screaming for Pete to come and help me, he didn't return. Now I realise that Peter had already lost his life but I didn't want to accept that... I didn't have a choice; I wanted to leave but I was terrified... after evading Murdoch, I didn't want to then come out of hiding and him to find me." 

READ: 7 exciting new shows and films to watch on Netflix this week

joanne lees 6

Joanne now works as a social worker

Speaking to Women's Day magazine in a rare interview back in 2011, Joanne revealed that she lives in Huddersfield, is single and has previously worked as a travel agent, but is now a social worker. Speaking about trying to move on from the horrific incident, she said: "Peter's family and I both feel that it would be wrong to keep talking about it. There comes a time when you feel you have said what you want to say. The anniversary is obviously very difficult for us, and the best approach is to deal with it in our own way, out of the spotlight.''

READ: 5 brilliant Netflix shows that you definitely haven't watched yet

The new episode of the documentary looks at Joanne's experiences as she returned home from Australia to an unprecedented amount of press attention, while detectives questioned her about inconsistencies in her retelling of the events. 

Sign up to Off Camera for all the gossip and goings-on from the wonderful world of TV and film

By entering your details, you are agreeing to HELLO! Magazine User Data Protection Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information, please click here.

More TV and Film

See more