A crime reporter has told a documentary he knows where the body of murdered Peter Falconio was dumped in the Australian outback.

Australian television programme Today Tonight, aired on the country's Seven Network, has claimed a witness to the aftermath of the murder of Mr Falconio and attempted murder of his girlfriend in 2001 has just come forward.

The 28-year-old Brighton University graduate and Joanna Lees left their home in Hove to tour around Australia in the trip of a lifetime.

A man flagged down their orange Kombi van about 180 miles north of Alice Springs on the Stuart Highway.

Mr Falconio got out of the car to speak to the man, when Lees heard a shot.

She was handcuffed by convicted killer Bradley John Murdoch before she managed to escape into the bush.

Miss Lees managed to escape and hide in the freezing Australian desert.

Police later found a pool of blood on the road, but never located Falconio's remains.

Murdoch was jailed for the murder of Mr Falconio and attempted murder of Miss Lees, but continues to protest his innocence.

The new programme features evidence from retired Australian crime reporter Paul Jackson who said a friend of his - the unnamed witness to the murder's aftermath - saw a pick-up truck like Murdoch's at a spot 2.5km from the murder scene shortly after the incident.

Mr Jackson told the television programme he “knew for a fact” Mr Falconio was buried in a well in a farm in Neutral Junction in the Northern Territory.

He told the Australian programme: “What are the chances of a vehicle like Bradley John Murdoch's being in that area at that time, one hour twenty minutes after the murder which happened 2.5km away?

“The place I am talking about is 2km off the road from the murder site.

“The police never, ever, went there.”

The programme makers said the man who saw Murdoch's truck had not closely followed the case.

He only realised the importance of what he had witnessed when Murdoch was imprisoned in 2006.