THE first image from a film depicting the ordeal of the girlfriend of a British backpacker murdered in the Australian Outback more than five years ago has been released.

Joanne Lees, formerly of Almondbury, was abducted and assaulted at gunpoint by drug runner Bradley Murdoch, who was also found guilty of murdering her boyfriend Peter Falconio on a remote stretch of highway near Barrow Creek, about 200 miles north of Alice Springs, on July 14, 2001.

The role of Miss Lees will be played by 26-year-old Joanne Froggatt in the film To Catch A Killer which will be shown on ITV1.

In the image, Ms Froggatt, who played Zoe Tattersall in Coronation Street, can be seen wearing a tight pink vest with "Cheeky monkey" emblazoned across the front - similar to the figure-hugging top worn by Miss Lees during her first controversial press conference in July 2001.

An ITV1 spokesman said: "Filming entirely on location in Australia, this film will explore the traumatic ordeal Joanne Lees faced first in the Outback and then at the hands of the world's press, and the extraordinary legal battle to put a killer behind bars."

Murdoch will be played by Australian actor Richard Carter while John Wood will play Murdoch's barrister, Grant Algie.

The Northern Territory's director of public prosecutions, Rex Wild QC, will be played by veteran Australian actor Bryan Brown, and prosecutors Tony Elliott and Anne Elliott will be played by Tom Long and Asher Keddie.

Murdoch's conviction last December vindicated Miss Lees, a 32-year-old support now of Brighton, who faced constant smears since Mr Falconio, who lived in Hepworth, disappeared.

She now plans to write her own book, which she will dedicate to Mr Falconio, in an attempt to "correct inaccuracies and misconceptions" about the case.

Miss Lees has also said she is still distressed that her boyfriend's killer has refused to tell her or the Falconio family where the body is.

During the trial she said she had had nightmares about being jailed, had been more scared of being raped than of dying during the attack, and said her dreams of marrying Mr Falconio and of having his children had been destroyed.

The young couple had set out on a trip of a lifetime and were travelling along the Stuart Highway heading towards Darwin when Murdoch, of Broome, Western Australia, flagged them down in their orange camper van.

The 47-year-old shot Mr Falconio dead before threatening Miss Lees with a gun to her head and painfully tying her up with her hands behind her back.

She managed to escape and hide in the bush for more than five hours on the moonless night before being rescued, but Mr Falconio was never seen again and no body has been found.

Murdoch, who admitted he used amphetamines to stay awake as he transported cannabis long distances across Australia, has always denied he was the killer and no motive for the attack has ever been established.