Grace Millane was blamed for her own murder. A new documentary reveals the truth.

Grace Millane was just 21 when she embarked on an around the world trip of a lifetime. 

"Less than a month and counting," Grace posted on Twitter - now X - at the end of September, 2018, before heading for South America. 

After leaving Peru, Grace flew to New Zealand, where she planned to celebrate her 22nd birthday. 

Like many 20-somethings wanting to meet new people, Grace used the dating app, Tinder, matching with 27-year-old Jesse Kempson.

"I click with him so well," she texted her friend, after spending several hours with him on the night of December 1. "I'll let you know what happens tomorrow."

Watch: Asking For It trailer. Article continues after the video.

Auckland was alive with festive cheer, when the pair met at Sky Tower. After spotting each other, they hugged and headed to a burger bar in the city.  

A few cocktails later, laughing and happy, the pair moved onto a Mexican restaurant, where they spent another couple of hours enjoying margaritas and sangria. 

Over the course of the night, the pair get on well, laughing, talking and sharing a few kisses. Just after 9.30pm, Grace and Kempson head to the CityLife Hotel where Kempson was staying. 

Kempson's room—room 308—is the last place Grace would ever set foot in alive. 

Jesse Kempson and Grace Millane. Image: Netflix. 

From missing to murdered. 

When Grace failed to respond to a flurry of birthday messages, her family and friends became concerned. It wasn't like her. There was no activity on her social media either - also unusual for Grace - and a missing person inquiry was quickly launched. 

But the missing persons case would soon become a murder investigation, after Grace's body was found stuffed in a suitcase and buried in West Auckland's Waitākere Ranges.

Within days of Grace's disappearance, police had identified Kempson as a suspect, reaching out to him via messenger, and requesting he make contact. 

He did, arriving for his first police interview wearing a three-piece suit, unaware police had been tracking his movements via CCTV.

Both the footage and the police interviews can be seen in the new Netflix documentary, The Lie, which examines the case in detail. 

Grace was murdered before her 22nd birthday. Image: Getty.

New revelations. 

In The Lie, filmmaker, Helena Coan, constructs a timeline of events, from before the pair met, to Kempson's movements after her murder. 

In the weeks before meeting Grace on Tinder, Kempson had shared several conversations with other women, telling one of them he liked "feet, dominating and strangulation". 

In the hours leading up to their meeting, Kempson sat alone, drinking several beers in quick succession. At the same time, Grace was taking photos of Christmas decorations to send to her family. 

In the minutes before leaving for Kempson's hotel room, he posted a comment to Grace's Facebook page. "Beautiful, radiant," he wrote under her updated profile photo. That comment would ultimately lead police to question him. 

During his first interview, Kempson told police he spent time with Grace but that they parted ways at 10pm. He also told police he fell asleep drunk, waking up hungover at around 10am.

But police had viewed extensive CCTV footage that would prove he was lying. In police interview tapes, Kempson squirms as police place an image of a spritely Kempson leaving his hotel room at 8am, dragging a suitcase. That lie enabled police to obtain a warrant to search his hotel room, images of which are also included in the documentary. 

By the time he arrived for his second interview - more casually dressed in a black t-shirt, Kempson had no choice but to admit killing Grace, but he wouldn't admit to murder. 

Instead, Kempson told police Grace expressed an interest in "violence sex", and asked him to "choke" her, during consensual sex. He said it was rough sex gone wrong, nothing more. 

But that didn't explain why he didn't call emergency services. Or, why he took photos of Grace's dead body, after posing her. It didn't explain why he searched for pornographic videos, or for information on the Waitakere ranges, where Grace's body would ultimately be found. And it didn't explain why the following day, as Grace's body lay dead in his home, he would message another woman to arrange a date. 

More CCTV footage would reveal Kempson bought cleaning products, and two suitcases the same as the one Grace was found inside. Kempson claimed he panicked after finding Grace dead the following morning. So he bought the case and put her inside it. 

Image: Netflix. 

The verdict. 

After Kempson was charged with Grace's murder, the case made global headlines due to his controversial claim her death was the result of "rough sex gone wrong". 

Because of his defence, Grace's family were forced to endure distressing details about the night in question, including details of how she died by strangulation. Bruises consistent with being pinned down were also found on her body.

Kempson was accused of erotising Grace's death, both immediately after the fact, and throughout the trial, by his ongoing claims she enjoyed rough sex. 

But Kempson's victim-blaming claims were rejected by the 12 jurors, and after three weeks of evidence, and a year since Grace's death, he was found guilty of murder. 

The rough sex defence, and the media's reporting of the case, angered advocacy groups. 

Fiona Mackenzie, founder of the campaign group, We Can't Consent to This, described the events as the "ultimate victim blaming". 

"He gets to tell the story of what she was like and how she asked for it," she told media at the time. 

"Families not only lose their loved one but these men steal the public perception of them and destroy their reputation. It's appalling."

Kempson was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years. 

According to the documentary, between 1972 and 2022, at least 60 defendants in the UK alone have used the "rough sex" defence, with 45 per cent resulting in a less change, lighter sentence, acquittal, or the case not being pursued. The Lie is streaming on Netflix now. 

Feature image: Lucie Blackman Trust.