British Tourist Dies While Making Love With Her Acquaintance From A Dating App, Forensic Psychologist: Perpetrator Is A Pathological Liar

Police line illustration. (Unsplash/David von Diemar)

JAKARTA - Grace Millane (22), a British tourist died tragically while visiting New Zealand. Her body was found in a suitcase buried in the mountains 12 miles outside Auckland.

Her online date, Jesse Kempson was later found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum sentence of 17 years without an acquittal, despite evading and blaming Grace.

Forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes calls Jesse a pathological liar. Experts studied the manipulative ways that Kempson tried to cover his tracks.

"I looked at the evidence in its entirety and really he was sneaky from the start," said Kerry Daynes quoting planetradio.co.uk on September 20.

"Kempson is a true pathological liar and he's definitely someone who's completely inadequate and he tells a lot of stories about himself and all of that is designed to make him sound richer, more successful, more like a man and woman," he said.

Daynes said the linguist counted more than 21 times in which he tried to shift the blame to Grace.

"It's very sad from his point of view and also from Grace's point of view that a man would want to try and lie out of a dire situation in such a disgraceful way."

Meanwhile, citing Essexlive.news September 19, body language expert Dr. Cliff Lansley said there were three clear indicators of dishonesty when questioned by police.

"As soon as Grace was mentioned he started to tense up. We saw a little tweak under the table legs going together and squeezing his hands between his thighs," he said.

"The tension is amplified by him now drinking sips of water. When we are anxious, our mouth becomes dry. Often, we will swallow or lick our lips or take a sip of water when we reach the point of anxiety.

Grace Millane (Twitter/@Declan_Millane)

"With a combination of dry mouth, hands under the table, pinching feet, we have three indicators that indicate anxiety and fear. This could be the fear of being caught in a lie," he explained.

According to Dr. Lansley, Kempson's inability to add details to his story, as well as the long pause before answering police questions, further pointed to his guilt.

"We had great skepticism; it was a fluke. He had to think hard about a question that was simple for a truth-teller, but would be difficult for a liar. He couldn't give details about the night."

Dawn Archer, professor of linguistics, added Kempson's calmer response suggested he was hiding something.

As the interview progressed, police managed to catch Kempson's lie on one particular detail he provided, they separated at the end of the date and he came home drunkenly alone, before leaving his flat at 10 am the next day. However, police have CCTV footage of Kempson leaving the flat at 8:01 am, two hours earlier than Kempson said.

When they pressed him on his mismatched story, he began to uncover. Dr. Lansley said: "He moved significantly back into his chair. His hands and feet started to tense under the table, and if you looked closely at the color of the skin on his cheeks, it turned red significantly.

"We have reached a hot spot here. Three indicators across two communication channels are enough for us to have confidence that this is a scam and he is faking it."

For information, Grace came to New Zealand for vacation in November 2018. However, on her 22nd birthday on December 2, 2018, Grace was reported missing by her friends and family, after failing to contact her several times. Her brother, Declan Millane, also made the announcement about Grace's disappearance on Twitter.

On December 8, police investigating Grace's disappearance announced this was a homicide investigation. The next day, Grace's body was found in the mountains about 12 miles outside Auckland, New Zealand, reports The Mirror.

A number of bruises were found on Grace's body, especially on the chest and upper arms. She was allegedly strangled to death by her date.

Shortly after, 26-year-old Jesse Kempson was charged with murdering Grace. The couple dated on Tinder the night Grace was last seen alive, and the pair were seen together in CCTV footage from that night.

Initially, Kempson tried to say Grace died during consensual sex between the partners, even blaming her. However, the jury convicted Kempson of murder.

He was sentenced to life in prison and will serve a minimum sentence of 17 years, in a case that shocked the world and raised questions about his 'abusive sex' defense in criminal courts.