Murdoch may have avenue of appeal

Convicted backpacker killer Bradley John Murdoch may have a fresh avenue of appeal.

A Perth QC who specialises in the miscarriage of justice is examining the legitimacy of the DNA evidence used in his trial.

Murdoch exhausted all legal possibilities in June last year when the High Court denied a leave to appeal over his conviction for the 2001 murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio.

The 48-year-old former Broome mechanic was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2005.

He was found guilty of killing Falconio on a stretch of the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory outback in July 2001.

He also was convicted of abducting and assaulting Falconio's girlfriend and fellow Brit, Joanne Lees, near Barrow Creek, about 300km north of Alice Springs.

Central to the Crown's case was that DNA evidence found in a smudge of blood on the back of Ms Lee's T-shirt, on the gearstick of the couple's Volkswagen Kombi van and on the cable-tie handcuffs used to restrain her, matched Murdoch's.

Hopes were raised in the Murdoch camp in December following the suspension of a highly-sensitive form of so-called low copy number (LCN) DNA testing in the United Kingdom.

When a judge acquitted the only man charged with murder over the 1998 Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland, which killed 29 people, it sparked calls here for a re-examination of the LCN DNA evidence used to convict Murdoch.

But in January, the controversial technique was given the all clear when a British review found there was no problem with the method.

Now a second more rigorous scientific review is underway in the UK, which will be completed at the end of the month, according to the ABC's Northern Territory Stateline.

The program reported that Perth-based QC Tom Percy had been asked to examine whether the controversy could provide grounds for Murdoch to go back to the court of appeal.

Terry O'Gorman from the Council for Civil Liberties said: "if it's under question in the UK then it's under question here".

"LC DNA does not have international validation and acceptance," he told the program.

But Assistant NT Commissioner Mark McAdie told the ABC the trial had been fair.

"Mr Murdoch was well defended by highly skilled lawyers who tested the evidence," he said.

"(LCN) is a relatively new technique that hadn't been used very much in Australia but in our view was a valid and useful technique to add to the evidence."

But Mr O'Gorman, who is calling for a review, said miscarriages of justice were "primarily due to science and scientific mistakes"

NT Attorney-General Chris Burns dismissed the suggestion.

"I don't see any need for a review," he told the ABC.

"I mean these matters have been tested in court, opposing arguments have been put forward and I guess in future cases opposing arguments will continue to be put forward.

"These are matters for the courts to determine."