Falconio case: police quiz man in knife case

A man arrested after a fatal stabbing in Sydney last week is being questioned about the case of Peter Falconio, the British backpacker who disappeared in the Australian Outback nearly a year ago.

In the first concrete development in the case after months of limbo, blood found on the clothes of Joanne Lees, Mr Falconio's girlfriend, is to be compared with a DNA sample from the stabbing suspect.

The 29-year-old suspect, who is in custody, has not been named. He appeared in court charged with murder after a 45-year-old man, named by local media as Michael Furlong, was stabbed in a Sydney street.

Mr Falconio, 28, is believed to have been shot by a man who then tried to abduct Ms Lees on an isolated stretch of highway north of Alice Springs in July last year. His disappearance sparked one of Australia's biggest manhunts, but Northern Territory police never found his body and have made no arrests.

Ms Lees told police that she and her boyfriend, both from the Huddersfield area, were driving to Darwin when they were flagged down by the gunman. She said she was tied up and thrown into his pick-up truck but managed to struggle free and hid in bushland for six hours before stopping a lorry.

Teresa Kuilboer, a Northern Territory police spokeswoman, described the Sydney murder suspect as "a person of interest, like hundreds of others".

Ms Lees, who returned to England last year, has criticised police for failing to make progress. Her mother, Jennifer James, gave a cautious welcome to the latest development. "I'm not pinning my hopes on it until somebody's charged," she said. "It's good to know they're still on the case and trying every angle. I hope it can be solved soon because it's just a nightmare."