Five key mistakes that proved Grace Millane’s killer Jesse Kempson was LYING to cops about missing Brit backpacker

COPS described Grace Millane’s killer as a “very professional liar” - but a few key mistakes exposed his story as a sham.

Jesse Kempson, 29, was found guilty of murder after strangling British backpacker Grace to death after they met on a Tinder date on December 1, 2018, in Auckland.

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The 21-year-old's body was later discovered buried in a suitcase and a jury unanimously found Kempson guilty on November 22, 2019, following a two-week trial.

He was sentenced to life behind bars.

Chilling interviews Kempson gave to police, in which he at first brazenly lied about what happened on their date, then sickeningly tried to claim he killed her in a sex game that went wrong have been revealed.

ITV’s ‘The Murder of Grace Millane: Social Media Murders’ shows how at five key moments, investigators knew he was lying.

'PARTED COMPANY WITH GRACE'

A key part of the investigation saw a dedicated team sift through thousands of hours of CCTV.

During a police interview, the killer told Detective Sergeant Ewen Settle his account of what happened when the pair went on date after matching on Tinder.

Settle said Kempson presented well and was wearing a three-piece suit with a hanky – and while some of the things he said “were odd”, he added that “some people are odd”.

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Kempson told the officer they went to a burger restaurant and that the last time he saw her was around 8pm, when they then parted company.

He then said he went to a pub where he had ten drinks, before waking up at 9am or 10am the next day.

But CCTV footage showed them clearly walking through the streets of Auckland back to his apartment.

“We got to the point where we knew that during the interview that enough CCTV had come through that pointed out he had been lying to us on one specific point,” Det Sgt Settle said.

Chilling footage from the lift shows Kempson and Grace heading up to his apartment – the last time she would be seen alive.

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SEEN RETURNING TO HIS FLAT

Later on in his interview, Kempson was handed a CCTV still by Det Sgt Settle who asked him: “Is that you?”

The officer told him that the picture was him coming back to his flat, which was in a hotel, at 8am on Sunday, and hadn't been asleep as he claimed.

Looking at Kempson directly in the eye, Settle says: “You haven’t told the truth.”

Just about retaining his calm, the killer replies: “Is there something you want to ask me?”

Detective Inspector Gary Beard, who lead the investigation, said: “We knew he was a liar. He was comfortable and plausible in his lies. He was very professional.”

But he added: “We didn’t have any evidence that he had done anything to Grace.”

At that point, New Zealand law meant that Kempson had to be released after 48 hours of questioning.

BLOOD ON THE FLOOR

Investigators had began carrying out a forensic examination of Kempson’s flat.

At first it seemed there was nothing to suggest Grace has been murdered or any sign she had been there.

But forensics teams covered the floor with a chemical called luminol that glows when it reacts with traces of blood.

Images show purple patches across the floor where Grace's blood had been, which indicated to officers that Kempson was lying.

Det Insp Beard said: “When you see the inside of Kempson’s apartment and you see the luminol, which is indicating all the blood in that room, you go ‘oh my gosh, what’s he done?’”

CLUES ON HIS PHONE

On December 8, Kempson’s phone was scoured for clues, in particular searches he had made and what time he had made them.

Around 1.30am, after he had killed Grace, he was searching ‘how to make the hottest fires?’ as well as pornography.

Officers were then told that his phone signal had been picked up on the Waitākere Ranges, outside Auckland, on the Monday.

Grace’s body was later found buried there.

STORY UNRAVELS WITH ROUGH SEX CLAIM

Confronted with CCTV, Kempson finally admitted that he hadn’t in fact parted company with Grace.

He said they had gone to a Mexican restaurant for drinks and then back to his flat.

When they were there, he said that Grace brought up the novel ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, which centres on a woman's sexual fantasies about being dominated by men.

Kempson then claimed they started having “violent sex”.

He told Settle that Grace asked him to “hold her throat” and that all he remembered was falling asleep in the shower.

But police by then knew in detail how Grace had died and it exposed Kempson’s story as a grotesque lie.

“What we know is that Kempson strangled Grace for seven to ten minutes,” said Det Insp Beard.

“That’s not rough sex. That’s murder.”

Other aspects of his behaviour also led officers to believe his story was a fabrication.

He was comfortable and plausible in his lies. He was very professional

Detective Inspector Gary Beard

CCTV showed him calmly buying a suitcase to dispose of her body and cleaning products, which he admitted were used to clean his flat.

Other footage showed him carrying a bag with Grace’s property stuffed into a plastic bag and then dumping it in a rubbish bin.

Police then took him to where she was buried, but Kempson continued to insist he hadn’t meant to kill her.

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By then it was the end of the line for Kempson, who was once again asked if he meant to kill Grace, which he denied.

At that point, Det Sgt Settle said: “Jesse Kemspon, you’re under arrest for the murder of Grace Millane.”

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