Partner of Ashling Murphy takes defamation case against the BBC

Ashling Murphy's and Ryan Casey. File Photo: Instagram/@ashling_murphy_memorial_fund

The partner of murdered schoolteacher Ashling Murphy has launched High Court proceedings against the BBC.

Papers were lodged in court by 26-year-old Ryan Casey on Thursday.

Mr Casey came to nationwide attention after delivering an emotional victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing for Ashling’s killer, Jozef Puska, at the Criminal Courts of Justice in November 2023.

His solicitors, Brian P Adams, when contacted for comment said that the person representing his case would not return from holiday until next month.

Mr Casey did not respond to a query regarding the case.

Ms Murphy, 23, was murdered on January 12, 2022 after being assailed by Puska while running along the Grand Canal near her hometown of Tullamore, a crime which shocked the public, sparking vigils in Ashling’s memory nationwide.

In his victim impact statement, Mr Casey said his relationship with Ashling had been “filled with nothing but so much love, happiness, joy, adventure, trust and most importantly respect”.

“I never knew that there was a pain as severe and long-lasting as the physical and emotional pain that comes with losing the most important person in your life. And especially in such a horrific, senseless, and just beyond-evil act by such an insignificant lowest-of-the-low waste of life,” he said, in reference to Puska.