A jury in Mauritius has found former hotel workers Sandip Moneea and Avinash Treebhoowoon not guilty of the murder of 27 year old Irish woman Michaela McAreavey who was strangled whilst on honeymoon in the Legends hotel in January 2011. The jury took only two hours to deliberate and return unanimous verdicts in both cases.

Upon hearing the verdict, members of the Harte and McAreavey family quietly left the court. Following their departure, both families issued a statement to the press, in which they said that there were “no words”, which could now describe their sense of “devastation and desolation”.