British backpacker Grace Millane’s killer named Jesse Kempson, sexual violence trials reveal

The man who murdered British backpacker Grace Millane can now be legally named in New Zealand.

He is Jesse Shane Kempson.

And now it can be revealed that Kempson faced two more violent sex crime trials against two other women.

The identity of the 28-year-old Auckland man was due to be revealed last Friday, but just minutes before the 11 a.m. deadline, the Supreme Court decided to maintain the crackdown until it could make a final determination.

Today, the high court ordered the deletion to expire.

Last week, the Court of Appeal also dismissed Kempson’s appeal of his conviction and sentence for murdering Millane, whom he met on the dating app Tinder, in December 2018.

The crackdown on the Aotea College alumnus continued during last November’s high profile murder trial in Auckland High Court, guilty verdict and sentencing, the reasons for which were also suppressed until today.

His name was withheld to protect his rights to a fair trial, the courts ruled, due to two sexual violence trials.

He has already been found guilty and sentenced for those crimes against both women after trials were held before a judge alone in the High Court in October and November this year under a cloak of secrecy.

His additional prison terms will be served concurrently, along with his life sentence for murdering Millane, which includes a 17-year parole period.

Kempson will be 45 years old when it is eligible for its first release in 2037.

He was charged with the new crimes after Millane’s murder and the police had spoken to the two victims, both of whom have permanent name suppression.

His first court appearance on the charges in February 2019 was held in a closed courtroom, and only the attorneys involved in the case and the Herald, as the only media organization present, were allowed to remain.

Kempson has continued to deny the allegations and is appealing his convictions from the two trials, which include nine total counts of rape, rape, death threat and battery.

His murder of Millane came after the young Essex woman traveled to New Zealand in November 2018 as part of a one-year solo EO.

Millane, a recently graduated college student, arrived in Auckland just days before Kempson murdered her.

She was last seen alive on CCTV upon entering the CityLife Hotel with Kempson, where she rented a room, on December 1.

The former junior softball player denied killing the backpacker on the eve of her 22nd birthday after the couple returned to their central Auckland apartment after a date on Tinder.

His legal team has indicated that they are seeking authorization to appeal his murder conviction to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeals today dismissed his first challenge.

Her trial attorneys, Ian Brookie and Ron Mansfield, had argued that Millane’s death was accidental and occurred during erotic asphyxia.

Kempson “freaked out,” Brookie said, before the killer buried Millane’s body in a shallow grave in Waitākere Ranges.

He then lied to the police in a desperate attempt to cover his tracks. Lying was a trait Kempson described throughout his court proceedings.

In an attempt to hide the truth, Kempson would add elements of truth to his “maze of narratives and lies,” as Auckland crown attorney Brian Dickey described.

Kempson told police he worked in sales for Liquid Learning consultancy.

He also told officers that he and his family were from Wellington. The Herald has confirmed that he was born in the Wellington region in 1992 and grew up in Wainuiomata and Porirua.

Kempson’s parents separated when he was just 3 years old and in 2013 he moved to Australia, apparently developing an Australian accent. But it is unclear exactly what Kempson did or where he may have worked in Australia.

She returned from Sydney in 2016 for what she claimed was taking care of a sick grandmother in the Auckland suburb of Takanini.

Some of Kempson’s most outrageous lies included claiming to be an oil company manager, law degree, gang connections, being an orphan, being a cousin of an All Black and even suffering from cancer.

Many of these falsehoods were removed during the nearly four-week murder trial, which caught the attention of a global audience.

However, the jury ultimately upheld the case as told by Dickey’s Crown prosecution team along with Robin McCoubrey and Litia Tuiburelevu.

Dickey said Kempson strangled Millane to death in the hotel room and then took “trophy” photos of her lifeless body.

He “eroticized the death of British backpacker Grace Millane” because of her “morbid sexual interest,” he said.

Despite Kempson’s suppression order, many people in New Zealand already knew his name.

There were several violations before and after the murder trial, largely by social media and the UK press.

Domestic Violence: Do You Need Help?

If you are in danger now:
• Call the police at 111 or ask your friends’ neighbors to call you.
• Run outside and go where there are other people.
• Yell for help so your neighbors can hear you.
• Take the children with you.
• Don’t stop to buy anything else.
• If you are being abused, remember that it is not your fault. Violence is never okay.

Where to go for help or more information:

• Shine, toll free national helpline from 9 am to 11 pm every day – 0508 744 633 www.2shine.org.nz
• Women’s Shelter: The free national crisis line operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – 0800 Shelter or 0800 733 843 www.womensrefuge.org.nz
• Shakti: Provides specialized cultural services for African, Asian and Middle Eastern women and their children. Crisis line 24/7 0800742584
• Not good: information line 0800 456 450 www.areyouok.org.nz