Grace Millane’s killer is a compulsive liar who ‘fell out with everybody and was shunned by family for stealing’
GRACE Millane’s killer is a compulsive liar who "fell out with everybody and was shunned by family for stealing", a new investigation has revealed.
The 27-year-old murderer was today convicted of strangling the 21-year-old British backpacker to death during sex and burying her body in a suitcase after a Tinder date in Auckland, New Zealand.
Despite the guilty verdict the killer's identity can still not be revealed for legal reasons.
A three-week trial heard that the murderer was a fantasist who would tell potential sexual partners that he had celebrity connections, had been orphaned and even had cancer.
'FELL OUT WITH EVERYBODY'
But underneath the facade he was a failed salesman who was sacked shortly before murdered Ms Millane in an Auckland hotel room last December.
He was brought up by his father and grandfather after his mother relocated abroad, the reports.
His grandad said he was "a nice kid" who "sort of fell out with everybody".
He'd become "estranged" from most of the family and was "at a bit of a loose end" in recent years, he said.
The killer left the family home after he was repeatedly accused of lying and stealing from various relatives.
The Herald understands that he worked as a bartender and builder before moving to Australia, where he appears to have fabricated a new life.
Despite lies to Tinder dates that he was adopted, he actually had a family made up of full-half and step siblings.
Ms Millane's killer continued his lies when he spoke to police about returning to New Zealand, claiming that he come back to care for a sick grandparent.
The killer's grandmother also claims that when in Australia - where he lived for several years - he had fathered a baby girl with a woman he was in a relationship with.
But others close to the case claim to have seen no evidence of a child.
'BUNCH OF LIES'
In a Facebook post shared with family and friends just a month before he met Grace, he appeared to apologise for former behaviour, saying he'd "made a lot of bad decisions in my life".
He spoke of his "arrogance and selfishness" that had affected his relationship with people close to him.
And the killer also said he'd been diagnosed with "severe anxiety".
But it remains unknown the extent to which he was lying in his post.
In the aftermath of the murder he repeatedly told a "whole bunch of lies", as Crown Prosecutor Brian Dickey surmised during the murder trial.
He initially told police the date had "gone well", before changing his story as the net of evidence closed in on him.
The killer also repeatedly lied about his job and income before renting his apartment at the CityLife building in Auckland, and where Grace spent her last moments.
The owner said he now believes his former tenant, who owes him thousands of dollars in rent, was "obsessed with picking up women".
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"He appeared to have been a pick up artist," the owner told the Herald.
"It seems like that was his full time job, like it was all he did.
"I have no idea if he actually made any money or did any work - he seemed to lie all the time."
