- This story was first published by RNZ
British backpacker Grace Millane arrived in New Zealand on 20 November 2018.
On the eve of her 22nd birthday, she went on a date with a man she met on Tinder. He later strangled her to death in his apartment in central Auckland and buried her body in a suitcase, in a shallow grave in the Waitākere Ranges.
Two years later, the man found guilty of her murder - and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years - can now be named.
He is 28-year-old Jesse Shane Kempson.
It can now be revealed Kempson had other victims - and he has been convicted and sentenced on a raft of sexual violation offences relating to two other women.
He is mounting appeals in both cases.
This is what happened -
Millane goes on a date with Kempson, bar hopping in central Auckland. She was last seen alive about 9.40pm. CCTV footage shows her exiting a lift at the CityLife Hotel with Kempson. A few hours later, she was dead.
Kempson cleans his apartment, buys a suitcase to put Millane's body in and hires a car. He heads to Ponsonby for another Tinder date that afternoon.
About 24 hours after she was last seen, Kempson wheels a suitcase with Millane's body in it out of the CityLife Hotel and puts it in the rental car.
- 20 November 2018: Grace Millane arrives in New Zealand.
- 1 December 2018: Millane sends a photo of a Christmas tree at Sky City to her family back in England. It's the last time she contacts them.
- 2 December 2018: Millane's 22nd birthday.
- 3 December 2018: Kempson drives to the Waitākere Ranges and buries Millane's body in a shallow grave.
- 5 December 2018: Millane is reported missing by her family after she fails to respond to their birthday messages.
- 7 December 2018: David Millane arrives in New Zealand and makes an emotional appeal for any information about his daughter's disappearance.
- 8 December 2018: The missing person's investigation turns into a homicide inquiry. Kempson is arrested and charged with murder.
- 9 December 2018: Millane's body is found in the Waitākere Ranges.
- 10 December 2018: Kempson makes his first appearance in the Auckland District Court. He is granted interim name suppression. However, his name is published on social media and by international media outlets.
- 16 January 2019: Kempson pleads not guilty to murder in the High Court at Auckland.
- 4 November 2019: Trial begins in the High Court at Auckland, with a jury of seven women and five men.
- 22 November 2019: After five hours of deliberations, the jury delivers a guilty verdict.
- 21 February 2020: Kempson sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years in the High Court at Auckland.
- 6 August 2020: Kempson appeals his conviction and sentence to the Court of Appeal.
- 19 October 2020: Kempson appears in his second trial in the High Court at Auckland. It is a judge-alone trial. He faces eight charges relating to the physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse of an ex-girlfriend: two charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, three charges of male assaults female, two of assault with a weapon and one of threatening to kill.
- 23 October 2020: After reserving his decision, Justice Brewer finds Kempson guilty on all eight charges.
- 2 November 2020: Kempson's third trial gets underway in the High Court at Auckland. It is also a judge-alone trial. He is charged with raping a woman he met on Tinder in an Auckland motel.
- 6 November 2020: After reserving his decision, Justice Venning finds Kempson guilty of rape.
- 20 November 2020: Kempson is jailed for seven-and-a-half years for subjecting his ex-girlfriend to months of physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse. Kempson is appealing his conviction and sentence in this case.
- 27 November 2020: Kempson is jailed for three-and-a-half years for raping a woman in an Auckland motel. He is also appealing his conviction and sentence in this case.
- 18 December 2020: The Court of Appeal dismisses his bid to overturn his conviction and sentence for murdering Millane. He has indicated he will appeal this decision to the Supreme Court.
- 22 December 2020: The Supreme Court denies his last-ditch appeal bid and name suppression lapses.
