Man wrongly held on suspicion of murdering Ashling Murphy, 23, says he thought arrest was a PRANK

A man who was wrongly suspected of murdering Ashling Murphy said he thought someone was playing a prank on him when police called to his house in the hours after the young woman’s murder.

Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, Radu Floricel, 40, a native of Romania, said he realised only at the garda station that he was being questioned about her killing and ‘couldn’t believe it’.

Mr Floricel was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the killing of Ashling Murphy, 23, a local primary school teacher, who was fatally assaulted while she went for a run along the canal bank in Tullamore.

However, Mr Floricel was released from custody on Thursday night and eliminated from Garda enquiries.

Yesterday, Mr Floricel, a father of one, described the nightmarish moment he was arrested, the repeated questions by gardaí, and how his resemblance to a mystery cyclist – now another suspect in the case – wrongly landed him at the centre of the investigation.

But gardaí eventually confirmed that he had been shopping in Centra at the time that Ms Murphy was murdered.

Mr Floricel said he has already told his solicitor that he wants to sue An Garda Síochána and said he wanted to reveal his story to the Irish Daily Mail so that the public understands that he is an innocent man after he received vile threats online.

Gardaí released a statement on Thursday confirming his innocence and booked him into a hotel for the night to protect him from people who wrongly believed he killed Ms Murphy.

Mr Floricel, originally from Transylvania in central Romania, recalled that he had visited the canal hours before the murder and had come back to his home in Tullamore, which he shares with his mother, Carmen, and sister, Neira.

Shortly before 4pm that day, he wanted to go shopping and the husband of his neighbour agreed to drive him to Centra.

While he was in Centra, an unknown assailant murdered Ms Murphy along the canal.

Gardaí rushed to get footage of the area and found video from an apartment block which showed a man cycling into the town centre from the canal just after the murder. 

It is understood that Radu was wrongly identified as the cyclist and gardaí called to his house.

‘I came to the door and two gardaí started asking me all these questions. Where was I today? Was I along the canal? I couldn’t remember exactly at what time I was on the canal. They arrested me then.

‘Really, I thought it was a joke. I looked around, like, thinking this is a prank, someone is doing this for a joke, but then I could see it was real,’ he said.

He claimed a search of the house ‘had messed up the home’.

His sister Neira protested her brother’s innocence and tried to plead with gardaí to stop the search. She too was arrested.

As Mr Floricel was being driven away, he recalled how he walked through fields every day to feed some horses.

‘I thought: “Maybe that is it – I make videos of the horses, because I love horses and I thought maybe they think I killed one of the horses and I will explain myself.”’

At Tullamore Garda Station, he was asked if he killed a young woman on the canal that day.

‘I just couldn’t believe this was happening. I said: “Of course I didn’t.” They kept asking me at what time I was on the canal and I was trying to think when exactly, but I wasn’t sure and didn’t want to give the wrong answer.’

They took all his clothes for forensic examination, and took more of his clothes from his home. They also searched for a bicycle but couldn’t find one.

‘None of the clothes I am wearing now are my own. They were all given to me by the gardaí, I haven’t even been able to change yet,’ Mr Floricel said.

He described the gardaí as ‘professional’ in their questioning, but said they ‘seemed convinced that I was the murderer and that is how they were questioning me’.

He explained to them that a neighbour’s husband had taken him to Centra at the time of the murder and detectives called to her house, in the same housing estate, to question her and her husband. The couple confirmed that Mr Floricel was in Centra at the time of the murder.

Still, the questioning continued.

‘There was so many sessions – two hours, three hours, the same questions over and over and over. Where was I that day? At what time was I along the canal? Did I know this woman?’

Detectives then played him the video footage of the cyclist.

‘I could see that the guy in the video was bigger than me. He was darker than me, but I could also see that from some certain angle, he kind of looked like me. His hair was different also. I explained all that to them and said that it’s not me but that someone is clearly mistaken because of some similarity.’

He also explained that he has a titanium plate in his leg and another plate in his arm that prevent him from cycling and, also, that he doesn’t own a bike.

By then, gardaí had left the home of his neighbour, so she called the station to confirm that he was unable to cycle and didn’t own a bike.

After hours of questioning on Wednesday, he was placed in a holding cell in the garda station.

‘I could only get ten minutes’ sleep at a time because the gardaí kept coming to my cell to check on me,’ he said.

The questioning continued on Thursday.

‘There was a huge number of gardaí in the station. They had come down from Dublin and everything. I was really in shock. I couldn’t believe that I was at the centre of this.’

Eventually, he was taken back to his holding cell. He claimed that by now, gardaí had confirmed that he was in Centra at the time of the murder and had re-examined the video footage.

‘Two gardaí came to my cell. I could hear one of them say: “You tell him.” They told me that I was going to be released. Then I came out and some of the gardaí apologised to me and thanked me for helping the investigation. Some of them even hugged me. There was so many gardaí looking at me all the way down the corridor.’

He and his family have high praise for his legal aid solicitor, Donal Farrelly, who ensured that the gardaí issued a press release stating that the man in custody was no longer a suspect.

But by then, photos of Mr Floricel were circulating on social media, with numerous people threatening to kill him. They wrote threatening comments on his Facebook page and said they hoped he would be killed in prison.

‘They even sent threatening messages to my solicitor. It was crazy, so the gardaí said that I shouldn’t go home, that they would book me a hotel for the night until everything calmed down.’

He spent Thursday night in a Tullamore hotel. On Friday, his solicitor dropped him to the family home after a consultation.

He was greeted at the door by his mother, Carmen, who embraced his warmly, and by his neighbour, the woman who helped to prove his innocence. 

 

Murdered teacher Ashling Murphy’s family shed tears at a candlelit vigil near the scene of her killing – as ANOTHER suspect ‘who turned up at hospital with defensive wounds’ is identified

The family of Ashling Murphy comforted each other last night as they attended a candlelit vigil near the scene where the 23-year-old was murdered.

Ms Murphy was killed on Wednesday afternoon while jogging along the banks of the Grand Canal in Tullamore, County Offaly. 

Her parents, Raymond and Kathleen, her brother Cathal and sister Amy, wept as they linked arms and retraced the primary school teacher’s final steps.

They were accompanied by garda liaison officers on the opposite side of the canal to the crime scene.

It comes as a new suspect in the murder case is said to have turned up at a hospital with facial wounds which staff believe were ‘inflicted by someone defending themselves’.

Staff at the unnamed hospital in Dublin told police the man arrived at the casualty department on Thursday night with severe facial injuries, the Times reported.

He is alleged to have travelled there from Tullamore. Officers remain at the hospital.

Meanwhile, a 40-year-old man arrested in connection with her murder but released without charge last night was moved to a secret location after he and his family received death threats online. 

The man’s solicitor Donal Farrelly said he had been moved after details which clearly identified him as the suspect under arrest, including his photo, were posted online.

Mr Farrelly said his client had been subjected to ‘extreme vilification’ on several social media platforms following his arrest and that he was going through ‘an extremely difficult time’.   

The man was questioned over two days before his release and last night a garda spokesperson said he had been ‘eliminated from Garda inquiries’ and was ‘longer a suspect.’ 

But Mr Farrelly said it was ‘still difficult to get that message out’ to some social media users and that his client would stay in the hotel until he felt safe enough to leave.

Earlier, a post-mortem examination of a primary school teacher in Ireland has revealed she was strangled to death. Officers believe she put up a brave fight, but added that Ashling may have been stalked prior to her death. 

Meanwhile thousands of people, including Taoiseach Micheal Martin, attended a vigil for Murphy at Leinster House in Dublin on Friday afternoon. A group of musicians played in honour of Murphy while others lit candles and held pictures of the 23-year-old. 

Memorials were also planned in Tullamore, Limerick, Derry, Dungannon and Belfast on Friday afternoon, with dozens more vigils scheduled across Ireland over the weekend. 

Gardai have again appealed for witnesses and asked anyone with information about a ‘Falcon Storm mountain bike’ with ‘straight handlebars and distinctive yellow/green front forks’ to come forward. 

Officers earlier said they believe the killer acted alone and attacked the talented musician while she was jogging along the canal bank at Cappincur, known as Fiona’s Way, at around 4pm on Wednesday.

He fled after two women came across the attack and gardaí were quickly on the scene after a call from a member of the public.

Ms Murphy was still alive and they tried to give medical assistance but she could not be saved.   

Police investigating the murder have said ‘no stone will be left unturned’ in bringing her killer to justice. 

Stormont deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill said there had been an ‘outpouring of grief’ following the murder of Ashling Murphy. 

Speaking to the media at a vigil in Belfast, Ms O’Neill said: ‘At the start of this week I launched a strategy. I called for views in terms of developing a strategy to tackle male violence against women.

‘Little did I know on Monday that I’d be standing here only a short number of days later, joining with other women who have gathered here outside Belfast City Hall to show solidarity to the family and all that loved Ashling Murphy.

‘A horrific murder of another woman in our society at the hands of a male.

‘We are all here because we want to show that support, that love.

‘There has been an outpouring of grief all week for Ashling Murphy and for all that loved her.’ 

According to the Independent.ie, Ms Murphy came from a highly respected family in the local area that is well known in the music scene, and live outside Tullamore. 

‘This area here, where the crime occurred, is popular among Tullamore residents and is widely used for recreational purposes,’ Superintendent Eamonn Curley told reporters on Thursday. 

‘The victim of this crime is Ashling Murphy. 

‘Ashling was a schoolteacher in Durrow National School. Our prayers are with Ashling’s family at this time and indeed the wider community, her teaching colleagues and the children she taught who are without their teacher today.

‘Immediately following the discovery of this crime, a full-scale murder investigation was launched.’ 

Declan Harvey, Fianna Fail councillor for the area, said: ‘I want to extend my sympathies to Ashling’s father, mother and all her extended family. 

‘I am devastated. I couldn’t sleep last night thinking of it all because it is a place I go all the time. She went there jogging, she does it regularly. I am lost for words.’

Mr Harvey said it is a route that he and his family often walk.   

‘Tullamore is probably the safest place in the world, and after yesterday people will be nervous to go down to the canal,’ he added. 

‘It’s a lovely area and helps clear your head. It’s a very popular route that everyone takes. People walk their dogs, people with their kids and prams.’

Police officers visited the school where Ms Murphy worked on Thursday morning to speak with staff and offer support.

At around 9.30am, a police water unit arrived at the scene to begin a search of the waterway next to where the attack occurred.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee tweeted: ‘My thoughts tonight are with the family of the young woman killed in a truly shocking crime, with her friends and with her community.

‘Please, anyone with information, come forward to An Garda Siochana. The Gardai will investigate this awful crime and ensure justice is done.’

Further Education Minister Simon Harris said: ‘A young woman, simply out for a run in the afternoon and brutally killed.

‘Thinking of her and her family and community tonight and their unimaginable pain. We must all act to end violence against women. We all have a responsibility.’   

The canal path that Ms Murhpy was attacked on is named after Fiona Pender, a missing woman who was last seen at 6am on August 23, 1996, at her Tullamore flat.

Her disappearance has been the subject of an on-going investigation ever since.  

Gardai are appealing for information, and asking anyone who was in the Cappincur/Canal walk area of Tullamore before 4pm on Wednesday to make contact with them.

Minister of State Josepha Madigan for Special Education and Inclusion said: ‘A young woman can’t even go for a run along a canal pathway – at four o’clock, in the middle of the day – only to be attacked and murdered.

‘Sincere sympathies to her family. We need to urgently address why we live in a country where this can happen.’