Estranged from his family

The man accused of murdering British backpacker Grace Millane was estranged from his family, according to his grandfather.

The 26-year-old was arrested and charged last week with the murder of Millane, 22, whose disappearance sparked a huge police hunt, which culminated in her body being found in Auckland’s Waitakere Ranges on Sunday.

The man has interim name suppression.

The accused’s grandfather said he was struggling to comes to terms with what his grandson had been accused of. He told Stuff he helped raise him when he was a boy for a time after his father and mother split up.

The 26-year-old was best man at his grandfather’s wedding when he remarried about a decade ago.

The accused ‘‘loved his sport’’ but in more recent times he’d been ‘‘at a bit of a loose end’’. ‘‘He was a nice kid, but he sort of fell out with everybody.’’

A female relative of the accused, who would not be named, said he had spent time in Australia, where his mother lived.

He returned home in about 2016 and visited relatives in the Wellington region, before moving to Auckland.

The woman believed the man had recently returned to Sydney and was unaware he was back in the country.

His paternal grandmother told Stuff that the man fathered a daughter in Australia but he is no longer in a relationship with the mother of his child.

The accused’s father said he had not spoken to his son for two years. Asked why, he replied: ‘‘A difference in opinion on life.’’