Ashling Murphy's partner Ryan Casey settles action against BBC
Ashling Murphy
, against the
BBC
following comments made about his victim impact statement during a live broadcast has been settled, the High Court has heard.
In a statement released after the settlement on Thursday, Mr Casey said the resolution of the case marked 'the end of a long and difficult chapter of frustration and censorship'.
The BBC said it was 'happy to clarify' it does not consider Mr Casey to be 'someone guilty of, or attempting to, incite hatred'.
Mr Casey had taken the case in relation to a BBC Northern Ireland broadcast of The View programme in November 2023. It related to Mr Casey's victim impact statement at the sentencing of Ms Murphy's murderer Josef Puska.
READ MORE
Ashling Murphy was killed at Cappincur, Tullamore, Co Offaly in January, 2022.
[
Monstrous crime that shocked the nation
Opens in new window
]
Mr Casey was represented in his case by Ronan Lupton SC, instructed by Tullamore firm, Brian P Adams & Company.
At the High Court on Thursday, Alan Keating SC, for the BBC, read out a statement on the settlement of the case on behalf of the broadcaster.
'In the BBC's November 30th, 2023 episode of its live political programme The View, Mr Ryan Casey's victim impact statement at the sentencing of his late partner's murderer was discussed,' it said.
'The BBC stands by the journalism involved in this episode which debated serious issues of public interest.
[
Who was Ashling Murphy? The 'shining light' teacher
Opens in new window
]
'The BBC is happy to clarify that it does not consider Ryan Casey to be a criminal or a racist or someone guilty of or attempting to incite hatred, or someone seeking to pose as a hero of the far right through his victim impact statement.
'The BBC acknowledges Mr Casey's personal tragedy. This statement clarifies any unintentional inferences that could have been drawn from the broadcast and has enabled the BBC and Ryan Casey to resolve this matter amicably.'
It is understood the settlement is a six-figure sum.
Mr Justice Alexander Owens then struck out the case and made no order.
Jozef Puska (35) killed Ms Murphy (23) on January 12th, 2022, by repeatedly stabbing her in the neck after attacking her while she exercised along the canal towpath outside Tullamore. He was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence.
Originally from Slovakia, he had lived in Offaly since 2015 with his wife and five children.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
New virtual prison tour launched alongside major prison service recruitment campaign
A new virtual prison tour has been launched to give the public insight into life behind bars. The web-based tool allows visitors, service users, and the wider public to explore an Irish prison, guided by a digitally created prison officer. The project aims to increase public understanding of how prisons function day to day. Justice minister Jim O'Callaghan has also launched a new recruitment campaign, targeting 300 new staff for the Irish Prison Service. Mr O'Callaghan said he hopes the virtual tour will encourage people to consider a career in the prison service. The virtual experience includes overlaid audiovisual information about what to expect when visiting a prison and provides 360° tours of one Irish Prison Service location. Mr O'Callaghan said: 'This innovative project will greatly enhance the public's understanding of how our prisons operate. It can also serve as a positive recruitment tool to provide those contemplating a career as a prison officer with the ability to tour their future workplace.' The primary objective of the initiative is to deliver an informative and educational virtual tour that broadens public understanding while strictly protecting security-sensitive aspects of prison operations. The tool was created to ensure no confidential or operational security information is compromised, and it is also designed to ease visitor apprehension by providing a realistic yet controlled preview of the prison environment. Caron McCaffrey, Director General of the Irish Prison Service said: "The incredible work of Prison Officers is complex and often hidden from public view, but our annual competition and the launch of the virtual tour allow us the opportunity to let the public see the teamwork, integrity, potential, safety and support that Prison Officers not only offer to prisoners, but to their colleagues as well. "I wish to commend all those involved in delivering the Virtual Tour, an innovative and informative project that highlights the professionalism and dedication of our staff across the prison estate." The 2024 recruitment campaign attracted more than 1,500 applicants, resulting in 271 prison officers joining the Irish Prison Service. The 2025 Recruit Prison Officer Competition will remain open until early August.
Irish Times
6 hours ago
- Irish Times
Teacher at Dublin school and ex-partner's relationship deteriorated during alleged romantic involvement with student
Evidence was heard of the severe deterioration in relations between a teacher, who was allegedly romantically involved with a student , and her ex-partner, during the second day of a fitness-to-teach inquiry. The inquiry concerns allegations that the woman, who taught English in Dublin school, was in a romantic relationship with a Leaving Certificate student during the summer of 2018. It is further alleged that she and the student exchanged messages on the social media app Snapchat on a daily basis from June 14th to June 20th, 2018, while he was sitting his Leaving Certificate examinations and subsequently until August 14th, while he awaited his results. The teacher denies these allegations. The director of the Teaching Council also alleges that the teacher had a sexual encounter with the student on a date unknown in early August 2018, to which the teacher has admitted. READ MORE Under cross-examination by Eoghan Cole SC, for the teacher, her ex-partner alleged that the teacher cut the wires to security cameras at their home so that he could not see the student coming to the property, which he said neighbours told him they saw. He also said that the teacher damaged the handles of doors in their home, which he reported to the gardaí, and that she set up a fake account on a dating app from which she messaged him. He also said that he considered the Snapchat messages from the teacher to the student as amounting to grooming. Mr Cole provided evidence of email exchanges between the witness and the teacher from May 2019, involving the payment of bills. The witness made threats that he would put pressure on the Teaching Council and the Board of Management of the school and indicated he would organise a rally outside the school. 'You are evil and greedy. What goes around comes around,' he wrote in one email. The witness responded: 'You must remember things were difficult in the house, I was trying to buy her share in the house, there was bitterness and acrimony.' Mr Cole also put it to him that he had not been consistent regarding the dates he attributed to certain incidents in written statements he provided to the Teaching Council. The incidents included an alleged conversation between the teacher and her ex-partner in which he alleged that she admitted on the day she returned from a post Leaving Cert results trip organised by the school that she spent that night with the student. Mr Cole, who repeated the denial of the teacher that this conversation took place, further put it to the witness that his lack of consistency regarding the dates when these events took place was a basis for contending that they did not take place. The witness replied that the events did take place but that he could not be certain regarding some dates. Further evidence of the emotional toll of the inquiry became apparent when another former colleague of the teacher at the west Dublin school, and who was 'quite' close to her, gave evidence. The witness, along with another colleague who gave evidence on Wednesday, were told in October 2018 by the teacher's then partner that the teacher was or had been having an affair with the student. The witness recalled how she and her colleague then phoned the teacher from a car outside the school building. 'We were concerned for [the teacher's first name]. She answered but she was quite incoherent,' the witness said, and who after trying to compose herself before the panel, was allowed to leave the room for a time, before resuming her evidence. The chairman, Fergal McCarthy, reassured the witness: 'We understand how emotionally charged this is.' The witness, whose relationship with the teacher was now 'over', further outlined how she and her colleague, after finding out that the teacher had not informed the principal of the sexual encounter with the student in early August 2018, went to the principal with this information. 'We couldn't sit on the information, we thought we'd get into trouble. We were very naive as regards whether he was still a student in the school,' she said. The inquiry continues on Friday.
Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
US government asks court to detain George Gibney until Irish extradition case is concluded
Former Irish national team swimming coach, George Gibney , was facing such serious criminal charges in Ireland he had an incentive to flee if granted bail and should remain in custody pending his extradition, the United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida has said. In a submission to the United States district court in Orlando, Gregory W Kehoe has urged the court to deny Gibney (77) access to bail as 'he cannot meet his burden of showing that he poses no risk of flight or danger to the community'. Gibney (77) was arrested in Florida on Tuesday on foot of an extradition request from Ireland, where he is facing 78 charges or indecent assault, and one charge of attempted rape. The alleged victims were aged between eight and 14 or 15 years when they say they were abused by Gibney, who was their swimming coach in South Dublin at different times between 1971 and 1981. 'Gibney is a flight risk and a danger to the community,' said the legal submission, obtained by The Irish Times, seeking his remand in custody in Florida until the extradition request has been full disposed of. 'As an initial matter, Gibney is alleged to have sexually assaulted at least four minor girls, abusing his authority as their swimming coach, over a period of several years. The seriousness of the offences for which Gibney is charged in Ireland heightens his risk of flight.' READ MORE George Gibney: why did it take decades for the alleged sexual abuser to face new charges? Listen | 19:02 George Gibney was arrested on Tuesday in Florida after a Garda request was made to the US State Department to extradite him to Ireland to face charges relating to alleged historical child sex 77-year-old former swim coach, who avoided trial on sexual abuse charges in 1994 after successfully challenging his prosecution in the High Court, is now accused of 78 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape relating to four girls; and the alleged attempted rape of one of the four were minors, aged between eight and 15, and were coached by made complaints to the Garda between 2020 and 2022 after the BBC and Second Captains podcast Where is George Gibney? was aired in why did it take over 30 years for Gibney to face fresh charges - and what happens next?Irish Times crime and security editor Conor Lally explains the by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon It said, in the case of elderly suspects facing extradition, their advanced years carries an additional incentive to flee in a bid to avoid justice. 'This is particularly true given that Gibney is more than 70 years old and thus faces the real prospect of spending the remainder of his life in jail,' the submission said. It said the circumstances of Gibney previously avoiding going on trial in the Republic – in the 1990s – should also be taken into consideration and, it said, adds to the case for his being denied bail. 'In relocating to the United States after the first set of allegations was dismissed, Gibney was able to evade the investigation of these allegations in Ireland,' Mr Kehoe's submission states.' Accordingly, allowance of bail in any amount would not guarantee the fugitive's presence in court and would invite the possibility of embarrassing the United States in the conduct of its foreign affairs. [ Why has it taken so long to arrest George Gibney in the US to enable extradition? Opens in new window ] 'Either Gibney's danger to the community or flight risk would be enough, standing alone, for the court to deny any forthcoming application for bail.' In 1993 Gibney appeared before the courts in Dublin charged with 27 sexual crimes. However, he took a High Court challenge to his prosecution and was successful. The court effectively ruled, in 1994, the allegations were too old, and many details too vague, to warrant a prosecution. Gibney left Ireland, settling in the US in 1995, and remained there for the past 30 years, residing in Florida in recent years. However, between 2020 and 2022 the BBC published a podcast, Where is George Gibney? It prompted the four women now accusing him to come forward and give statements to the Garda. A fresh criminal investigation was launched, with the DPP directing in May, 2023, he should face 79 charges. Last October the Irish embassy in Washington formally made a request to the US authorities to arrest Gibney for the purpose of extraditing to the Republic to stand trial. He was detained by US marshals in Florida on Tuesday and remains in custody there.
