WELLINGTON (DPA) - The lawyer of a man accused of murdering British backpacker Grace Millane in the New Zealand city of Auckland last year told the court on Wednesday (Nov 6) that the victim died during consensual sex gone wrong, local media reported.

Defence lawyer Ian Brookie said the 21-year-old's death happened as an "unforeseen and unintended consequence" of a "perfectly ordinary" consensual casual sexual encounter between two young people, Radio New Zealand reported.

According to Radio New Zealand, prosecutor Robin McCoubrey said that Ms Millane's death was caused by sustained pressure to her neck.

The 27-year-old accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, met the victim through the dating app Tinder on Dec 2, 2018.

He is said to have used Google to look up ways of getting rid of a body and watched porn in the early hours of Dec 3.

The defendant is accused of then putting Ms Millane's body in a suitcase, renting a car and burying it in an area of bush about 25km from central Auckland, where the body was found a week later.

The court also heard that the accused went on another Tinder date the day after Ms Millane died and told the woman he had heard a story of a man who was imprisoned for manslaughter after having "kinky or rough sex" that "all went wrong".

Ms Millane, from the English county of Essex, disappeared on the eve of her 22nd birthday.

Her death sparked vigils in her memory across the country and overseas. The trial, which opened at the Auckland High Court on Wednesday, is expected to last five weeks.