Did Joanne Lees have an affair before Peter Falconios death?
IT'S been 20 years since Brit tourist Peter Falconio was brutally murdered in the Aussie outback. The only witness to this terrible crime was his girlfriend Joanne Lees. During Bradley Murdoch's trial for Peter Falconio's murder Joanne Lees admitted to a holiday "fling" with an Irishman named Nick Reilly in the months before her boyfriend was killed. She said had secretly met him several times for sex before she and Peter went on their Outback adventure. Speaking about the affair outside the court in 2005 Joanne said: "I did love Pete with all my heart and when that happened I did overstep the boundaries of friendship. "But it made me, like, love Pete even more and value what we did have." 2 The pair were ambushed in the outback as they travelled in their campervan Credit: PA  But she did not say whether she would have confessed the 2001 affair to with Nick, who she met through friends. "All I wish was that Pete was still here and I could...well, I wish he was still here more than anything." On July 14, 2001 Joanne and Peter, who was 28 at the time, were touring Australia in a VW Kombi campervan when tragedy struck. Joanne said they were ambushed by Bradley Murdoch who had followed them in a four-by-four. as they drove north to Alice Springs. He told them he he had a problem with the exhaust, but when Peter went to help he was shot by the stranger. Joanne said she was then kidnapped, drugged, and raped by Murdoch. She said she bit and scratched Murdoch as he dragged her out of the car and threw her into his vehicle instead. Later she managed to escape his clutches by jumping out of the car and disappearing into the darkness. Joanne hid in the bushes for up to five hours before she ran into the road a waved down a passing truck.