British tourist Grace Millane, 22, was last seen at a hotel in Auckland's CBD.

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 appeared at Auckland District Court on Monday, where he was granted 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.

His father and mother split up when he was young and he "helped bring him up because his father wasn't in a settled relationship", the grandfather said.

LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF Police at a cordon along Scenic Drive in Auckland's Waitakere Ranges where a body, believed to be Millane, was found.

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, which is what happens with broken up marriages."

His grandfather had loaned him a couple of hundred dollars in mid 2016, which he didn't pay back. The family hadn't heard much from him since.

He added he was worried about how the allegations against his grandson would affect the wider family and declined to comment further.

A female relative of the accused, who would not be named, said he'd spent time living 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.

She was unaware he was back in the country as he'd fallen out of contact with close family, including his father and grandparents.

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



The accused's father said he hadn't spoken to his son for two years.

Asked why that was, he replied: "A difference in opinion on life."