Family of Carl Davies hope they will get justice as the man accused of murdering him goes on trial today – almost six years after he was killed.

The a former Isle of Sheppey Academy teacher was found dead on the south Indian Ocean island of Reunion in November 2011.

It was initially thought the 33-year-old had fallen into a ravine but, a week later, it was revealed he had been murdered.

Since then his family, who were from Harrietsham but now live in Scotland, have been left with unanswered questions but have never given up hope of securing justice for Carl.

His parents, Andy and Maria, sister Kerrie Stewart and her husband, Joe, will be in court as the man charged with his murder stands trial.

Speaking before their journey to Reunion Island on Sunday, Mrs Stewart said she felt awful.

She said: “I’m not sleeping very well. I feel very anxious and nervous. We all do.

"For the past five years, we’ve been building up to this and it’s quite surreal now we’ve actually got somewhere and are going to the island.

“We don’t really know what to expect. We know the trial will last for three days and it will be held on Saint Denis and that there’s one to stand trial.

“There were four to begin with but three were released due to lack of evidence.

“It’s just going to be horrendous but we need to make sure Carl’s voice is heard on that island.

“I just hope and pray we get the outcome he deserves.”

On whether she thinks going to the trial will help the family move on, Mrs Stewart said: "Sometimes I think it is going to help us.

“None of us want to go. It’s going to be a horrible ordeal for us all.

“We’re going to see and hear things that we don’t want to hear but we need closure and to get on with our lives – that’s what Carl would have wanted.

"None of us want to go... it's going to be a horrible ordeal for us all" - Kerrie Stewart

“If we don’t go out there, we’ll regret it for the rest of our lives.”

Mrs Stewart, who now lives in Scotland, said she felt Carl had already been failed by the island’s justice system and that “none of it had made sense”.

“What has helped us, though, is that the whole of Sittingbourne, Sheppey and Kent have been amazing,” she said.

“Everyone has got behind us.

“In the five years that we have battled this, we have never once felt like we were on our own.

“I think it’s because Carl’s death was so shocking and he was such a big character.

“Everyone loved him and misses him so much.”