Mickey Harte recalls 'traumatic' day of daughter Michaela McAreavey's murder

The legendary GAA coach and his wife Marian tragically lost their 27-year-old daughter when she was murdered in her hotel room on her honeymoon in Mauritius in January 2011. No one has been convicted of her murder.

Speaking about his late daughter and his new memoir Devotion on Newstalk, Mickey told Pat Kenny that he still has a “very strong connection” to Michaela despite the “shocking” circumstances in which she died.

He said: “You just never would imagine you were going to have to listen to a phone call like that or hear that kind of news, even though we know that it does happen all over the country - virtually every day someone gets that sort of traumatic and tragic news. You never think it’s going to happen to you.

“I couldn’t ever believe it could happen to Michaela because we just had the greatest day of our lives at her wedding a short time before, and to think that she wasn’t going to come home again to see us, to think of the finality of that, it was shocking in the extreme.”

He praised Michaela’s husband John, who was wrongly arrested when she was murdered, as “such a strong man.”

“He’s such a good young man and he’s so determined to continue to keep the case alive, he’s the one that is driving that more than anyone, and I’m so grateful for what he has done.

“His life has moved on, and I’m delighted it has. He has a wonderful new wife Tara and a wee baby son - I’m so happy for them. John is such a really good young man. He’s put his heart and soul into trying to get the justice he feels and we all feel Michaela deserves.

“I’m so grateful to John’s family and Mark, our son, who took it upon themselves to get out there as fast as possible - to give that support to John, and do whatever was necessary to get Michaela’s body home,” he added.