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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Sarah Barrett

John McAreavey questions hotel room request in new series about Michaela's murder

A new docu-series called ‘Murder in Paradise’ is set to investigate the case of Ballygawley native Michaela McAreavey.

The series produced by BBC will look at the murder of Michaela, and will feature input from Michaela’s husband John McAreavey.

Bride Michaela Harte’s body was discovered on January 10th 2011, after she had been strangled in the bath of a hotel room in Mauritius, where she had travelled for her honeymoon.

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In the series, John McAreavey is set to discuss the heart-breaking day that he will ‘never forget’ as long as he lives.

John reflects on their wedding day, and honeymoon stating the resort is very popular with Irish newlyweds, and he asked for an upgrade when they had arrived at the hotel.

He said: “That particular hotel was actually very popular with Irish honeymooners. I guess there was a degree of security in that.

“I always have this habit whenever you go to a hotel you ask about an upgrade.

“I’ve often wondered if I had not requested that would we have been in another room and that something like that couldn’t have happened. Who is to know, who is to know.”

The new BBC programme investigates the Tyrone woman’s death, with journalists Darragh MacIntyre and Allison Morris travelling to Mauritius to examine the unsolved case.

The couple had been married less than two weeks when the tragedy struck,

Michaela, 27, was a teacher and the daughter of Tyrone's multiple All-Ireland Senior Football Championship-winning GAA manager Mickey Harte, and her death prompted widespread international coverage.

Mickey Harte doesn’t appear in the documentary, but her brother Mark appears on his behalf.

Her brother Mark advises that Michaela was a ‘daddy’s girl’.

On 10 January 2011, Michael and her husband John had lunch at their hotel.

After the meal, she went to the hotel room and disturbed a burglary.

Her body was discovered by her husband soon after.

Michaela was brought home to Ireland and her funeral was attended by thousands of mourners including several public figures including GAA President Christy Cooney, Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, then President of Ireland Mary McAleese, Arlene Foster and Maurice Morrow.

Sandip Moneea and Avinash Treebhoowoon, two former workers at the luxury resort were acquitted after a high-profile trial in the summer of 2012.

Murder In Paradise starts on Monday, April 10 at 10.40pm on BBC One NI and the full series will be available on BBC iPlayer.

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