Ireland

Daughter of Boddy Ryan will 'never ever' forgive father's murderer

Patrick Quirke was last week sentenced to life for the murder of Mr Ryan.
Patrick Quirke was last week sentenced to life for the murder of Mr Ryan. Patrick Quirke was last week sentenced to life for the murder of Mr Ryan.

THE daughter of a DJ murdered by Co Tipperary farmer Patrick Quirke says she will never forgive the man who killed her father and hid his body in a disused water tank.

Michelle Ryan told RTÉ's Marian Finucane programme that her father, Bobby Ryan (52), was the "light and soul" of her family's world following the sentencing last week of Quirke, of Breanshamore, for the 2011 murder.

Mr Ryan, a quarry worker and part-time DJ known as 'Mr Moonlight', disappeared in June 2011 after leaving the farm belonging to his partner, Mary Lowry.

Married man Patrick Quirke had previously been romantically involved with Ms Lowry, and the jury in the murder trial was told that the 50-year-old farmer wanted Mr Ryan out of the way so he could rekindle his affair with her.

Mr Ryan's body was discovered in April 2013 in an underground tank, which led to the arrest and prosecution of Quirke, who was last week sentenced to life in prison following the longest murder trial in the history of the Irish state.

Speaking to Marian Finucane, Michelle Ryan said of her father's killer: "Hate is a very strong word. I don't like using it. I will never, ever, ever forgive that man for taking our world away from us, that's what Daddy was.

"I'm not going to use the word hate. As you can imagine, I wouldn't be saluting the man."

Speaking of her family's struggle, she continued: "I don't think that there is any such thing as normal left for us. We're just under eight years of having our world turned absolutely upside down and inside out. There's no returning back to normal for us."