Mauritian government says every prospect of new trial in Michaela McAreavey case

Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said the Mauritian government told him there is every prospect of a new trial in the Michaela McAreavey murder case.

Mr McGuinness was speaking after a meeting in London with the acting High Commissioner for Mauritius.

Martin McGuinness said it was absolutely vital that the participation of the PSNI and gardaí in a new investigation could only be in the context of a new trial.

He said he had a phone conversation with the Mauritian foreign affairs minister and expressed the strong feelings throughout the island of Ireland about how the trial was conducted.

Mr McGuinness said he would be guided by Northern Ireland's Attorney General, John Larkin, who has asked for a full set of the trial papers.

Acting High Commissioner Mohamad Latona said the meeting had been very positive and he had explained that the government of Mauritius would take every action to bring the perpetrators to justice.

He said he was looking forward to collaborating with the authorities in Ireland, North and South, and with Scotland Yard so that an investigation could "start afresh".

However, he added that it would be for the legal system to determine whether the defendants who had been cleared would face retrial.

He said new evidence would have to be secured.

Mr Latona said the nature of the collaboration between the Mauritian investigators and the PSNI and gardaí would "depend on the police".

Meanwhile, editor and Director General of the Mauritius Sunday Times Imran Hosany has been taken to hospital after becoming unwell in court.

Mr Hosany was in court to face charges in connection with the newspaper's publication of photographs of Michaela McAreavey's body following her murder.

A police spokesperson said police had been unable to lodge the complaint against Mr Hosany due to him becoming ill.

Mr Hosany was expected to be charged with outraging religious and public morality.

If convicted he could face up to a year in jail under Mauritius law.

Mr Hosany appeared in court yesterday on a separate charge of assaulting a photographer from the Irish Daily Mail, which he denied.

Mrs McAreavey, 27, from Co Tyrone, was killed in her hotel bedroom while on honeymoon with her husband, John, in January last year.

Last week, two former workers at the hotel were found not guilty of her murder.