THE lorry driver suspected of killing Huddersfield backpacker Peter Falconio was today re-arrested.

Bradley John Murdoch, 45, was taken into custody immediately after being cleared of the abduction and rape of a woman and her daughter in South Australia state.

As Murdoch walked from the Adelaide courthouse he was met by officers and escorted to a nearby police station.

He will appear at Adelaide Magistrates' Court tomorrow morning in connection with the murder of Mr Falconio.

The trial looks likely to go ahead in the new year.

Mr Falconio, 28, from Hepworth went missing when a gunman attacked him and his girlfriend Joanne Lees, of Almondbury, on July 14, 2001, on the remote Stuart Highway in central Australia.

Authorities in the Northern Territory province where the attack occurred are expected to ask the Adelaide court to extradite Murdoch to the provincial capital Darwin.

Murdoch cannot be formally charged with murder until he is in the Northern Territory.

Miss Lees' stepfather, Vincent James, who lives at Almondbury, said both he and the Falconios were relieved to hear the news of Murdoch's arrest.

"We are very pleased about that. Hopefully things will move along a little."

He said the families were now preparing to travel over to Australia for the case.

"Joanne will certainly have to go because she's the only witness and I wouldn't want her go by herself.

"If Joanne wants me to go, I'll go."

He said both families realised the process took time.

"It's a waiting game. We realise that this unrelated case had to go through first and now it's finished we are just hoping things will speed along so they can reach their conclusion."

No trace has been found of Mr Falconio since he and Miss Lees were attacked on what was supposed to have been the round-the-world trip of a lifetime.

They were travelling overnight in their Volkswagen van through the desert at Barrow Creek, 185 miles north of Alice Springs, when they were flagged down by a stranger.

As her boyfriend was chatting to the man Miss Lees heard a shot before she was grabbed, bound, gagged and bundled into a pick-up and driven off.

She eventually freed herself and fled into the scrub where she hid for six hours.

It was only after Murdoch, from Broome in Western Australia, was arrested on unrelated sex charges that police announced he was prime suspect in the Falconio case.

DNA evidence was found at the scene of the attack that led to Murdoch's eventual arrest.

Earlier this year Murdoch abandoned his legal battle to prevent Northern Territory police testing his blood.

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