Despite the jury returning a unanimous decision in a matter of hours, Kempson s name has remained protected.
Last Thursday, the Court of Appeal declined to keep his name suppressed past Friday when it dismissed his appeals against his conviction and sentence. Kempson then applied for leave from the Supreme Court to appeal that suppression decision and keep his name secret.
However, New Zealand s top court today decided it won t hear that appeal, meaning Newshub can now, after more than two years, name the man who murdered Millane.
Kempson s trial last year made headlines both in New Zealand and around the world.
The untold story of Grace Millane killer s two other victims
25 minutes to read
WARNING: CONTAINS CONTENT THAT READERS MIGHT FIND UPSETTING
The face on the television was blurred. But, for one woman, that wasn t enough to conceal the identity of the man who killed British backpacker Grace Millane.
Gut instinct told her the man with the obscured face was her abusive former partner - Jesse Shane Kempson, a man she went to police about the day she left him.
Kempson had now taken a life and it was a devastating realisation. My whole world came crashing down around me, she would later tell the Auckland High Court.
On December 18, Kempson made a final attempt to keep his name a secret by appealing to the Supreme Court but that last-minute bid was rejected on Tuesday and name suppression lapsed on all matters on Tuesday. While Kempson s identity has previously been revealed by overseas media, and Google in an email to subscribers, this is the first time he has been publicly named in New Zealand. The family said the suppression of Kempson s name had allowed people to remember Grace - “a young, vibrant girl who set out to see the world, instead of the man who took her life .
British backpacker Grace Millane s murderer named as Jesse Kempson, sexual violence trials revealed
21 Dec, 2020 09:58 PM
6 minutes to read
He is Jesse Shane Kempson.
And it can be revealed Kempson faced two further trials for violent sexual offending against two other women, one of whom was also a Brit who he met on the dating app Tinder and raped in a motel room.
The 28-year-old Auckland man s identity was due to be revealed last Friday, but with just minutes before an 11am deadline, the Supreme Court decided to keep suppression in place until it could make a final determination.
Today, the top court lifted suppression by declining leave to challenge the Court of Appeal s ruling.
Warning: This story and related coverage of the trial contain graphic details that may be distressing for some readers.
Jesse Shane Kempson is serving time for murdering Grace Millane, and has also been found guilty on a raft of sexual violation offences relating to two other women. Here s a timeline over the past two years.
Jesse Shane Kempson.
Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
British backpacker Grace Millane arrived in New Zealand on 20 November 2018.
On the eve of her 22nd birthday, she went on a date with a man she met on Tinder. He later strangled her to death in his apartment in central Auckland and buried her body in a suitcase, in a shallow grave in the Waitākere Ranges.