Mauritius police say Michaela Harte was strangled

Michaela Harte married John McAreavey on 30 December

Police have said the daughter of Tyrone gaelic football manager Mickey Harte was strangled.

Michaela McAreavey was found dead at the Legends hotel in Mauritius where she was staying while on honeymoon.

The 27-year-old had married John McAreavey, a member of Down's gaelic football team, on 30 December. He has been questioned but is not a suspect.

Police have said they have a list of six suspects who they intend to bring in for questioning later on Tuesday.

Disarray

They said the hotel room was in disarray and that they are examining CCTV footage from the complex.

A post-mortem examination carried out on Tuesday found that there were marks on the dead woman's neck.

“Start Quote

To think this is the fate that awaited Michaela is beyond us”

End Quote Fr Gerard McAleer Family friend

An official from the Irish Embassy in Pretoria in South Africa is to arrive on Tuesday to assist Mr McAreavey.

The hotel is in the centre of the fishing village of Grand Gaube, not far from Grand Bay in the north-eastern corner of the island. The couple booked in last Saturday and were due to leave on Sunday.

Superintendent Yoosoof Soopun, from the Mauritius Police Force, told the Press Association officers were confident of an arrest later on Tuesday.

He added that the killer had used an electronic key card to enter the room.

"There was no forced entry into the room," he said.

"Whoever killed her definitely used an electronic card."

Mrs McAreavey taught Irish at St Patrick's Academy in Dungannon, County Tyrone and was a former contestant in the Rose of Tralee pageant.

She was very close to her father and was at his side on the three occasions his team won the all-Ireland championship at Croke Park, Dublin, in 2003, 2005 and 2008.

He dropped the couple to Dublin Airport following her wedding.

Gaelic football is one of the most popular sports in Ireland with players and managers often afforded celebrity status.

'One in a million'

Fr Gerard McAleer, who managed the Tyrone team along with Mickey Harte, has been comforting the family.

Mauritius

• An island in the Indian Ocean, it was a British colony from 1810. It gained independence in 1968.
• A relative economic success story, its tourism industry is particularly strong. It is a common honeymoon destination for couples from the UK.
• The Foreign Office says that petty crime is common on the island though most crime is non-violent.

He attended her wedding last month and said he had known her "all her life".

Fr McAleer said the tragedy was "compounded by the distance involved and the frustration of nobody being there with John".

He said members of the Harte and McAreavey families were travelling to Mauritius on Tuesday.

Fr McAleer said he had "exhausted" his vocabulary trying to articulate his feelings about Michaela.

"Michaela was just one in a million, she was a wonderful role model," he added.

"Not only did she want to teach Irish, she wanted to teach Religious Education.

"We often talked about the struggle between good and evil in the world and the importance of faith and coping with tragedy and grief and giving some kind of shape to our lives.

"To think this is the fate that awaited Michaela is beyond us."

The priest said he had talked to Mickey Harte after hearing of Michaela's death on Monday.

"I met Mickey yesterday immediately after I heard the news and he said 'She packed so much into her young life and we have so much to be thankful for' - how gracious in such a moment of intense grief."

NI Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: "Michaela was always close to her father's side during many great days for Tyrone football.

"Her enthusiasm for her native county, for which she was an excellent ambassador, knew no bounds."

First Minister Peter Robinson and the SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie have also sent their condolences to the Harte family.