A SENSATIONAL claim that Outback killer Bradley Murdoch was set up by police on a murder charge has emerged in Australia.

Crime writer Robin Bowles has alleged that Australian police framed the man convicted of killing Huddersfield backpacker Peter Falconio, 28.

She says several inconsistencies in the evidence presented to the high-profile trial in 2005 backed up her claim.

Former truck driver and engineer Murdoch is serving a 28-year sentence in an Australian jail after being convicted of the murder of Mr Falconio, from Hepworth.

His body was never found after he vanished on an Outback highway while touring with girlfriend Joanne Lees, of Almondbury.

Murdoch, 49, was also convicted of kidnapping Miss Lees, who managed to wriggle free from him and hide in the Outback for several hours.

Murdoch strenuously denied all the charges, but was convicted. He has also had an appeal rejected.

Ms Bowles, a respected Australian crime writer, has brought out a book in which she examines the sensational Falconio case.

She says in the book, Rough Justice: Unanswered Questions from the Australian Courts, that she spoke to a Northern Territory police officer about the case and was told: “We know he wasn’t the shooter. But he’s going down for it.”

Ms Bowles argues that with no body and no evidence of any gunshot it was “a huge leap of faith” to say that Mr Falconio had been shot.

Miss Lees said that when their camper van was forced to stop on the Stuart Highway she saw Murdoch with a pistol and then heard a shot.

Despite one of Australia’s biggest-ever searches no trace of Mr Falconio was ever found.

The court heard damning scientific evidence against Murdoch and found him guilty of the charges.

Northern Territory Police have dismissed Ms Bowles’s allegations.