Family faces funeral for ‘home bird’ Nicola

Only 11 days ago, Andrew Furlong spoke to his daughter Nicola, who was in daily contact with her family from her temporary base in Japan, when she joked about how her name might be in the newspapers.

Just over 24 hours later, a call by gardaí to the family home in Curracloe, Co Wexford, brought the message that every parent fears as Andrew and his wife Angie were informed that Nicola had been found dead in suspicious circumstances in a hotel room in Tokyo.

Ever since, this ordinary family has found itself at the centre of a media story which has garnered headlines around the world, in the process compounding the scale of the tragedy which has befallen the Furlongs.