Jozef Puska moved to Midlands Prison after losing legal battle to be housed with sex offenders 

Jozef Puska has been given the mandatory life sentence in prison for the murder of schoolteacher Ashling Murphy in Co Offaly last year.

The man who murdered schoolteacher Ashling Murphy has been moved to the Midlands Prison and is banned from seeing any visitors.

Jozef Puska will be kept under special observation for several months until the authorities are satisfied he will not try to take his own life or be a danger to other inmates.

The 33-year-old Slovakian will now serve his life sentence just half an hour away from where he murdered the 23-year-old in Tullamore in January of last year.

He was moved to the Midlands Prison, Portlaoise on Tuesday after being detained in Cloverhill Remand Prison since his conviction last Friday.

However, he lost his legal battle to be kept with sex offenders in prison.

Murder victim Ashling Murphy.

Puska had been using his conviction as a minor for having sex with an underage girl in his native country to be housed with them. He received the Probation Act at the time.

It is understood he is being kept in the C wing at the Midlands prison which includes a number of violent criminals serving life sentences.

A prison source said: "Puska will be kept under special observation for a few months. This means he is on his own in protective custody and will receive medical and psychiatric treatment.

"He will not be allowed any visitors until we see that he is mentally stable and not a danger either to himself or other people.

"This is nothing unusual and is normal procedure when you are dealing with a violent criminal.

 It will be some time before he is allowed to mix with other prisoners in the Midlands.

"We also have to think about his own safety because some people will not be too happy about the horrendous crime he committed."

An Irish Prison Service spokesman said: "We do not comment on individual prisoners."