The former flatmate of Grace Millane’s murderer has admitted that their household knew ‘you shouldn’t be near him alone’ and said she ‘completely gets’ how the British backpacker ‘fell for him because he was charming’.
Jesse Kempson (28) strangled Miss Millane (21), in Auckland’s studio apartment. The pair had met via Tinder in December 2018. This happened eight months after Kempson raped another Briton. It also comes a year after Kempson subjected his girlfriend to abuse and sexual assault.
In a new documentary telling the tragic and disturbing story, a former flatmate of Kempson – who is serving a 17-year minimum sentence for Miss Millane’s death – recounts her own experience of knowing the cold-blooded killer and the suspicions she had of him prior to this case.
Millie Mason, who appears on ITV2’s The Murder of Grace Millane : Social Media Murders airs Monday, 9 pm. Millie Mason says her family ‘knew’ you shouldn’t come near. [Kempson] alone’ and says she ‘completely get how Grace fell for him because he’s charming’.
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Pictured: Grace Millane’s former flatmate and murderer.
Jesse Kempson (28) strangled Miss Millane (pictured), 21 in Auckland after meeting on Tinder. It was eight months since Kempson raped another Briton in November 2018 and one year after his girlfriend suffered sexual assault and abuse.
The disturbing and tragic story is being told by Kempson’s ex-flatmate. Kempson, currently in 17 year minimum prison for Miss Millane’s murder, recounts how she knew the killer cold-blooded and her suspicions about him.
Millie states that Millie and her flatmates started feeling a terrible sense of security. “One night that I wasn’t there, neither were any of my flatmates. So it was only Millie and her one friend left. One night, he returned, drunk, and the girl was afraid enough to use a knife.
“We stopped wanting to live alone with him in his house, we just realized that you should not be around him alone.” This makes you wonder if he had other secrets, or if he just wanted to be alone in the house with us.
Kempson was a warped serial sex attacker who used dating apps to seek out fresh victims, pretending to be a highly successful businessman when he was, in fact, a serial dropout with few assets who had been fired from a string of minimum-wage jobs.
Millie recalls the moment Kempson told her that Miss Millane had been murdered by Kempson. After Jesse was gone, our friend Messaged the three of us girls. They were all still living in London.
‘We’d been following the story because people don’t really go missing in New Zealand, let alone a young girl. When I finally woke up, he told me that it was Jesse.
Millie lived briefly with Kempson just two years before Miss Milane’s death.
Kempson killed Miss Millane (pictured), on December 2, 2018, the night before her 22nd Birthday.
She said, “It was shocking.” ‘It goes all around in your head – I wasn’t imagining it. Shock more than anything but I don’t know if I was surprised – you are but you aren’t.’
Kempson took the life of Miss Millane just one day before her 22nd birthday, on the evening of December 2, 2018.
Kempson met the pair in Auckland, and they went out for drinks. He then took Kempson back to his hotel and strangled him to death while having sex with her.
After taking photos of the dead body, he watched porn for several hours.
The killer went on another date before bundling Miss Millane’s body into a suitcase which he buried in a shallow grave in woodlands.
Asked if Miss Millane’s tragic story made her feel differently about dating apps, Millie says: ‘Definitely. We’re always trained to tell your friends where you’re going or have a codeword in case you want to get out.
Kempson received a life sentence with an additional 17-year non-parole term for the murder of Miss Millane at his Auckland apartment, December 2018.
“He did that to a woman on a dating website. It was a great blessing that I found my husband through a dating site. Even though I met him online, his friends were aware of my location and it was a good thing for me. I completely get how Grace fell for him because he’s charming.
‘It took us weeks to realise that we shouldn’t be in this situation and we shouldn’t be near this person.’
“I believe men should call out men,” she said. It’s all well and good for me to stand here and say “you shouldn’t do this”. If they’re going to do it, they’re not going to listen to what I have to say about it.
“But, they probably care about what their father, grandfather, and best friend have to say.”
In 2019, Kempson was described by his step-brother as a ‘pathological liar’ who would have ‘enjoyed the power’ during Miss Millane’s murder.
It was also revealed that the serial fantasist created a string of lies in order to fuel his addiction to having violent sex.
Gillian Millane and Dave Millane speak to Miss Millane outside of Auckland’s High Court, 2019
Kempson’s guilty sentence ended the 11-month-long painstaking process for the Millanes, who lost their child in October 2018. She was about to embark on her first world tour since graduating from Lincoln University.
After having spent some time in Peru she returned to New Zealand in November. She arranged Tinder for December 1st, and was ready to celebrate her 22nd anniversary.
As she stood beside a Christmas tree, in the SkyCity Casino courtyard, she greeted her murderer with a hug. The two of them toured many bars while sipping cocktails. She texted one of her closest friends that she was very impressed.
Ameena Ashcroft was the first to respond. “I will let your know what happens tomorrow.
By the morning, however, Miss Millane was lying dead in the £190-a-week third-floor apartment at a hotel in central where the killer lived.
The 27-year old had been strangled in sex, and she took a series intimate photos of herself naked before going to bed.
Kempson began December 2, Miss Millane’s 22nd birthday, by buying a suitcase to transport her body to a shallow grave in remote bushland.
However, even before that, he had already set up another Tinder appointment for the afternoon. He told a woman a false story about an alleged friend who had killed his girlfriend during sex.
The message that he had left for Miss Millane on her Facebook page was the first to lure him. He was waiting around at the Bluestone Room nearby, and he caught his attention.
Police contacted him and found out that he was weaving a complex web of lies. He claimed at first Miss Millane had left him as friends. Later, he said Miss Millane had been with him, but he intended to see Miss Millane the next day.
He was caught on CCTV buying the luggage. However, he later changed his story and claimed that Miss Millane told him she learned BDSM sex tricks with a boyfriend, and asked him to choke him during intercourse.
According to him, they took photos of one another’s intimate parts using their cell phones and that after the sex he was drunk in the shower. He didn’t suspect Miss Millane was in harm’s way.
Data recovered from his phone showed that he searched for the ‘Waitakere Ranges,’ the hills in which he later buries Miss Millane. It also revealed that he was looking for the ‘hottest fire,’ minutes before taking photos of her.
Kempson was found guilty of murdering Miss Millane. He was sentenced in November 2019 to life imprisonment, with at least 17 years.
Grace Millane Murder: Social Media Murders on Monday 9pm ITV2 or ITV Hub