Flatmate of Grace Millane's murderer tells ITV of her suspicions of him
A former flatmate of Grace Millane's murderer in New Zealand has told ITV about her suspicions of him.
Speaking on ITV's This Morning, Millie Mason branded him as an "elaborate liar", saying: "He said he was coming over to New Zealand to buy bars to add to the franchise his father owned - that was his story.
"He owed us money, there was always an excuse. He was 'waiting on money from his accountant in Australia'."
She added: "Eventually you stop believing the stories, there were so many stories that you start to say, 'Really? It stops making sense'."
Ms Mason also recalled one occasion when her flatmate slept with a knife because she was scared of him, saying: "He came home drunk and broke some furniture and she was scared."
Jesse Kempson murdered Lincoln University graduate Ms Millane in Auckland in 2018 the day before her 22nd birthday - while she was backpacking abroad - after they arranged to meet on the dating app Tinder.
Kempson dumped Ms Millane's body in a forested area after strangling her in a hotel in Auckland on December 1, 2018 – the day before her 22nd birthday.
A week after her disappearance, Kempson was arrested and later convicted of Grace's murder by a jury in November 2019 and jailed in February for at least 17 years.
The court judgment in 2020 also revealed the 28-year-old has been convicted at two further trials that year.
This includes raping a woman he met on the dating app, Tinder, and of a series of offences against a former partner, including sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, threatening to kill and assault with a weapon.
Grace's story will be featured on a new ITV series of films airing on ITV2 called Social Media Murders.
Ms Mason, who opens up about her experience of living with a killer on the new ITV film, described how she did not feel shocked when she heard that Grace had been killed by Kempson.
She said she felt "shocked but not so shocked", before adding: "You're shocked it happened but there is a voice in your head saying, 'your instinct wasn't wrong, there was something wrong here'."
Appearing on ITV2's The Murder of Grace Millane: Social Media Murders, Ms Mason admitted her household "knew you shouldn't be near [Kempson] alone".
She said: "We just all, all started getting a bad feeling."
"We eventually stopped wanting to be alone in the house with him, you just knew you shouldn't be near him alone. It does make you wonder, what else he was hiding, what else wasn't true," Ms Mason added.
The new ITV true crime series will also feature exclusive interviews with the investigators closest to the case combined with both revealing police interview footage with Kempson.
The Murder of Grace Millane: Social Media Murders, airs on Monday night at 9pm on ITV2 and ITV Hub.