Slain backpackers buried in bush graves

SYDNEY - Two British backpackers, Joanne Walters and Caroline Clarke, murdered in a remote forest south-west of Sydney, had their faces covered with a cloth and were buried in identical bush graves, an Australian court was told yesterday. Details of the grisly killings emerged during committal proceedings against Ivan Milat, a roadworker charged with murdering seven backpackers.

Walters' decomposed body was found by police wedged under a boulder and covered with a layer of leaves, sticks and logs. Constable Andrew Grosse said she had suffered injuries to her back. A short distance away, Clarke's body was found against a fallen tree log, covered with leaves, sticks and logs. Her head was covered with a maroon cloth that had numerous holes in the back. Reuter