Pat Quirke jailed for murder of Bobby Ryan

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Pat Quirke was convicted of murdering Bobby Ryan and jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court, reported on 26 December 2019. Ryan’s body was found in an underground tank on a farm in Tipperary, 22 months after he disappeared.

The prosecution case was based entirely on circumstantial evidence, with no murder weapon or precise time and location of the killing identified. The jury returned its guilty verdict by a 10:2 majority after deliberating for more than 20 hours.

The evidence included internet searches about the decomposition of a body in water, which the prosecution said could not be explained away. Quirke had denied murdering Ryan.