Grace Millane trial jury retires to consider verdict
Grace Millane murder: Man guilty of killing backpacker in New Zealand
(about 4 hours later)
The jury in the trial of a man accused of a British backpacker's murder must "set aside sympathy" for her family, a judge has said.
A man has been found guilty of strangling British backpacker Grace Millane.
Grace Millane's body was found in woodland near Auckland, New Zealand.
The defendant, 27, stuffed her body inside a suitcase which was found buried in bushland outside Auckland, New Zealand.
Lawyers for the defendant, who is accused of strangling her, argue she died accidentally during "rough" sex.
During a two-week trial at the city's high court, he had claimed she died accidentally during "rough sex".
As jurors retired to consider their verdict, Justice Simon Moore also told them to disregard any distaste they may feel for the defendant's lifestyle.
Ms Millane's parents wept in the public gallery as jurors found the defendant guilty of murder.
The 27-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of killing Ms Millane, from Wickford, Essex, after a Tinder date.
He showed no emotion as the verdict - reached after about five hours of deliberations - was read out.
Auckland High Court has heard the pair drank cocktails for several hours before returning to his hotel room in the city centre.
Justice Simon Moore said the defendant would be sentenced on 21 February next year.
The defence says Ms Millane died when consensual choking - or "breathplay" - went wrong.
Jurors heard the pair had met via the Tinder dating app on 1 December last year, the night before Ms Millane's 22nd birthday.
Justice Moore outlined both sides of the case before jurors began their deliberations.
They spent several hours drinking cocktails in bars around Auckland before going to the defendant's hotel.
Prosecutors, he said, relied upon expert medical evidence and the account of a female witness who had claimed the defendant smothered her during sex.
Ms Millane, from Wickford, Essex, was found in the mountainous Waitākere Ranges a week later.
He said the court had heard from pathologists who said death from strangling required consistent, prolonged pressure to the neck.
Prosecutors said post-mortem examinations found bruises "consistent with restraint" on her body, and that she had been strangled.
This was not in line with "loving, consensual breathplay", the judge said.
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 told jurors the defence had argued that post-mortem examinations found no injuries to suggest Ms Millane had struggled.
He "sexualised" the killing by searching for pornography, stopping at one point to take lewd photos of her corpse, prosecutors said.
The defence team also told the court the defendant may not have noticed signs of strangulation in his drunken state, the judge said.
The following day, he went on a Tinder date with another woman while the body of Ms Millane remained in the hotel room.
Ms Millane's body was found in a suitcase in a bushland area a week after her death on 1 December last year, the night before her 22nd birthday.
He had bought a second suitcase in a bid to cover his tracks, as well as cleaning products and a shovel, jurors heard.
The defence has argued the defendant, who went on another Tinder date while Ms Millane's body remained in his room, "freaked out" after realising she had died.
The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, did not give evidence in his defence.
During the trial, the court heard he had taken "intimate" pictures of Ms Millane's dead body after searching the internet for information about the Waitākere Ranges, where her remains were found.
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 defence has argued she was alive when the pictures were taken and the Google searches were "random", Justice Moore said.
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.
If the jury does not believe the defendant intended to kill Ms Millane, the judge said, it may instead find him guilty of manslaughter.
The jurors might consider acquitting him of murder if they thought he had honestly believed Ms Millane had consented to him applying the amount of pressure which caused her death, Justice Moore said.
"Consent only comes into your consideration if you have rejected murder," he said.
Urging jurors to focus only on the evidence, the judge said: "It is natural to feel for the family of Grace Millane on their loss and for her on what should have been an exciting and happy adventure."
He added: "What you must not do is say to yourself: 'because I don't like [the defendant's] lifestyle he must be guilty'."
