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AAP
AAP
National
Greta Stonehouse

Slain backpacker's boyfriend in court

The boyfriend of slain German backpacker Simone Strobel will apply for bail next week from jail after he was extradited from Western Australia to face a murder charge in Sydney.

Tobias Friedrich Moran did not appear via AVL in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday when his case was mentioned.

His lawyer Vivian Evans asked the magistrate to keep the bail application in Sydney due to "relevant parties flying from Perth" and the logistical issues with hearing the matter in Lismore - where it will end up.

Ms Evans said she was still working with the public prosecutor on what bail conditions might look like if granted.

Moran was formally refused bail until his release application can be heard on August 3.

The case will then be transferred to Lismore with the next court date set down for September 28.

The now 42-year-old had been travelling around Australia with Ms Strobel when her body was found near a Lismore caravan park in 2005.

The 25-year-old schoolteacher had been suffocated with a pillow or plastic bag.

Ms Strobel's murder has remained unsolved despite the establishment of a police strike force and the NSW government offering a $1 million reward in 2020.

On Tuesday, it emerged Moran had been arrested in connection with the case after a NSW warrant was issued.

He has since been charged with murder and acting with intent to pervert the course of justice.

Representing him in Perth Magistrates Court on Tuesday, lawyer Tony Elliott said Moran had no previous known convictions.

Police told an inquest in 2007 they believed Ms Strobel was murdered by Moran, who refused to return to Australia to give evidence at the inquest.

NSW coroner Paul McMahon found there was insufficient evidence to recommend charges but said he had a "very strong suspicion" Moran, then known as Suckfuell, was involved in the killing.

Ms Strobel had been on a night out with Moran and friends when she was last seen at Lismore Tourist Caravan Park on February 11, 2005.

Her body was found six days later, concealed under palm fronds at a sports ground, less than 100 metres from the caravan park.

Authorities in Germany also offered a reward in 2014 of 10,000 euros to German and Australian residents with any information about Ms Strobel's death.

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