The Ashling Murphy murder trial has heard Jozef Puska told Gardaí he didn't know the schoolteacher and didn't know anything about her murder.

The 33-year-old of Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co. Offaly, denies murdering Ashling Murphy on January 12th, 2022.

This morning, the jury of nine men and three women heard from Detective Garda Colin O’Leary, who gave evidence of Jozef Puska’s interviews with Gardai while in custody on the 18th of January 2022.

In the first interview, the court heard Jozef Puska told Gardaí he moved to Ireland in 2013, having previously lived in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

He told Gardaí he initially lived in Dublin 1, before moving to Tullamore in 2015.

He said he had stopped working at around 2017, after claiming he had a slipped disc.

In the second interview, he was shown a picture of Ashling Murphy and he replied: ‘I didn’t see her, I didn’t know her.’

When asked if he knew Ashling Murphy – he said: ‘I don’t know.’

The court heard Mr Puska was also told by Gardaí that he had a chance to tell them anything, to which he replied: ‘I don’t know anything’.

Mr Puska denies the murder and the jury will hear more evidence from his five interviews this afternoon.