Jozef Puska has been handed a mandatory life sentence for the murder of Ashling Murphy.

In sentencing, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said it’s about time judges were given the final say in what minimum terms should be.

Earlier the court heard that Ashling represented ‘everything good about Irish society’.

In his victim impact statement to the court this morning, Ashling Murphy’s boyfriend Ryan Casey said they had planned to move to Dubai and then come back to Ireland to build their home together.

He said that Ireland was going down a ‘dangerous path’ and warned ‘this won’t be the last time’ this happens to a family.

A statement read on behalf of her mother Kathleen said Ashling’s untouched dinner was found by her uncle in the oven on the night she died.

Meanwhile, her sister Amy told the court they still set the table for five people in the Murphy household.

She told Jozef Puska that he will not live rent-free in her mind after today.

Last week, 33-year-old Jozef Puska of Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly was convicted of Ashling's murder.

Handing down the mandatory life sentence today, trial judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt said if he had the power to impose a minimum term, it would be a very long one.