The father of Nicola Furlong has said the pain of losing his daughter has not got any easier with the passing of time.

Nicola was strangled to death in a Japanese hotel room while on Erasmus 11 years ago today.

The 21-year-old DCU student, who was from Wexford, was in Tokyo studying Japanese and Economics.

US man Richard Hinds has served 10 years in prison for her murder.

Nicola's father, Andrew, told Lunchtime Live it only feels like it happened yesterday.

"I still remember - this day 11 years ago - a knock coming to my door at 7:50," he said.

"I got up and looked and saw two people with high-vis jackets, and I was wondering.

"I got the keys to the front door and I was coming back, through Nicola's window, I seen the Garda car.

"That was the start of a nightmare that hasn't ended yet, and I'm not expecting it to".

'No day's been any better'

Mr Furlong said he thought the Gardaí were there over a parking ticket.

"I remember letting them in - and I knew one of them - and I was saying to myself as we were walking to the kitchen, 'I haven't forgot to pay a parking fine?'" he said.

"They said: 'Are you the father of Nicola Rose Furlong?' and I said, 'Don't tell me she's been in an accident?'

"They said 'No unfortunately she's dead' - so that was the start of it.

"No day's been any better than the last; I died with her that day - or half of me did".

Nicola Furlong with her father Andrew. Image: Furlong family.

Mr Furlong said his daughter did not enjoy her time abroad.

"She had done Japanese at Loretto in Wexford and she done very well in it," he said.

"She was to pick a language... like Spanish and Italian and all that, and I just had to say to her, 'Why don't you go to Japan with Japanese? You enjoyed it so much'.

"You might never use it, but sure it'd be no different than getting Spanish or Italian... bit if it did work out, that she went to work in Japan, there's high-paid jobs in the industry now.

"She took everything I said, but she hated every minute of it - she hated being away".

Andrew Furlong (left), his wife Angela (right) and his daughter Andrea (centre) leave Tokyo's District Court in March 2013. Image: REUTERS / Alamy

Mr Furlong said Nicola loved her life and her friends.

"She was a fun-loving child, but everybody says that about their kids," he said.

"She loved life, as I said she hated being away from her family, she hated being away from me.

"All her friends know what she was like and how popular she was.

"There's people that didn't know me, all over the country and all over the world, that were touched by this," he added.

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Main image: Nicola Furlong with her father Andrew. Image: Furlong family.