The Murder of Ashling Murphy

Ashling Murphy was a 23-year-old primary-school teacher from County Offaly. On the afternoon of January 12, 2022, she was attacked while exercising along the Grand Canal near Tullamore. Her killing led to a major Garda investigation, a closely followed murder trial and later appeal proceedings that ended in July 2026.

Ashling Murphy

Ashling worked as a teacher and was deeply involved in traditional Irish music. Public coverage after her death often focused on the scale of the community response, but a case file should not reduce her life to the crime committed against her. The criminal record concerns one violent act; her family, students, colleagues and musical community knew a much larger life.

This page therefore uses only the level of detail needed to explain the investigation and the judicial findings. It does not reproduce unnecessary descriptions of the injuries or the attack.

The investigation

Gardaí launched a large investigation after Ashling was found beside the canal on January 12, 2022. Investigators gathered witness accounts, CCTV material, forensic evidence and evidence concerning movements before and after the killing. Jozef Puska, who was injured and later received medical treatment, became the focus of the investigation and was charged with murder.

At trial, the prosecution presented a body of forensic and circumstantial evidence and statements attributed to Puska. Puska denied murdering Ashling and gave an alternative account in court. The jury did not accept that account.

Trial and conviction

In November 2023, a jury at the Central Criminal Court unanimously found Jozef Puska guilty of Ashling Murphy's murder. Murder carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment in Ireland, and the court imposed that sentence later that month.

The conviction means it is appropriate to describe Puska as the person convicted of the murder. That differs from the position of relatives later prosecuted for conduct after the crime: their cases concerned withholding information or impeding the investigation, not participation in Ashling's murder itself.

Related prosecutions after the murder

In 2025, several members of Puska's family were convicted of offenses connected with actions after the killing, including withholding information and destroying evidence. Those proceedings did not establish that they took part in the murder, and this page does not merge their convictions with Puska's murder conviction.

Keeping the proceedings separate matters editorially. A person can commit an offense that obstructs or impedes an investigation without being legally responsible for the underlying homicide.

Conviction appeal abandoned

Puska sought to appeal his murder conviction. The appeal was delayed in 2026 after changes in his legal representation and was later relisted. On July 10, 2026, his lawyers informed Ireland's Court of Appeal that he had abandoned the conviction appeal. The court formally recorded that abandonment.

That step left only a limited argument concerning the date from which his mandatory life sentence should be treated as running. It did not reopen the question of guilt.

Final appeal issue in July 2026

On July 16, 2026, the Court of Appeal rejected Puska's attempt to have the life sentence backdated by an additional 22 months. RTÉ reported that the decision brought the legal proceedings relating to his conviction to an end. Puska continues to serve the mandatory life sentence.

The appeal court's decision should not be described as imposing a new murder conviction; the conviction had already been entered by the jury in 2023. The July 2026 ruling concerned only the sentence-start issue after the conviction appeal had been abandoned.

Timeline

1. January 12, 2022
   Ashling Murphy is murdered

   Ashling is killed while exercising beside the Grand Canal near Tullamore, County Offaly.

2. January 2022
   Garda investigation

   Investigators collect witness, CCTV, forensic and movement evidence and charge Jozef Puska with murder.

3. November 9, 2023
   Guilty verdict

   A Central Criminal Court jury unanimously convicts Puska of murder.

4. November 2023
   Mandatory life sentence

   The court imposes the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.

5. July 10, 2026
   Conviction appeal abandoned

   Puska formally abandons his attempt to overturn the murder conviction.

6. July 16, 2026
   Remaining sentence appeal rejected

   The Court of Appeal refuses further backdating of the life sentence, bringing the proceedings relating to the conviction to an end.

Current status

The case is solved and adjudicated. Jozef Puska stands convicted of Ashling Murphy's murder and is serving a mandatory life sentence. His conviction appeal was abandoned on July 10, 2026, and the Court of Appeal rejected the remaining sentencing issue on July 16, 2026.