Boyfriend of Ashling Murphy settles defamation case against BBC

THE boyfriend of murder victim Ashling Murphy has settled a defamation case against the BBC.

Ryan Casey issued the High Court proceedings after the BBC's programme 'The View' criticised a victim impact statement by Mr Casey at the murder trial of Jozef Puska.

Both sides reached an agreement. The BBC stated that while it stands behind its journalism it is "happy to clarify that it does not consider Ryan Casey to be a criminal or a racist, or someone guilty of or attempting to incite hatred, or someone seeking to pose as a hero of the far right through his Victim Impact Statement".

In a statement to the Irish Mirror Mr Ryan called it the "end of a long and difficult chapter".

He said he was glad to be at the end of the long process, which he felt left him silenced and censored.  

Jozef Puska was convicted of murdering Ashling Murphy, 23, while she was exercising on a canal path in Tullamore, Co Offaly, on the afternoon of January 12 2022.

Puska (33), had pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Murphy at Cappincur, Tullamore. He stabbed Ms Murphy eleven times in the neck and slashed her once with the edge of a blade before leaving her to die in the thick thorns and brambles by the side of the canal towpath between Tullamore town and Digby Bridge, where a monument in her memory is now placed.

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