Ana Kriegel’s mother has described her daughter as a “loner” who struggled to make friends and was “endlessly bullied” in school.

She was giving evidence to the jury in the trial of two teenage boys accused of murdering the 14-year-old schoolgirl.

Ana's naked body was found in what the prosecuting barrister Brendan Grehan described as a “dirty, dark and derelict” house in Lucan four days after she went missing in May last year.

A post mortem revealed she died from severe and extensive injuries to her head and neck. Her clothes were damaged and scattered around the room.

It’s the prosecution’s case that one of the boys lured her from her home in Leixlip and that the other violently sexually assaulted and killed her.

They have both pleaded not guilty.

Her mother Geraldine said Ana was exceptionally tall for her age and was constantly teased about that and the fact she was adopted.

She said she struggled to make friends and was bullied at school as well as online.

Earlier, prosecuting barrister Brendan Grehan said he believed the forensic evidence against the boy who is also accused of sexually assaulting her is "compelling".

He told the jurors they would also hear from witnesses who will give accounts of seeing him limping with blood on his face and clothes that evening.

He said he believed the story he told his parents and gardaí that he fought off two men who tried to mug him was "made-up".

Reporting from Farnk Greaney at the Central Criminal Court