THE young British backpacker who was allegedly held for two months and abused by a Cairns man has been captured on CCTV at a roadhouse just moments before her rescue.

The young woman was distressed and crying with two black eyes when she spoke to staff member Beverly Page inside the shop.

Moments later, she was pulled over by police and her accused captor was found hiding in the back of the vehicle she was driving.

The young woman’s ordeal is believed to have begun after meeting the man, also 22, in Cairns on Australia Day this year before briefly moving in together, Nine News has reported. The man has been described in one report as “clingy” and “latched onto the first single girl he met.

media_camera The 22-year-old woman is believed to be from Liverpool in the UK. Picture: Facebook

media_camera The woman is seen at a roadhouse in CCTV footage first aired on Channel 7. Picture: Screengrab 7 News.

media_camera A still from Channel 7 news shows the alleged captor on the car the victim was found driving.

The horrific story made international headlines on Tuesday after the young woman was allegedly kept hostage during a terrifying 1360km road trip across outback Queensland.

A friend of the victim Todd Leahy said the 22 year-old-man accused of keeping her “never left her side” after the pair first met.

The 22-year-old woman was allegedly beaten, choked and repeatedly raped by the man for two months before being rescued by police on Sunday.

Authorities said she was driving a four-wheel drive along the Warrego Highway in Mitchell, south central Queensland, when she was pulled over by police after taking off from a petrol station without paying, about 5pm.

The nature of country policing is that anything out of the ordinary attracts suspicion - D/I Hart — QPS Media Unit (@QPSmedia) March 7, 2017

Officers immediately noticed something was wrong when they approached the woman and saw she had serious facial injuries and was extremely distressed.

“It appears she was terrified and not able to hide that,” police said.

“We would certainly say that what’s happened to this young lady is quite catastrophic,” Detective Inspector Paul Hart told the ABC.

“When located we will allege that the male person was secreted in the back section of the vehicle which made it quite difficult to find him.”

AU QLD: Police: British Backpacker Raped and Held Captive for Two Months March 07 AU QLD: Police: British Backpacker Raped and Held Captive for Two Months March 07

media_camera The 4WD where a backpacker was allegedly held hostage, raped and beaten for two months. Picture: Owen Jacques/ The Western Star

Police say the woman had walked into a nearby petrol station moments before the traffic stop, setting off a chain of events that would finally lead to her rescue.

Beverley Page, who works at the service station, said the woman was distressed as she could not pay for the tank of petrol she had just put in the 4WD.

“She had two black eyes and marks down the side of her neck,” she told the Daily Mail.

“She was crying. She was shaking uncontrollably.

“She had only just come in here and she couldn’t pay for the fuel.”

Ms Page asked what had happened to her and offered to call police.

Another person reportedly offered to pay the woman’s bill but the backpacker got back in her car and drove off, prompting Ms Page to give chase and alert police manning a nearby random breath test station.

“I missed the number plate, I was going to try catch up to it and get the number plate,” she said.

Officers soon intercepted the car and immediately sensed something was wrong.

Detective Inspector Hart said the woman, who had been in Australia since 2015, had not been reported missing.

Friends have described her as a “very trusting” person.

“A lot of the areas she would have been would have been unknown to her (as a tourist),” he said.

“It would have been difficult for her to escape ... and try to link up with people.

“From the information she provided she had limited opportunity to do that anyway.

“We have potentially saved this young girl’s life given what’s happened to her ... anything may have transpired.”

media_camera The backpacker's alleged kidnapper hid in the rear of the 4WD as officers approached. Picture: Sarah Dionysius / The Western Star

Police say the woman’s “very prolonged” ordeal had left her with physical and serious psychological injuries. Her passport was also allegedly destroyed by her alleged attacker.

The female involved had injures, facial and other inuries. - D/I Hart — QPS Media Unit (@QPSmedia) March 7, 2017

It is alleged the woman met the Cairns man at a party three months ago and they agreed to go on a road trip together. But it quickly turned into a long, violent nightmare.

Police say he held the woman against her will and assaulted her at various locations across Queensland between January 2 and March 5.

We are very keen to track the path their vehicle has gone, investigations are ongoing. - D/I Hart — QPS Media Unit (@QPSmedia) March 7, 2017

The attacks occurred as the pair travelled the nearly 1,400 kilometres between Cairns and the Outback town of Roma, police spokesman CJ Roberts said.

Detective Inspector Hart told reporters that police were “very keen to track the path of where this vehicle may have gone”. They believe it may have been headed to Charleville, not far from Mitchell in Central QLD.

The man, from the Cairns suburb of Manunda, was charged with four counts of rape, eight counts of assault, four counts of strangulation, two counts of deprivation of liberty and various drug offences in Roma Court on Monday.

“The charges speak for themselves in terms of what she’s had to endure,” Detective Inspector Hart said.

The woman has been treated for facial fractures, bruises and cuts to her body.

She has reportedly been in touch with friends and family in Australia and the UK, according to police.

A police investigation is continuing while comment is being sought from the British High Commission.

“It goes to show regardless of geo location these things can happen anywhere,” detective inspector Hart said.

“This sort of incident does rock the community.”

media_camera A pile of clothing that police will allege belongs to the man charged with raping, beating and choking a British backpacker. Picture: Sarah Dionysius / The Western Star.

Australia has seen a number of horrific attacks on foreign tourists in recent times.

On Wednesday, a 60-year-old man will stand trial over an alleged sex attack on two female backpackers at a remote beach southeast of Adelaide. The man, who denies the charges including attempted murder and indecent assault, is accused of attacking the women at remote Salt Creek, in the Coorong National Park, in February last year.

And just last week, Queensland police revealed a 24-year-old Polish nanny, who was violently raped while working at Petrie north of Brisbane last year, was killed in a car crash back in her homeland.

She died just days before a 28-year-old man was charged over the vicious attack in a council car park that saw her undergo facial surgery for injuries including a broken nose.

But one of the worst cases in recent years involved the rape of 21-year-old French woman Sophie Collombet, who was left to die on a Brisbane park bench in March, 2014.

In October last year, Benjamin James Milward was jailed for life for raping the student while he was high on ice, and then leaving her covered in nothing but a jacket and a newspaper.

Milward was high on ice when he attacked the young traveller, and she remained alive for several hours as passers-by thought she was a sleeping homeless person.

— With AAP

megan.palin@news.com.au

Originally published as ‘He never left her side’