Outback hostage girl re-enacts her ordeal

THE father and brother of the British tourist feared murdered by a gunman in the Australian outback were today reunited with his girlfriend, Joanne Lees, after she returned to the scene of the shooting to re-enact her ordeal.

Peter Falconio's father Luciano and brother Paul, 31 from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, flew into Alice Springs today to join two of Ms Lees' girlfriends who have also travelled to the famous desert town to comfort her following her six-hour ordeal when she hid in the desert.

Her stepfather, Vincent James, 58, also from Huddersfield, was set to arrive in Alice Springs tomorrow. Brighton travel agent Miss Lees, 27, was taken to the crime scene on the highway, 175 miles north of Alice Springs, where she last saw Mr Falconio, 28, her boyfriend of five years, talking to the man who flagged down their camper van, claiming it had engine trouble.

Ms Lees agreed to the the three-hour drive after heavy rain defeated plans to fly her to a landing strip nearby. A three-mile exclusion zone was thrown around the area as she relived the horrifying events. A friend described her as "still very shaken and frail by her ordeal. She is in a state of shock and very nervy".

Commander Max Pope of the Northern Territories Police said the investigation would be "stumbling" without Miss Lees' help. "Everyone understands how difficult it's going to be for her but she insists on doing all she can to help," he said. The rain-soaked rocky terrain has also defeated Aboriginal trackers trying to find any trace of what happened to Mr Falconio. Police believe he was probably shot dead and his body thrown down one of the many mine shafts in the area.

Meanwhile, the two men who rescued Ms Lees when she stumbled out of the darkness in front of their 90-tonne articulated truck four days ago, spoke of their horror when they saw her in the headlights. Driver Rodney Adams said: "I never want to see anything like that again. She was in an appalling state."

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