A MURDER more than a decade ago of a young Bolton woman on the other side of the world is the starting point of a new book examining tragedy, grief and life in suburbia.

Rebecca Ryle, aged 19, was strangled to death in a school near her home in Perth, Western Australia, in 2004 around half a year after the she and her family had emigrated from Hardy Mill Road, Harwood.

Her killer James Duggan – a stranger and fellow ex-pat she had met only that night in a pub – was sentenced to life in prison in 2006 for the brutal choking with a minimum tariff of 11 1/2 years.

Journalist and author Marty McKenzie-Murray has written A Murder Without Motive, reflecting on events, their beginnings and their consequences.

He said: "The book is a few things.

"It's a police procedural, it's a look at the courts.

"It's a suburban memoir, it's about masculinity. It's a long look at grief.

"Essentially I had personal proximity to the crime as my brother knew Rebecca's killer and I went to Rebecca's funeral although I didn't know the family.

"The story never left me.

"Perth had forgotten about it unfortunately and it's a shame."

When Mr McKenzie-Murray's publishers approached him in 2012 to write a new book they expected one of his typical political commentaries but Rebecca's death and the background to the murder had lingered in his mind and decided to try to write to make sense of it.

He contacted Rebecca's family and their agreement to speak to him spawned some of the most important source material in the book.

Mr McKenzie-Murray said: "It could have gone one of two ways: they could have felt it was intrusive, and declined, and the project would have stopped but in fact they felt a certain privilege to tell Rebecca's story.

"They gave it some thought for a good month and felt that enough time had passed that they felt comfort telling their story."

The research and writing took three-and-a-half years and involved speaking to police specialists about techniques and procedure, examining media coverage of the crime and the trial, and speaking to Perth residents about the impact of the drama.

He said: "I wrote to Duncan three times in prison and I approached the family but heard nothing.

"There were sufficient people who knew Duncan and primary evidence I could get, such as interview transcripts, to reconstruct Duncan to an extent."

Rebecca's mother Marie still works as a receptionist at the same GP practice and her Falklands War veteran father Francis switched into caring for people with mental disabilities and drug and alcohol addictions after being made redundant from Perth's naval dockyard.

Mr McKenzie-Murray said: "One of things that interested me is that the family continued to live and still do in the same house.

"Rebecca was murdered about 50 to 60metres across the road in the grounds of her youngest brother's school.

"From her parents' window, in the park across the road, you can the plaque of remembrance.

"I think Rebecca felt homesick before she died and at the time of the murder the family certainly considered moving home to Bolton.

"One of things that made them stay was the support from the local community, neighbouring bringing food around and Rebecca's school was big support.

"Fran said the reasons for emigrating – the culture was better, the lifestyle was better, the weather was better – still stood."

The book examines the family members, including the victim's now adult younger brothers Andrew and Chris, coming to terms with their grief and their anger and seeks to examine the wider effects of the shock and loss of losing a loved one and of trying to rationalise the motiveless aspect of the murder in this case.

Mr McKenzie-Murray, a columnist for The Saturday Paper in Australia, said: "What has happened is they have dealt with their anger and realised how toxic and corrosive it is and they're better at putting it to one side.

"But their feelings towards Duggan have not been diminished."

Duggan's application for parole was rejected in October and he must wait three years before applying again.

In December it was decided the Briton, who had lived in Australia since the age of about 12, will be deported back to Britain at the end of his jail term.

Scribe UK publishes A Murder Without Motive in paperback at a cost of £12.99.