A 26-year-old man will be charged with the murder of British backpacker Grace Millane who went missing from a hostel in Auckland on 1 December, New Zealand Police has said.
He will remain in custody until Monday morning, when he will appear in the Auckland District Court.
Police are still looking for the body of the 22-year-old Briton who was last seen in the city on 1 December, although evidence suggested she had been killed.
Millane, from Essex, was described as a “lovely, outgoing, fun-loving, family-orientated daughter” by her father, David Millane.
She graduated from the University of Lincoln in September and had embarked on a year-long worldwide trip.
After visiting Peru she arrived in New Zealand on November 20 and had been near-daily contact with her family until December 1 – the day before her 22nd birthday.
The last confirmed sighting of Millane was at 9.41pm the same day at the Citylife Hotel in central Auckland, when she was seen with a “male companion”.