Killer evidence: how Ireland's forensic scientists play a key role in bring murderers to justice

DNA evidence was crucial in the convictions of the killers of Ashling Murphy, Nora Sheehan, and Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee in Sligo

Ashling Murphy was murdered by Jozef Puska in January 2002.

Securing the oldest murder prosecution in Irish history, identifying a man on a crime spree across Europe, and bringing Ashling Murphy’s killer to justice — they were all in a year’s work for the State’s forensic scientists.

The 2023 annual report of Forensic Science Ireland reveals the depth and range of criminal prosecutions and missing persons’ cases the agency worked on during the year.