‘No words can explain it’

A father drowned his 3-year-old daughter before killing himself in an apparent murder-suicide as his marriage broke down, detectives believe.

The bodies of farmer Martin McCarthy, 50, and Clarissa were taken from shallow water in Audley Cove near Ballydehob in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Paramedics spent an hour trying to resuscitate Clarissa after her body was recovered from the sea before 2am as her mother was on the scene. Her father’s remains were found in shallow water nearby about 40 minutes later.