File photo shows accused man Patrick Quirke from Breanshamore arriving at the CCJ in Dublin, 05-02-2019. Image: RollingNews

The jury in the trial of a Tipperary farmer accused of murdering his ex-lover’s boyfriend has been hearing about the discovery of his body in 2013.

Patrick Quirke from Breanshamore, Tipperary denies murdering Bobby Ryan whose remains he himself found almost two years after he went missing.

The trial heard Mr Quirke described Bobby Ryan as a “happy go-lucky” kind of guy in a statement he gave to Gardaí after he went missing.

The local DJ’s last known whereabouts was the home of his girlfriend Mary Lowry, who had what she described as a “seedy” affair with the accused.

Mr Ryan left her home at 6.30am on June 3rd 2011.

Mr Quirke’s wife Imelda rang a local Garda almost two years later to tell him a body had been found on Mrs Lowry’s farm.

On arrival at the scene, Inspector Padraig Powell said Patrick and Imelda Quirke were sitting down at a low wall at the back of the property.

He said the accused told him he had discovered a body in a tank.

He said he couldn't see into it from a standing position so he knelt down for a closer look and saw what he believed to be the silhouette of a body.

Three large screens in the body of the court were switched off as photos of Mr Ryan’s remains were shown on seven smaller monitors in the jury box.

Inspector Powell said he saw two large concrete slabs at the scene. One was lying beside the underground tank and another was partially covering one end of it.

He said there was a hose leading into the tank from a slurry tanker and the accused was “extremely clean.”

He said his hands and clothes were “very clean” and he was “very quiet.”

Reporting from Frank Greaney at the CCJ