THE man who murdered young South Essex woman Grace Millane in New Zealand can now be named and it has been revealed he has a sordid history of attacking and violating women.

Under New Zealand law the identity of 28-year-old Jesse Shane Kempson could not be revealed by the media and for more than two years Grace's killer has been officially anonymous.

However, that suppression lapsed when the Supreme Court denied a last-ditch appeal by Kempson.

It can now be revealed Kempson has been convicted of a raft of sexual violation offences, relating to two women who went to the police after he was arrested in December 2018 over Grace's disappearance.

After he was found guilty of murdering Grace in late 2019, Kempson faced two further judge-alone trials in the High Court at Auckland in October and November this year. The media were not allowed to publish details at the time.

In the first, he was found guilty of eight charges for the sustained physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse of an ex-girlfriend, and jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

In the second, he was found guilty of raping another woman he had met on Tinder, and jailed for three-and-a-half years. Kempson is appealing his conviction and sentence in both cases.

He is already serving a life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years for Grace's murder. He has indicated he will go to the Supreme Court to challenge that decision.

At the trial in October, Kempson's ex-girlfriend - who cannot be identified - described in graphic detail the escalating physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse she suffered during their relationship.

He slapped and pushed her during arguments, drained her savings account of more than $10,000, and once held a knife to her throat before forcing her to perform sexual acts against her will.

The woman left the relationship after seven months and obtained a protection order against him.

In a DVD interview played in court, the woman told police the violence began almost as soon as the relationship had started. "The first time he hit me we were having an argument and he just slapped me across the face. I've been in an abusive relationship before so I vowed to myself that I would never get back into one."

The violence escalated. "We had these two big butcher knives and whenever he got angry, like I said the Jekyll and Hyde, something inside of him snapped. He would go straight to the kitchen, get one of those knives and hold it to my throat." The woman said she felt like she was walking on eggshells around Kempson and broke down describing his anger during their relationship.

"I could never understand why he got so angry towards me. I just loved him and I just wanted him to love me like I loved him."

The woman told the court she had a fighting spirit and fought back at the start, but eventually lost the will to resist the violence.

She said the man tried to kill her one night in 2017 - chasing her around the house before holding her in a choke hold and forcing her to perform sexual acts on him.

"I just looked at him and I said, 'Please don't make me do this, please don't make me do this'. I was crying and he said to me, 'If you don't do this I will kill you and I will kill your family and you know I will'."

In court, the woman said her heart dropped when she saw the first blurred images of Kempson on the news, after his arrest over Millane's disappearance. She was later accused at trial of fabricating her story in a heightened state of emotion - an allegation she categorically denied. "I told nothing but the truth. I've told nothing but the truth this whole way through," she said.

"I was Grace's voice and I will be Grace's voice." The woman said she felt guilty about Grace's death.

"I didn't want to bring up my past again, but I also wanted the truth to be out about who Jesse is and the pattern of behaviour and how this whole thing could have been avoided."

Kempson was found guilty of eight charges - two of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, three of male assaults female, two of assault with a weapon and one of threatening to kill.

At his sentencing, the court heard a pre-sentence report found Kempson showed no remorse, continued to deny the offending and had made no effort to apologise to the woman. Justice Brewer said Kempson was considered to be at a high risk of reoffending and there were no mitigating features in the case.

Aggravating features included breach of trust, the woman's vulnerability, the woman's trauma and the particular cruelty of the man's crimes. "Your relationship was also marked by your manipulation of [the woman]. You exercised control over her by giving and withholding affection, sudden anger and violence and by telling lies," Justice Brewer said. Kempson raped the second woman in an motel in early 2018, after meeting her on a date.

During his trial in November, she said they chatted about their lives, occasionally kissing one another, but she did not think it would go any further than the first date.

The woman told the court the man "flipped" when he realised she was texting two male friends as he drove her to another bar.

"When I messaged both of my friends he got really angry about it," she said.

"The fact that they were both boys seemed to make him more frustrated and it just came out of nowhere."

The woman said they eventually left the Mt Eden bar and Kempson drove around. She said she was confused when he pulled up at a motel but she went inside anyway thinking she would sort out a ride home once she was inside.

The complainant cried giving evidence, as she described Kempson getting angry when she explicitly refused to go any further than kissing on the bed.

"He came and sat down next to me and started kissing me again. Then he started putting his hands on my legs and pushing my dress further up. I said I didn't want to do anything that night; 'No not tonight, not now, I don't want to do that today'."

The woman said the man raised his voice before quickly calming down. But he refused to drive her home; saying he had consumed too much alcohol that night.

She said she got into bed fully clothed and positioned away from the man but he put his arm around her, kissed her then raped her.

In her victim impact statement, read to the court by a support counsellor at Kempson's sentencing, the woman said she was not the same person any more, but could now walk away from the assault knowing the man did not have any power over her.

"When I began this process with the police, I was told by many people that I would feel a sense of relief by telling my story in court, but for me, I am yet to feel that weight being lifted. I don't know if I ever will but I walk away from this feeling as though I have done the right thing for myself.

"I am now a different person than I was two years ago. I am not scared. I am strong. I am not alone. I am loved. I am not held back. I am supported. I have so much to look forward to in my life and I will not look back. I will never say your name. You don't have any power over me anymore."

When Kempson was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail, Justice Venning said it clear Kempson did not accept the offending and had no insight into or remorse for his crime.