Courts / Tipperary / Report

Farmland was searched at time of disappearance, Moonlight murder trial hears

Date
2019-02-11

Stage
Trial

Primary locality
Tipperary

Summary

In February 2019, the Central Criminal Court heard that farmer Patrick Quirke, aged 50, pleaded not guilty to the murder of DJ Bobby Ryan, known as Mr Moonlight, who disappeared in June 2011 and whose body was found in April 2013 in a disused wastewater tank on a farm at Fawnagowan. The trial recounted that days after Ryan's disappearance, Gardaí searched the farmland where he would later be found, but found no evidence of what happened to him. Sergeant Cathal Godfrey, who led the search, explained that the investigation covered a quarry, fields, tanks, ditches, hedges, farm buildings and sheds, and that nothing of evidential value was discovered. The search also included a slurry tank and a Toyota Corolla found in a shed, but no body or relevant material was located. The trial continued before Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of twelve.