JOANNE Lees wants a memorial to murdered boyfriend Peter Falconio somewhere in the Outback where he disappeared.

She is discussing the idea with the Falconio family in Hepworth and officials in Australia's Northern Territory.

But it will not be at the spot where the 28-year-old backpacker was killed on the Stuart Highway in July, 2001.

Miss Lees said: "We are thinking of a headstone or a plaque, something like that."

She revealed the plan as her book about the murder is published.

Miss Lees, 33, from Almondbury, has made a reported £250,000 from the book deal and serialisation rights and another £50,000 from a TV interview.

She is reported to be planning to take a degree in social work as she gets her life back on track.

A presenter who interviewed her for Australian TV said she needed the money from the book as she was strapped for cash.

ABC's Andrew Denton said: "You have to remember her life has been totally interrupted by this. She couldn't earn a living, she is struggling financially."

Mechanic and self-confessed drug-runner Bradley John Murdoch, 47, was convicted of Mr Falconio's murder last December.

He was also found guilty of assaulting Miss Lees and depriving her of her liberty.

Murdoch's appeal against his conviction and life sentence will be heard in the Northern Territory capital, Darwin, on December 12.

Miss Lees says the book is an attempt to "take back my life from the storytellers".

In interviews she has told of her hurt over a recent Australian TV poll that asked if she was innocent of the murder.

"That was really hurtful to me and to the Falconio family because Murdoch was unanimously found guilty," she said.

"It was also insulting to the Australian justice system and to the judge and jury."

In a BBC interview she accused the media of sensationalising the case.

Miss Lees said: "During the early days of the investigation I didn't give any interviews or Press conferences.

"In the meantime, the newspaper editors wanted a story, so, because I hadn't given them one, they decided to create one of their own.

"Sadly, some of the media prefer a murder mystery than the fact that it was just a tragedy."

Miss Lees denied there were any discrepancies in her story.

She said: "I was just a normal girl who was travelling around the world with her boyfriend and I was thrust into this nightmare."

Miss Lees said she had no plans to be at Murdoch's hearing. "I'm not required. It's just a procedure," she said.

The killer had been in her thoughts for five years, she said, adding: "Since justice was done I don't have to think of him any more - and I don't."