GRACE POLICE BODY SEARCH Man, 26, to be charged with murder
POLICE searching for Brit backpacker Grace Millane yesterday said the enquiry was now a murder probe and they were looking for her body.
Officers in New Zealand have confirmed a 26-year-old man was quizzed by detectives after he was found by police in central Auckland yesterday.
The man, who she was rumoured to have met on dating app Tinder, was seen returning to a hotel with Grace on the night she disappeared.
He is to be charged with her murder in court tomorrow.
Cops said the evidence they had gathered suggested Grace, who was on a gap year and was last seen on December 1, had been killed.
They said they were now searching for the body of the 22-year-old from Wickford, Essex. Her parents alerted police after she failed to respond to birthday messages sent to her on December 2.
Auckland City Police Detective Inspector Scott Beard said: “The evidence we have located so far has determined Grace is no longer alive and this is a murder investigation. Grace’s family are devastated.
“We are treating Grace’s disappearance as a homicide.”
Detectives searching for her said several of her possessions, including her passport, were also missing.
Investigators have been examining a scene at the hotel complex where Grace was last seen with a man.
Det Insp Beard confirmed that the man being questioned by police last night was the same individual.
He refused to comment on whether they had met on the dating app.
He said: “I’m not going to speculate on how they met.”