Patrick Quirke’s trial has heard from the woman who told gardaí about his affair with the girlfriend of the man he's accused of murdering.

Mr Quirke from Breanshamore, Co Tipperary has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Bobby Ryan, whose body he found on the woman’s farm in 2013.

Catherine Costello got involved in the search for Bobby Ryan after he went missing in June 2011.

Last week, his girlfriend Mary Lowry gave evidence of what she described as a “seedy affair” with the accused that ended just before she met Bobby.

At Mrs Lowry’s request, Ms Costello said she met her at a petrol station near the wood where Bobby’s DJ van was found.

She said she was “severely distressed and hysterical” as she told her about the history of her affair with Mr Quirke.

Ms Costello said she told her to go to gardaí but there was a delay in her doing so because she wanted to speak to a certain female garda.

The next day, she said she contacted gardaí to tell them what she’d been told.

Earlier today, a man said he was almost sure he saw Mr Ryan driving his silver DJ van a couple of hours after he left Mrs Lowry’s home on the day he went missing.

Another witness, who lived nearby, said she saw a bald man out walking that morning who was “sweating and red-faced” and fitted the description of the missing man she’d seen on the internet.