Grace Millane’s murderer had raped another British tourist just months before attack

Grace Millane was murdered in 2018

Credit: PA

The man who murdered British backpacker Grace Millane in New Zealand has been convicted of sex attacks on two more women, it was revealed on Monday.

New Zealand’s Supreme Court removed an order keeping the killer’s name hidden, meaning his identity could be made public: Jesse Kempson.

The previous convictions of the 28-year-old Kempson, who killed Millane in December 2018, also became known as his identity was made public.

Kempson raped another British tourist eight months before his attack on Millane.

He had taken the woman out on a Tinder date in April 2018 before bringing her back to his motel room in Auckland, a city on the country’s north island.

The woman had initially kept the attack secret but after news coverage of the day Kempson was charged she went to the police to report what had happened.

Kempson was eventually sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for the rape last month. The case was not made public at the time.

Shortly after Kempson was named on Monday the Guardian reported some of the remarks made in court when that previous conviction was handed down. 

The paper reported that Justice Geoffrey Venning in a New Zealand high court said: “Your mother rejected you; that may go some way towards explaining your attitude towards women.”

The victim also reportedly said in a statement read out in court that she had woken up “crying and screaming” with flashbacks to the rape.

“Every time I went to sleep, I’d see your eyes popping out of your head, staring at me in anger,” she said.

The victim described how after the attack she would check three times that her home’s door was locked in the evening, but also how she was recovering with the support of her partner.

According to the Guardian part of her statement read: “I am not scared. I am strong. I am not alone. I am loved. 

"I have so much to look forward to in my life and I will not look back. You don’t have any power over me any more.”

In a second separate trial earlier this year which has only just been made public Kempson was convicted of terrorising his girlfriend in 2017.

The two previous convictions mean Kempson is to serve 11 years concurrently with the 17-year minimum sentence for Millane’s killing.

Read more: ‘Fantasist’ who murdered British backpacker Grace Millane had a history of targeting women