An “evil” man has been found guilty of murdering a schoolteacher while she was going for a run along a canal.

Jozef Puska, 33, was convicted on Thursday at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin of killing Ashling Murphy in Tullamore, Co Offaly, Ireland, in January last year.

Puska, of Lynally Grove in Mucklagh, Tullamore, had pleaded not guilty to the 23 year-old’s murder but a jury of nine men and three women reached their unanimous verdict after beginning deliberations on Wednesday.

Judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt told the jury “we have evil in this room” after Jozef Puska was found guilty of murdering Ashling Murphy.

Justice Hunt said: “There will be a day of reckoning for Puska.”

The jury were applauded as they exited the chamber as Ms Murphy’s mother held up a framed photograph of her daughter.

Justice Hunt thanked the jury for their service and exempted them from further duty for 20 years, adding that the prompt verdict reflected that it was a straightforward case and was satisfied the verdict was correct.

The judge said the case dealing with Ms Murphy’s killing was particularly difficult given “the kind of person that she obviously was”.

He said primary school teachers loved children and her GAA top showed her love of sport.

He told the court that to lose a child was unnatural. Speaking of the Murphy family, he said: “Their position is unenviable. How their child was taken away, to consider what happened here is enough to make you physically ill.”

More follows on this breaking news story….