In 2019, Patrick Quirke, a farmer from Co. Tipperary was convicted of the murder of Bobby Ryan, an amateur DJ. The trial was the longest murder trial in Irish Judicial History. The evidence that was presented shed light on a horrific murder of jealousy and rage which was unprecedented in rural Ireland.

During the trial the timeline of events which had been outline in last weeks post had been presented to the jury. From 3 June 2011, the day of Bobby Ryan’s disappearance until 2013 there had been no development in the location of Bobby Ryan, despite significant searches in the local woods where Ryan’s car was found and in the surrounding area. This all changed on April 30^th, 2013, when Pat Quirke made a call to his wife Imelda to say that he had found a body in an disused slurry waste tank on the farm at Fawnagowan. Imelda arrived shortly after and called the local Gardai in Tipperary Town. Quirke gave a statement to the Gardai at the scene claiming that he had no knowledge of how Bobby Ryan’s body ended up in the tank. It next few weeks and months as the investigators discovered new evidence that Quirke became the prime suspect. On January 20, 2014 Pat Quirke was arrested by Gardai charged with the murder of Bobby Ryan.

During the murder trial the jury were presented with circumstantial but extremely telling evidence against Pat Quirke. During the investigation it was found that in the time between the disappearance of Bobby Ryan and the discovering of the body Patrick had been researching on his computer “human body decomposition timeline”. When questioned about this Quirke said “My son died recently, that’s all I’m saying”. A notepad was also found during the search of Quirke’s house which had a list headed “what the Guards will know” describing what information the Gardai would have and the steps that he would take to cover up the murder. In the investigation of the tank which Ryan’s body was found, a number of insects were found which, as told by the leading expert in the country, could only have been there if the tank had been open in the last few months, which was the most significant evidence as the only person who knew the tank was there was Pat Quirke. The jury were also informed that the alarm was triggered a number of times in Fawnagowan by Quirke during this time. Quirke reportedly had also reported Mary Lowry to TUSLA, the government Child and Family Agency for negligence.

The defence claimed that the evidence given, especially the computer searches were unreliable. They questioned the statement given by Mary Lowry describing the events leading up to the disappearance of Bobby Ryan, and claimed  she was a liar, a dangerous witness and that part of her evidence was “a piece of the most devious poison that has been delivered across the face of the Central Criminal Court for many a year.” Quirke pleaded not guilty to the charges presented to him. Including Murder, along with harassment, passport theft, and entering the home without permission, the latter three of which were dropped later. On May 1^st, 2019, in a packed courtroom 13 of the Central Criminal court in Dublin, the jury found Patrick Quirke guilty of murder by a resounding majority.

This was the Murder of Mr. Moonlight.

By Galina Kennedy