Patrick Quirke’s murder trial has heard Google searches relating to body decomposition were carried out on a computer taken from his home.
Mr Quirke from Breanshamore, Co Tipperary is accused of murdering his ex-lover’s boyfriend sometime between June 3rd 2011 and April 30th 2013.
On May 28th 2013, a month after Patrick Quirke found Bobby Ryan’s body in a run-off tank on his ex-lover’s farm, Detective Garda Paul Fitzpatrick from the Cyber Crime Unit told the jury he examined a computer taken from Mr Quirke's home
He found that in December 2012, the computer was used to search Google for the words HUMAN BODY DECOMPOSITION TIMELINE, which led to a website forensics4fiction.com and an article titled: “Five Stages of Decomposition”
Detective Garda Fitzpatrick said Google was also used to search for RATE OF HUMAN DECOMPOSITION.
A number of YouTube videos relating to decomposition were embedded on one of the sites, but he couldn't tell if the user actually viewed them.
He said a number of internet searches relating to Bobby Ryan were also made on various dates in May 2013.
Mr Quirke denies murdering the local DJ, who went by the name Mr Moonlight.
