Documentary unveils how Puska’s lies unravelled

A DOCUMENTARY on the Ashling Murphy murder case will lay out how killer Josef Puska incriminated himself before confessing and then tripped himself up on lies, as told by those who attended his trial.

Puska was found guilty of the Tullamore teacher’s murder on November 9 and was sentenced to life imprisonment a week later – after having dragged Ms

Murphy’s loved ones through four weeks of shattering evidence by U-turning on his earlier confession.

Evil In The Room, to be broadcast tomorrow night on Virgin Media, details the early exchanges between gardaí and Puska in St James’s Hospital,

Dublin, where the killer had presented with stab wounds the day after the murder, claiming that he had been attacked in Blanchardstown.

Irish Mail on Sunday reporter Nicola Byrne, who was present in court throughout the trial, explains that the local gardaí who first interviewed the killer thought there were ‘a lot of holes’ in his story.

Gardaí from Tullamore were summoned and arrived to grill Puska further, after once being turned away because he had just come out of the operating theatre.

Ms Byrne says: ‘They asked him: “Do you have a bike?” and he said: “Yes I do have a bike but I haven’t had it in about two weeks.”

Asked what his bike – which he claimed had been stolen – looked like, the killer described the exact one found at the murder scene.

Shortly after, Puska who was awake and alert, asked if he was a suspect in the murder investigation. He was told that he was a person of interest. Puska then confessed to the murder, expressing regret. However, during the trial Puska fabricated an entirely different story.

Evil in the Room, 10.20pm tomorrow, Virgin Media One