POLICE IN MAURITIUS have established that a swipe card was used to gain access to the bedroom occupied by Michaela Harte and her new husband on the afternoon of her death.

A reporter from News Now Mauritius told Newstalk that the hotel’s computerised key card system recorded that Michaela’s card was used to enter Room 1025 at 3.44pm yesterday afternoon. However, the system recorded that another swipe card had been used to access the room just two minutes earlier, at 3.42pm.

Another local news source, Le Defi, reported that Michaela had returned to her bedroom from the swimming pool to get some biscuits which she wanted to eat with a cup of tea. It says that when she was found by her husband and a porter, she was lying on her back and wearing her swimsuit.

Le Defi also reports today that items of value had been left untouched in the bedroom, including a BlackBerry phone.  Mauritian police officer Yusef Soopun confirmed to TheJournal.ie earlier this morning that nothing had been stolen from the room. He said:

Everything is still there – money, jewels, laptop. Nothing is missing. The murderer may have been surprised before he could take anything – we just don’t know yet.

In a press statement, the hotel Legends in Grand Graube, Mauritius, where Michaela and her husband John McAreavy were staying, said they were shocked and saddened by “the death of a client”. They added that the couple had checked into the hotel on January 8 and were due to stay there until January 16.