Patrick Quirke charged in Bobby Ryan murder case

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

Patrick Quirke was charged in the murder investigation following the discovery of Bobby Ryan’s body. The proceedings were reported on 2 May 2019.

The report described a four-month murder trial at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin. Soon after the trial began, the jury visited the location at Fawnagowan where Ryan’s body was found.

Ryan’s body was found in an underground run-off tank on Lowry land. The report said Quirke phoned his wife on 30 April 2013 to say he had found a body.

The murder scene and weapon were never found, and detectives built a case based entirely on circumstantial evidence. The report described forensic findings, internet searches and indentations on a writing pad found at Quirke’s home.

A computer found at his home had searches relating to human body decomposition from the end of July to December 2012. In closing arguments, Quirke’s barrister Bernard Condon told the jury that people did strange things on computers and that the searches were not suggestive of guilt.