THE SUPREME COURT has dismissed a retrial application by Tipperary farmer Patrick Quirke against his conviction for the murder of Bobby ‘Mr Moonlight’ Ryan.
On 20 March of this year, the court declared that the seizure of a computer was unlawful in the Quirke investigation for the murder of Ryan. In its judgment, the court said that further argument was needed about the consequences that this ruling would have.
The court today dismissed the application by Quirke’s lawyers who had argued for a retrial.
A seven judge panel heard the case at Ireland’s highest court over two days last year – the case came following an earlier rejection by the Court of Appeal.
Quirke’s Supreme Court appeal focused on the validity of the search warrant used in the murder investigation and the DPP’s discretion in calling expert witness in a trial.
Quirke (51), from Breanshamore, is serving a life sentence after being found guilty in 2019 of murdering the father of two at Fawnagowan in Co Tipperary.
Bobby Ryan was known as Mr Moonlight as he used that as the name for his DJ business.
A jury at the Central Criminal Court convicted Quirke by a majority verdict of 10:2 after a 71-day trial.
He had denied murdering Ryan (52), who went missing on 3 June 2011, after leaving his partner Mary Lowry’s house early that morning.
His body was found nearly two years later in an underground run-off tank on a farm owned by Lowry, which had been leased by Quirke.
It was the prosecution’s case that Quirke murdered Ryan so he could rekindle an affair with Lowry.
It contended that he subsequently “staged” the discovery of Ryan’s body after she tried to terminate his lease.
His appeal, containing 52 grounds, was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in November 2021.
With reporting by Niall O’Connor and Press Association
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