FURTHER DETAILS INTO VERDICT OF THE GRACE MILLANE CASE: MAN FOUND GUILTY OF KILLING THE BRITISH BACKPACKER IN NEW ZEALAND

A MAN has been found guilty of the murder of Grace Millane who disappeared on December 1 last year, the night before her 22nd birthday.

During a two-week trial, previously reported by Euro Weekly News, at the city’s high court, the defendant, 27, had claimed she died accidentally during “rough sex”.

Jurors heard the defendant and Ms Millane had met via the Tinder dating app. That they spent several hours drinking cocktails in bars around Auckland before going to the defendant’s hotel.

Ms Millane, from Wickford, Essex, was found in the mountainous Waitākere Ranges a week later after she had been strangled and her body stuffed inside a suitcase which was found buried in bushland outside Auckland, New Zealand.

Ms Millane’s parents David and Gillian wept in the public gallery as jurors convicted their daughter’s killer.

The defendant showed no emotion as the verdict – reached after about five hours of deliberations – was read out.

Justice Simon Moore said the defendant would be sentenced on 21 February next year.

Speaking outside the court, as reported by the BBC, 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.