A British backpacker whose boyfriend was shot dead in one of Australia’s most notorious murders has returned to the scene in a bid to find his remains.

Joanne Lees has relived the nightmare which saw her Huddersfield boyfriend and former Pfizer worker, Peter Falconio, killed, as part of a television programme due to air tomorrow.

Desperate to locate his body, she told Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes programme she will “step into the mind of a killer” in order to bring him home.

The couple were travelling in a Kombi van towards Darwin on the Stuart Highway, 190 miles north of Alice Springs, when they were flagged down by Bradley Murdoch in 2001.

The Australian drug runner shot Mr Falconio, 28, and threatened Miss Lees, then 27, before pointing a gun to her head and tying her up. She later escaped.

Four years later, Murdoch was jailed for life for the murder of Mr Falconio, whose body was never found.

He was also found guilty of abducting and assaulting Ms Lees.

In a preview clip of the programme, Ms Lees, from Yorkshire, says: “I love Pete so much and I want to bring him home... I need to bring him home.”

The show features her travelling by helicopter over the area where her lover was killed.

She also reveals her thoughts at the time, saying: “It was either run, or be raped and killed.”

Being named as one of the suspects, she describes as “like a stab to the heart”.

Mr Falconio worked for a contractor at Pfizer in Sandwich for 18 months before going travelling around the world.

At the time of his disappearance project manager for Laing Construction Clive Morley said: “He was a popular, outgoing and conscientious member of the team and had a promising career ahead of him.”

Murdoch, now 58, has always protested his innocence and insists he can’t reveal where Mr Falconio’s body is because he wasn’t at the crime scene.