A Co. Clare farmer who told gardai he had ‘killed the devil’ has been found guilty of murdering a law graduate from Co Clare.

It was the prosecution’s case that 33-year-old Joe Heffernan, of Cappagh Beg, Barefield in Ennis killed 21-year-old Eoin Ryan on June 7th 2011 because he was gay.

The student from Newhall had returned from an internship in the European Union in Brussels and was planning to work at home for the summer to save money for his Masters in Environmental Law in Belfast.

In a victim impact statement his brother Daniel told the Central Criminal Court ‘No human being deserves to die in such a lonely, terrifying and violent fashion, least of all someone as peaceful and gentle as our Eoin’.

‘Eoin was the baby of our family and was as cherished as any son and brother could be. He was very easy to love, hilariously funny, gentle, caring and intelligent’, he said.

Eleven of the 12 jurors found Joe Heffernan guilty of murdering the 21-year-old in a majority verdict returned on the third day of their deliberations.

The 31-year-old farmer did not react to the verdict.

The evidence heard during the trial was that Mr. Ryan was beaten to death on and that his body was dumped in a barrel at Joe Heffernan’s farm in Cappagh Beg.

The 31-year-old accused man dialled 999 and told gardai that he had ‘killed the devil’. He called Eoin Ryan 'a gay' and said he was 'no queer'. He also threatened to take his own life.

Heffernan later claimed to a psychiatrist in the Central Mental Hospital that he was embarrassed because Eoin Ryan made a pass at him and he 'kind of went along with it'.

The two men crossed paths at a bar where Eoin Ryan was drinking with 2 girlfriends - one of whom he texted in the early hours saying 'If I die tell my parents I love them'.

The defence argued that Mr. Heffernan suffered from a mental disorder and they asked the jury to consider a manslaughter verdict.

Mr. Justice Patrick McCarthy has imposed the mandatory life sentence on the farmer.