Police use sneaker left at the scene to identify thief

Police in the UK have apprehended a thief using DNA evidence from a sneaker he left behind at the crime scene. The suspect was caught on security footage stealing a phone and fleeing on a bicycle, but was knocked off by a group of tradespeople who gave chase.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
And enduring murder mystery to night a race against time.
We recognize the passage of time that's transpired. However it's
never too late to reach out. Northern Territory Police today
doubling to half a million dollars the reward for information
leading to Peter Falconio's remains, an eleventh hour bid to
give his family and former girlfriend Joe Anne Lee's closure

(00:26):
after twenty four years. If that could say one thing
to this man who did this, I would ask him
to let the police know where he is. It was
July two thousand and one. The young British backpackers were
on the trip of a lifetime exploring the Australian outback.
Peter Falconio was brutally murdered, shot in the head at
Barrow Creek in the Northern Territory. Joanne managed to escape.

(00:48):
Peter's body has never been found. I was just screaming
for Peter. I saw anyone in Piter's just going to
come and save me. Two years later, truck driver Bradley
John Murdoch was charmed with murder and sentence to life.
He's always maintained his innocence, refusing to reveal where Peter's
body was buried, a secret he will almost certainly take

(01:10):
to his grave. Murdoch only has days to live. Transferred
from prison to palliative care at Alice Springs Hospital with
terminal throat cancer. Police have tried time and time again
to convince Murdock to come clean, revealing today they even
pushed for a deathbed confession this week. On all occasions,
he chosen not to positively engage with police. The officer

(01:33):
who arrested him two decades ago doubts he'll have a
change of heart. I think for him it's a part
of his control that he will never disclose. Who will
take it with him? Cold blooded to the bitter end.
And police reporter Hannah Ford's in Alice Springs for US
tonight Hannah Murdock's treatment in hospital. There's raising eyebrows. It

(02:00):
is Rosanna, We're told. The sixty seven year old who
was wheelchair bound is now allowed out of this palliative
care facility for supervised day trips. Murdoch, who is well
known for charming prison guards during his two decades behind bars.
I've spoken to one who spent almost every day with
Murdoch for thirteen of them. He tells me the killer

(02:21):
is incredibly charismatic. He says Murdock has always maintained his
innocence and he believes him. Others describe him as polite
but manipulative. The Anti Corrections Department is refusing to respond
to questions about his day trips, saying it doesn't comment
on prisoner movements for security reasons. With Murdock expected to

(02:42):
die within days, will likely see detectives back here desperate
to get that deathbed confession