Millane’s funeral next week
The funeral for British backpacker Grace Millane will be held in Essex next Thursday, more than a month after she died in Auckland.
Millane disappeared on December 1 after being seen in the central city. Her body was found a week later in the Waita¯ kere Ranges, and a 26-year-old man, who has interim name suppression, has been charged with her murder.
Millane’s brother, Declan
Millane, said on social media that her funeral service would take place on January 10 at Brentwood Cathedral in Essex.
She would be buried in a private ceremony in a cemetery in the parish of Ramsden Bellhouse.
A wake would take place at Stockbrook Country Club.
Declan Millane said the family was planning to create a video montage of his sister, and he urged those who knew her to contribute.
‘‘[We] would love if you could share with us any memories you may have of Grace,’’ Declan Millane’s post said.
Millane’s death sparked a public outcry in New Zealand, with vigils held all over the country for the advertising graduate and keen artist. In her hometown, hundreds of people gathered to pay tribute to her. One woman attending that vigil told the BBC that Millane’s death had ‘‘ripped the community apart’’.
Also in Essex, two minutes of silence was observed at a full Thurrock Council meeting out of respect for the family.
Millane was the grand-daughter of the former mayor of Thurrock and Chadwell St Mary councillor, Martin Millane, who died in 2000, the Basildon Echo reported.
Before leaving the country with his daughter’s body, David Millane released a statement saying Grace would ‘‘forever be a Kiwi’’, and thanked the New Zealand public and police for their support.