Police to charge man with murder of missing backpacker Grace Millane in New Zealand

Police in New Zealand have said that a man will be charged with the murder of Grace Millane, a 22-year-old backpacker from the UK who hasn't been seen in New Zealand since Saturday (1 December).

Grace travelled to New Zealand on her own as part of a post-university backpacking trip, after having travelled around South America for six weeks with a group tour, the BBC reports. But the young woman's family became worried about her whereabouts after she failed to reply to any of their messages wishing her a happy birthday on Sunday 2 December.

Auckland City Police have now revealed that a 26-year-old suspect, who was being questioned over her disappearance, will appear at Auckland District Court on Monday.

They also admitted that they now believe the 22-year-old has been murdered.

Detective Inspector Scott Beard said evidence shows that Grace is "no longer alive".

"Grace's family have been advised of this development and they are devastated," he added.

Police had earlier released a blurry still from CCTV footage showing Grace at Auckland's Sky City complex, where she was spotted on camera on Saturday at around 7.15pm local time. She later failed to return to her hostel room, raising alarm bells. Grace was was wearing a black dress with white trainers at the time of her disappearance.

A vehicle, which police believe relates to the incident, has since been found. Detective Inspector Beard said: "Today we have identified and secured a vehicle of interest, and we are now making enquiries to find out exactly where that vehicle has been."

Grace's body has not been found, but Inspector Beard says his team are "determined to do everything we can to find her".

Further reports reveal Grace was last seen at the CityLife hotel in Auckland at 9:41pm on Saturday 1 December, almost a week ago. There are currently no further confirmed sightings of the young woman after that point.

The Essex-born backpacker was scheduled to spend two weeks in New Zealand before moving on, and was booked into Base Backpackers until December 8.

Grace's brother, Michael Millane, has been active on Facebook sharing missing posters of his sister. "Please share and contact if you have any information regarding her whereabouts," he urged users of the social network.

Grace's dad, property developer David Millane, has flown to New Zealand to help the search for his daughter. In a tearful statement released before an arrest was made, Mr Millane said:
"As you all know, Grace has been missing for several days. We last had contact with Grace on Saturday the first of December and as a family we have been extremely concerned for her welfare.

Grace is a lovely, outgoing, fun-loving, family-orientated daughter. Grace has never been out of contact for this amount of time and is usually in daily contact with either her mother, myself or her two brothers. 

Grace is on a year-long worldwide overseas experience. Grace started this travel journey in Peru in South America and was really looking forward to the second leg in New Zealand. She arrived here on the 20th of November and has bombarded us with numerous photographs and messages of her adventures. 

We are all extremely upset and it is very difficult at this time to fully describe the range of emotions we are all going through. 

While we are very grateful for the media coverage both here and back home, we are finding this situation quite upsetting and would sincerely hope that media continue to respect our privacy. 

Finally, I would just like to take this opportunity to appeal to anybody who has seen, spoken to, or come into contact with Grace over the last few days, to come forward with any detail, no matter how small, and contact the investigation team. 

Thank you." 

Grace's mum Gillian, who is reportedly recovering from an operation, has remained in the UK while the search continues for her daughter.

Auckland City Police are still looking for information about Grace's final movements before going missing.