CCTV footage no longer an issue, judge says

The identity of a couple apparently rowing in the hotel where honeymooner Michaela McAreavey was strangled is no longer an issue in the trial of two men accused of her murder, the judge has told jurors.

Defence lawyers had originally claimed the man and woman captured on grainy CCTV images at the reception of the Legends hotel in Mauritius were the Tyrone teacher and her husband John.

However, barristers for defendants Avinash Treebhoowon and Sandip Mooneea yesterday told the Supreme Court in Port Louis they would not pursue that line of questioning.