An Australian TV network claims it knows where the body of murdered Huddersfield backpacker Peter Falconio was dumped.

And investigators have criticised police chiefs for failing to carry out a more detailed hunt after the Hepworth man was shot on a lonely stretch of outback highway in 2001.

The Seven Network’s Today Tonight program in Adelaide, South Australia, plans to reveal the exact location next week.

It follows a lengthy investigation after a tip-off to the programme’s senior investigative reporter Frank Pangallo.

Pangallo said the tip came from an eyewitness who was in the area not long after Falconio and his girlfriend Joanne Lees were attacked by Bradley Murdoch. The couple had been travelling in a red Combi van on the Stuart Highway, more than 300 km north of Alice Springs.

Ms Lees, originally of Almondbury, managed to escape into the bush after her boyfriend was held hostage and shot by Murdoch on the side of the road.

Mr Falconio’s body was never located but a large pool of his blood was found on the road by police.

Murdoch was later convicted of Mr Falconio’s murder but has recently lodged an appeal.

“The eyewitness is extremely credible,” said Pangallo. “He works in a very remote area of central Australia and never followed the case closely.

“The penny dropped for him when he was watching TV in Darwin on the day Murdoch was convicted of Falconio’s murder and the abduction of Lees in 2005.

“Up until then he hadn’t made the connection with what he saw five years earlier.”

Murdoch is currently serving a life prison sentence in the Northern Territory. He has refused to reveal where Mr Falconio’s body can be found while still maintaining his innocence.

He was convicted largely on DNA evidence found on his T-shirt which matched that of Joanne Lees.

Murdoch has recently filed another appeal, this time claiming Lees had “been coached” in giving her evidence by prosecutors on the case.

There have been countless failed attempts by individuals and crackpots to solve the final piece in the puzzle of Australia’s most baffling outback murder mystery.

Psychics and water diviners have gone to the area and dug up large tracts of land and found nothing”, said Pangallo.

“Police did not thoroughly search the area at the time and seem to have little interest in finding Mr Falconio’s remains now unless someone points them to the exact spot.

“We took a small team with us, including an expert in locating hidden graves.

“When we showed the location to the expert she immediately remarked to us that it was the perfect place for a covert burial.

“I can’t understand why Territory police missed it at the time. It is so obvious.”

Video footage shown on Channel 7 Adelaide to promote the Today Tonight investigation shows a dark, watery hole.

Pangallo said it is an important new lead which must be pursued to give closure to Mr Falconio’s grieving family in the UK as well as Ms Lees, who have returned to Huddersfield since the murder.

“I feel so sorry for all of them.They must think about it every day.

“I hope in some way we can bring their nightmare to an end,” Pangallo said.