The harrowing rollcall of women murdered on our streets: Ashling Murphy, Sabina Nessa, Zara Aleena and Sarah Everard were all killed by strangers while jogging, walking the dog or making their way home from night out

• Ashling Murphy’s killer was yesterday convicted of murder in two hours by a jury

Ashling Murphy was going about her routine when she went on a run in January this year.

But within minutes of embarking along her route, she was viciously attacked by killer Jozef Puska who had been lying in wait for the perfect victim to appear in his murderous path. 

Puska became just the latest addition to a long line of men who have killed women – seemingly at random – on the streets of the British Isles.

On Thursday he was convicted of her murder after less than two hours of deliberations following a crime which sparked an outpouring of grief across Ireland and the UK.

Ms Murphy’s death follows similar attacks on women including Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa and Zara Aleena, all of whom were murdered by strangers. 

Here MailOnline takes a look back at the tragic cases of some of the women murdered while going about their daily lives since the coronavirus pandemic.

Ashling Murphy 

Primary school teacher Ashling Murphy, 24, was the fourth woman killer Jozef Puska had stalked over the course of several hours

Puska, 33, had left his home in Mucklagh, County Offaly on the morning of the attack, before following several women – including one who may have been the last person to see Ashling alive

Primary school teacher Ashling Murphy, 24, was the fourth woman killer Jozef Puska had stalked over the course of several hours on the day of death on January 12, 2022.

She had been out jogging when Puska, pictured on a bike, attacked and murdered her by stabbing her 11 times in the neck.

Puska, 33, had left his home in Mucklagh, County Offaly on the morning of the attack, before following several women – including one who may have been the last person to see Ashling alive.

The father-of-five had been active on multiple dating sites before the murder, with police sources saying he had been trying to meet with women ahead of the violent assault on Ms Murphy. 

Ashling’s mother Kathleen held a framed picture of her daughter aloft and called her killer a ‘monster’ after Puska was found guilty at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin yesterday. He is to be sentenced to life next Friday. 

Women’s Aid welcomed Puska’s conviction, saying the killing ‘sent a shockwave’ through communities in Ireland.

‘That this could happen tapped into a visceral feeling that so many girls and women are socialised to feel – that the risk of male violence is everywhere. That nowhere is safe.

‘The murder of Ashling Murphy was a shocking example of dangers posed to women and the case put a spotlight on the inherent risk of male violence in society.

‘Every woman should have the right to be safe, both in their own homes and in their communities.’

Sabina Nessa 

Sabina Nessa was walking home through a park when she was battered to death in September 2021

Selamaj, who was a stranger to the 28-year-old, prowled the streets of Brighton and London just waiting for someone to attack

In September 2021 Sabina Nessa was walking home through a park when she was battered to death by Koci Selamaj.

Selamaj, who was a stranger to the 28-year-old, prowled the streets of Brighton and London just waiting for someone to attack, a court heard.

He was jailed for life in April 2022 for the savage attack, which saw him hit his victim 34 times with a 2ft-long metal traffic triangle.

Selamaj then carried away an unconscious Ms Nessa, removed her underwear and strangled her to death with her tights. Investigators believe he took her underwear as a depraved trophy of the attack. 

Mr Justice Sweeney said it was a sexually motivated murder carried out a time of concern for the safety of young women in the ‘aftermath’ of Sarah Everard’s killing six months earlier. He set a minimum term of 36 years for the ‘savage’ sexually motivated attack. 

Sarah Everard

Sarah Everard, 33, was walking home from a friend’s house in Clapham, London , when killer police officer Wayne Couzens snatched her off the street

Couzens, who had been married to his wife for 15 years and had two children at the time of the 2021 crime, took advantage of the final lockdown to convince Ms Everard that he was carrying out a legitimate arrest

Sarah Everard, 33, was walking home from a friend’s house in Clapham, London, when killer police officer Wayne Couzens snatched her off the street, drove her to a secluded area, raped and murdered her.

READ MORE: Pictured: Ashling Murphy’s killer Jozef Puska moments before he struck – as it’s revealed he had stalked up to four women on day he murdered primary teacher and was browsing dating websites

Couzens, who had been married to his wife for 15 years and had two children at the time of the 2021 crime, took advantage of the final lockdown to convince Ms Everard that he was carrying out a legitimate arrest on suspicion of a breach in coronavirus restrictions.

Using his real police handcuffs and warrant, Couzens restrained the marketing executive and placed her in the back of his car before her death. He then attempted to hide his crime by burning her body. 

Couzens was sentenced to a whole life order in the first occurrence of the sentence being handed to someone for a single count of murder. A later appeal to reduce the sentence failed.

Questions were raised for police officers after it emerged the officer had previously been flagged to police for indecent exposure and was even nicknamed ‘The Rapist’ by colleagues due to his obsessions with brutal porn and his behaviour around women.

Zara Aleena

Aspiring lawyer Zara Aleena was walking home from a night out on June 26, 2022 when she was attacked by criminal Jordan McSweeney

McSweeney, 29, strangled and stamped Ms Aleena to death after stalking multiple women in one night

Aspiring lawyer Zara Aleena was walking home from a night out on June 26, 2022 when she was attacked by criminal Jordan McSweeney, who had recently been released from prison.

McSweeney, 29, strangled and stamped Ms Aleena to death after stalking multiple women in one night and was described by a judge as a ‘pugnacious and deeply violent man’.

The court heard how McSweeney attempted to follow several women that night before he violently attacked Ms Aleena when she was ‘just minutes’ away from her home.

He stalked her along Cranbrook Road before dragging her into a driveway where he brutally kicked, stamped on and sexually assaulted her, before leaving her for dead.

Emergency services were called at 2.44am after she was found with severe head injuries and struggling to breathe.

Ms Aleena was taken to hospital where she died later that morning.

McSweeney was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 38 years, but this was reduced on appeal to a minimum of 33 years last week. 

Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry

Sisters Nicole Smallman (right), 27, and Bibaa Henry (left), 46, had met up with friends in a park before their deaths

During his trial, the Old Bailey heard how Hussein had ‘butchered’ the sisters to death

Satan worshipper Danyal Hussein stabbed the pair 30 times

Sisters Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, had met up with friends in a park before staying behind to take selfies together when they were murdered by Satan worshipper Danyal Hussein.

Hussein, who was 19 at the time of trial, stabbed the pair 30 times in a random attack in the early hours of June 6, 2020. Their bodies were found in undergrowth at Fryent Country Park.

During his trial, the Old Bailey heard how Hussein had ‘butchered’ the sisters to death after making a blood pact with a demon to ‘sacrifice women’ in return for winning the lottery. 

Following the evil killings, two Met Police officers were also jailed after it emerged they took pictures of the sisters dead bodies and shared them on WhatsApp as they guarded the scene. 

Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis were jailed for 33 months. Hussein was sentenced to a minimum term of 35 years in jail for the killings.

Julia James 

PCSO Julia James, a mother of two, was murdered in Ackholt Wood near her home

Porn-obsessed Callum Wheeler was described as ‘angry, violent and strange’

PCSO Julia James, a mother of two, was murdered in Ackholt Wood near her home after being watched from afar by her violent killer after he moved into their small village.

Porn-obsessed Callum Wheeler was described as ‘angry, violent and strange’ and a ‘complete and utter loner’ after the killing on April 27 2021.

Mrs James had even spotted Wheeler herself previously near her home on numerous occasions and she and her husband were concerned about the ‘weird dude’ they had spotted lurking close by. 

She was attacked with a 3kg railway jack while out walking her dog and hit repeatedly on the head, causing ‘unsurvivable’ injuries. 

Maria Rawlings 

Maria Rawlings, 45, was pursued in east London before being murdered and left to die naked in a bush

Valentin Lazar, 21, was jailed for a minimum of 23 years and six months

A grandmother was followed off a bus and bludgeoned to death with a wooden club embedded with nails and a knife in a shocking attack by a stranger in May 2021.

Maria Rawlings, 45, was pursued in east London before being murdered and left to die naked in a bush. She suffered compression to the neck, injuries to her mouth, chest and knee and 15 fractured ribs.

In total Ms Rawlings had more than 100 marks on her body following the ‘evil’ assault. 

She had been on her way home from hospital at the time after complaining of a head injury. 

Valentin Lazar, 21, was jailed for a minimum of 23 years and six months. 

Charlotte Wilcock

Charlotte Wilcock was stabbed to death as she sat on her front door steps in a random attack while her 15-month-old child slept upstairs

Cocaine-addled Anthony Stinson, 31, filmed a video of himself rapping the lyrics ‘I will stab your face’ just 30 minutes before the brutal killing

Charlotte Wilcock was stabbed to death as she sat on her front door steps in a random attack while her 15-month-old child slept upstairs on March 3.

Cocaine-addled Anthony Stinson, 31, filmed a video of himself rapping the lyrics ‘I will stab your face’ just 30 minutes before the brutal killing, in which he stamped on her and slashed her face with a blade. 

At his sentencing at Preston Crown Court, prosecutors said his song was ‘grimly prophetic’ as it also included the lyric: ‘I stamp on your face to the floor’. 

Stinson, who’d never met the mother-of-two before, left her body by her front door and then changed his blood-soaked clothes, before wandering the streets for hours.

Police were only alerted to the horror scene by the defendant the next day after he called 999 on a passerby’s phone at 7.53am to hand himself in.

Judge Robert Altham handed Stinson a minimum of 24 years and two months in prison 

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