The prosecution case against farmer Patrick Quirke, who denies murdering his love rival Bobby 'Mr Moonlight' Ryan, is "forensically barren" but calls on the support of the jury's common sense, lawyers for the State have said.

When gardaí asked murder accused Patrick Quirke why he had searched the internet for "body decomposition timeline" he told them his son had died and added: "That's all I'm saying."

When gardaí asked murder accused Patrick Quirke why he had searched the internet for "body decomposition timeline" he told them his son had died and added: "That's all I'm saying."

The injuries to Bobby Ryan's body were not caused by debris falling on the skeleton when gardaí removed the concrete lid covering the tank in which the body was found, a senior garda has told the Central Criminal Court.

The injuries to Bobby Ryan's body were not caused by debris that fell on the skeleton when gardaí removed the concrete lid of the tank in which the body was found, a senior garda has told the Central Criminal Court.

Mary Lowry's son has described murder accused Pat Quirke as "in control most of the time, grumpy some of the time" and said he went around his mother's farm "as if he kind of owned the place".

Fingerprints on items taken from Bobby Ryan's van after he went missing did not match the accused man Patrick Quirke, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

A forensic anthropologist has told the Patrick Quirke murder trial that he identified human and animal bones and an animal's tooth found in the tank alongside Bobby Ryan's body.

Murder accused Patrick Quirke denied to gardaí that he was trying to "take Mary Lowry to the cleaners" by demanding €20,000 from her or that he took advantage when she was vulnerable following her husband's death, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

Patrick Quirke told a social worker that Mary Lowry was leaving her three children unsupervised for long periods at weekends and had "lost the run of herself" after becoming fixated on a new relationship, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

A google search for "human body decomposition timeline" was carried out on a computer that was seized from murder accused Patrick Quirke's premises, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a part-time DJ whose body was found in a slurry tank two years after he went missing.

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a part-time DJ whose body was found in a slurry tank two years after he went missing, writes Conor Kane of the Irish Examiner.