Killer’s name suppression still in force

Two people are being investigated by police for posting the name of the man who killed British backpacker Grace Millane, despite a suppression order still being in place.

The killer, whose identity is suppressed until a further order of the court, was found guilty of murdering Millane on Friday, following a high court trial.

Millane, 21, died sometime between December 1 and 2 last year after she went on a Tinder date with the man in Auckland.

The 27-year-old man denied murder and claimed her death was a tragic accident after the pair had rough sex.

After more than five hours of deliberation, the jury returned a unanimous verdict.

Yesterday, Detective Inspector Scott Beard said police had received three complaints of suppression breaches since the start of the trial.

He said one person was issued with a warning and two were under investigation.

British press also named him on Saturday, with Beard reminding New Zealanders it was an offence to breach a court order, including naming someone on social media. A person can be fined a maximum of $25,000 or jailed for six months for breaching a suppression order.

The courts tried to keep the killer’s name secret after his first court appearance in December 2018. However, despite repeated warnings from judges, the minister of justice, lawyers and the police, the court orders have been repeatedly breached.

Earlier in the year, Google suspended its trending emails in New Zealand and apologised after it accidentally sent out an email revealing the name of the man.

At the time, New Zealand police wrote to the search engine warning them of the courtordered suppression and to have the name removed from the internet.

Yesterday, Justice Minister Andrew Little told Radio NZ he expected New Zealanders who shared the killer’s name on social media to face legal action.

Little told Morning Report that while work was under way to set up an international mutual agreement on suppression breaches with countries such as Britain, Canada and Australia, the law was very straightforward in New Zealand.

‘‘If somebody in New Zealand goes on social media and publishes details that are suppressed, that is a matter of contempt of court in New Zealand,’’ Little said.

‘‘We have already got the power to deal with that and I understand authorities will be looking at situations where that has happened in the past couple of days.’’