By A man who strangled a British backpacker and hid her body inside a suitcase has been found guilty of murder.
Grace Millane was found buried in bushland outside Auckland, New Zealand, inside a suitcase.
A jury at the city’s high court rejected claims by the 27-year-old man, who cannot be named, that she died accidentally during “rough sex”.
Ms Millane’s parents David and Gillian were distraught as jurors convicted their daughter’s killer.
He showed no emotion as the verdict – reached after about five hours of deliberations – was read out.
Speaking outside the court, an emotional Mr Millane said the family’s lives had been “ripped apart” by his daughter’s “barbaric” murder.
“Grace was our sunshine and she will be missed forever,” he said.
Jurors heard the defendant and Ms Millane had met via the Tinder dating app on 1 December last year, the night before Ms Millane’s 22nd birthday.
They spent several hours drinking cocktails in bars around Auckland before going to the defendant’s hotel.
Prosecutors said post-mortem examinations found bruises “consistent with restraint” on her body, and that she had been strangled.
On the night of her death, the court heard, the defendant “wasn’t distressed or concerned by her death”, and set about making plans to dispose of her remains.
He “sexualised” the killing by searching for pornography, stopping at one point to take lewd photos of her corpse, prosecutors said.
Ms Millane’s death prompted an outpouring of public grief in New Zealand with the country’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern apologising to her family.
The University of Lincoln graduate had been on a round-the-world trip, travelling in New Zealand for two weeks after spending six weeks in South America.
Source BBC News
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