UK backpacker’s friend says ‘something seemed out of place’ during online chat as jury watches video of Millane visiting bars with Tinder date

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

The parents of Grace Millane have watched CCTV footage of the last hours of their daughter’s life as an Auckland court heard how a friend of the British backpacker feared for Millane on the Tinder date during which she died.

The CCTV footage, played to the court on Thursday, showed Millane, in a black dress and white sneakers, greeting the man now accused of her murder with a hug and a brief kiss on the cheek before the pair visited bars around the city together and then went to his hotel.

The 21-year-old’s body was found days later, crammed inside a suitcase buried in scrubland outside the New Zealand city.

Ameena Ashcroft, a friend of Millane from Lincoln university, was messaging Millane throughout the date, and told the court alarm bells rang when she described her date as “an oil manager” who lived in a hotel.

Grace Millane: trial over backpacker's murder begins in Auckland Read more

“I was a bit concerned but I didn’t show Grace that I was,” Ashcroft said in a statement that was read out in court by the prosecution. “I thought something seemed out of place.” However, Ashcroft said she was tired from travelling and didn’t want to over-react.

The friends messaged back and forth sporadically while Millane and the accused, whose name has been suppressed, visited various bars and restaurants. Millane told Ashcroft that the accused was coming to London next year.

Ashcroft said in her statement: “I sensed Grace was having a good time and she seemed to be drunk and really enjoying herself.

“I do not think Grace had any concerns for her safety when I was in contact with her.”

Grace Millane walks with the accused near the hotel where she died. Photograph: Supplied

At one point, Millane, from Wickford in Essex, messaged Ashcroft: “I click with him so well,” and, “I will let you know what happens tomorrow”.

Earlier, Millane’s parents, David and Gillian, were in court to watch extensive CCTV footage showing their daughter leaving the backpacker hostel she was staying at and strolling along Federal Street in central Auckland. Just before 6pm on 1 Decembershe met the 27-year-old New Zealand man who is now accused of murdering her by strangulation.

They met outside the Sky City building in the city centre before going for drinks at Andy’s Burger Bar. At 7.16pm, the pair walked to the Mexican Cafe, and together drank two jugs of margarita and one of sangria, which the accused paid for. In the CCTV footage, Millane appeared relaxed.

Around 8.30pm the couple walked to the Bluestone Room, across the road from CityLife hotel where Millane later died, and the pair ordered more drinks and sat together at a table in the corner kissing repeatedly, with the accused hooking his arm around Millane’s neck and repeatedly drawing her close. When Millane walked away from the table, the accused could be seen picking up her handbag and looking through its contents.

The last footage of Millane alive was captured by a CCTV camera in the CityLife hotel at 9.41pm, where she entered the accused’s hotel room, on the third floor.

The accused, who has pleaded not guilty to murder, closely watched the CCTV footage from the dock on Thursday, his face largely impassive.

The defence lawyer Ian Brookie said the footage appeared to show “the pair were getting along very well”. “It’s clear they were holding hands as they walked,” he said.

Brookie took Detective Adam Bicknell, the officer in charge of CCTV acquisition, through a list of drinks the couple consumed on the night, which totalled more than 25 between them.

Ashcroft said that while Millane had been active on dating apps Tinder and Bumble while in the UK, her “outgoing, happy” friend viewed sex as an intimate act, and took, if anything, a conservative approach to it.

“Police have asked me if Grace ever spoke to me about BDSM or any aspect of it and she has not.”

The court also heard that at 6am on 2 December, 12 hours after meeting Millane, the accused googled “rigor mortis”, “duffel bags with wheels”, “flesh-eating birds” and “are there vultures in New Zealand”. He also researched industrial-strength carpet cleaners, car-hire, and beaches close to Auckland.

Millane’s mother left the courtroom when Detective Samuel Luker, of Auckland’s major crime team, described the images the accused had taken of her daughter after she died.

On Wednesday, the jury of seven men and five women was asked to decide whether Millane was murdered by her date after the pair went to his apartment, or whether she died by accident during consensual sex.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The pair were together on a Tinder date. Photograph: Supplied

Millane’s disappearance and news of her death generated a national outpouring of grief, vigils around New Zealand, and a national discussion about violence against women.

The trial due to last at least four weeks.