Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Meghan back on the red carpet
FORMER Suits actress Meghan Markle said she is “thrilled” to have returned to the entertainment industry with her and husband Prince Harry’s production company.
The Duchess of Sussex appeared on the red carpet of the Variety Power of Women event in Los Angeles on Thursday night to celebrate the accomplishments of women in entertainment.
Wearing a camel, off-the-shoulder dress paired with a slicked bun,
Meghan said she is “really proud” of the projects Archewell Productions has created so far, including docu-series Harry & Meghan.
Meghan told Variety on the red carpet that she wants to create “things that make people feel” as well as create “a sense of community”. “We have so many exciting things on the slate,” she said. “I can’t wait until we can announce them, but I’m just really proud of what we’re creating. My husband is loving it too, which is really fun.”
THE partner of Ashling Murphy has spoken of his heartache at losing his soulmate in a statement delivered to a Dublin court before her murderer was jailed.
Ms Murphy’s mother and her sister described 23-year-old Ms Murphy as a gifted musician, a passionate teacher, a selfless person and an integral part of their family.
“This country has lost somebody who made a difference,” Ashling’s older sister Amy Murphy said.
They gave their victim impact statements at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin before Jozef Puska was handed a life sentence for Ms Murphy’s murder in Tullamore, Co Offaly, last January.
There is a mandatory life sentence for murder, where an application for parole can be made after 12 years.
Puska, 33, of Lynally Grove in Mucklagh, Tullamore, had pleaded not guilty. But he was convicted of killing Ms Murphy while she was exercising on a canal path in Tullamore on the afternoon of January 12 last year.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt said there was only one sentence available, and it was “richly deserved”.
He said Puska’s evidence had been “indescribable” and the “one thing we don’t know about this case is the why”.
During parts of their statements given in court yesterday, her partner Ryan Casey and Amy Murphy turned to Puska to address him directly.
Mr Casey told Puska “Because of you, I’ve lost my Ashling. Because of you, I will never get to marry my soulmate. Because of you, I will never see her smile again... I will have to somehow carry on without her.”
He accused Puska of smirking, smiling and showing “zero remorse during this trial”.
Mr Casey said he and Ms Murphy had plans to travel to Dubai together, to build a house in Co Galway, to start a family, and to get married.
He said they had talked about how many kids they would have, and imagined they would be “little hurlers and camogie players and even better - musicians”.
Mr Casey said his and Ms Murphy’s relationship was “full with love, trust respect” and “was quite simply heaven on earth”.
He said it did not make sense to him that someone could “completely and permanently destroy someone... who is the complete opposite”, describing Ashling Murphy as “a light with dreams, compassion, respect, a person who contributes to society in the best way possible”.
Ms Murphy’s sister Amy told Puska that he had told a “ludicrous set of lies”, and that by pleading not guilty her family had to sit through the evidence of the trial, which she said had “traumatised” the family.
She said their nightmare was “replayed” through CCTV, witnesses’ testimonies, descriptions of her wounds, and said that Ashling’s blood-soaked GAA jacket, shown in court during the trial, will “haunt me for the rest of my days”.
“We were totally disturbed by Puska’s demeanour,” she said, adding that he appeared to smirk and smile during evidence.
She said that Puska was a “predator who was not known to her”, and told the court that Ashling Murphy “did not teach his children and did not report them to Tusla for neglect”.