Tipperary farmer Patrick Quirke pleads not guilty to murdering 'love rival'

A farmer murdered his "love rival" and hid his naked body in a slurry pit so he could rekindle an affair with his sister-in-law, a prosecution barrister has told a murder trial.

Michael Bowman SC opened the trial of 50-year-old Patrick Quirke by saying that the prosecution will use circumstantial evidence to prove the guilt of the accused. Mr Quirke of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 52-year-old Bobby Ryan on a date between June 3, 2011 and April 13, 2013.

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Outlining the prosecution's case Mr Bowman said the accused started an affair in 2008 with Mary Lowry after the death of her husband Martin, Mr Quirke's best friend.

Mr Quirke is married to Martin Lowry's sister, Imelda.

The relationship continued in secret until Mary Lowry ended it in 2010. In August of that year she met Bobby Ryan, a local DJ who went by the name Mr Moonlight.

They started a relationship and Mr Bowman said Bobby Ryan offered Mrs Lowry something that the married Patrick Quirke could never offer her, a "conventional relationship". 

Mr Bowman said the accused, "did what he felt compelled to do and got rid of his love rival in the hope that he could go back to how things were before Bobby Ryan."

The trial continues before Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of six men and six women.