(Pictured: Professor Jack Crane. Credit: Collins)

Two eminent pathologists clashed on the most likely cause of Bobby Ryan’s death, with one saying he probably suffered blows from a blunt instrument and the other suggesting he was more likely struck by a vehicle.

As part of the prosecution case, an entomologist (insect expert) gave evidence that the body, which was sealed in an airtight tank, was subjected to a single insect infestation in the weeks before the accused man Patrick Quirke told gardai he discovered the body.

The pathologists agreed that Bobby Ryan suffered multiple fractures to the head, ribs and the femur: a ….read more

(Pictured: Patrick Quirke. Credit: Collins)

From the outset, the prosecution said there was “no smoking gun” that would link Patrick Quirke to the murder of Bobby Ryan but Michael Bowman SC for the prosecution told the jury that strands of circumstantial evidence would be woven together to prove Quirke’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

During 13 weeks of evidence that was frequently interrupted by legal argument, the jury learned that Mary Lowry was married to Martin Lowry, who was best man at Mr Quirke’s wedding.

Martin died in September 2007, leaving Mary widowed with three young boys. Quirke soon started farming Martin’s land ….read more

(Pictured: Robert Ryan Jnr and Michelle Ryan, the children of ‘Mr Moonlight’, Bobby Ryan. Credit: Collins)

Patrick Quirke has been found guilty of the murder of part-time DJ Bobby Ryan by a ten to two majority jury verdict at the Central Criminal Court.

Following the verdict, Mr Ryan’s daughter Michelle delivered an emotional statement in which she said: “We will carry you with us in our hearts for the rest of our lives. So until we meet again Moonlight, know how much you are loved and sorely missed every day.”

Quirke, who was sentenced to the mandatory life imprisonment, had pleaded not guilty ….read more

(Pictured: Patric & Geraldine Kriegel leaving court today. Credit: Collins)

The teenage boy who murdered and sexually assaulted “lonely and vulnerable” schoolgirl Ana Kriegel in an abandoned house has been sentenced to life with a review after 12 years.

His accomplice, who lured the girl to the abandoned house and watched as she was violently sexually assaulted, has been sentenced to 15 years detention with a review after eight years. Both boys, now aged 15, will be detained at a young offenders detention centre until they turn 18, when they will be moved to an adult prison.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott delivered his ….read more

(Pictured: Geraldine Kriegel. Credit: Collins)

The happiest day of our lives was the 10th of August 2006, the day the court declared that we could become the parents of Ana, who we felt was, the most wonderful child in the world.

We agonised, for so many years, through a laborious adoption process, waiting for her and when she came she brought to us everything that we had dreamed of for all those years and much more. She was wild and wonderful, electric, so full of fun, madness and laughter. We could not believe the happiness and joy we had found in ….read more

(Pictured: Mohamed Morei. Credit: Collins)

An asylum seeker who claimed to be fighting for Isis when he stabbed a Japanese man to death on a public street has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.

Following the verdict, the deceased’s older sister Shiori Sasaki in a written statement said she cannot understand “why a mentally unstable foreign national, whose origin was unknown, was allowed to be in the town.”

She said the killer Mohamed Morei (21) had his rights protected but her brother Yosuke Sasaki was deprived of his human rights. “It is truly infuriating and will forever be ….read more

Contempt of court proceedings against Facebook and Twitter, where the identities of the two boys who murdered schoolgirl Ana Kriegel were shared, have been stuck out, despite the continuation of “alarming posts” online.

An injunction compelling Facebook Ireland Limited and Twitter International Company to remove any photographs or material identifying the two teenagers has also been discharged at the Central Criminal Court, following the boys’ sentencing earlier this month.

Lawyers for Boy A informed the court that there continue to be “alarming posts” online – one as recently as November 13 on Facebook – which have caused considerable distress to his ….read more

(Pictured: Mr Justice Paul McDermott. Credit: Collins)

The earliest possible release date for the teenage boy who murdered and sexually assaulted schoolgirl Ana Kriegel is in June 2031, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

The earliest release date for his accomplice, who lured the “lonely and vulnerable” 14-year-old to an abandoned farmhouse and watched as she was violently sexually assaulted, is in June 2027.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott also ordered that probation, governor and education reports be prepared every two years for the benefit of the reviewing court, once the two teenage boys are released from Oberstown detention centre and placed in ….read more

(Pictured: Mr Justice Michael White. Credit: Collins)

The media have been barred from naming a mother who smothered her three-year-old daughter with a pillow after a High Court judge ordered that the deceased child should not be identified.

As a consequence of the order the woman, who was today found not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering the toddler at her family home, cannot be named as to do so would identify the dead child.

Last Monday, Mr Justice Michael White agreed to make an order at the outset of the trial preventing publication of anything that might identify the deceased ….read more

(Pictured: Patrick Nevin. Credit: Collins)

A serial sex offender who attacked three women in the space of eleven days after meeting them through Tinder has been jailed for 12 years.

Patrick Nevin (37) attacked the women on first meeting them after he had texted them on the Tinder dating app and over the mobile phone.

A Probation Service report noted that Nevin had a preoccupation with sex and used sex as an emotional coping mechanism. It also stated he had a hostility towards women and placed him at a high risk of re-offending.

Last June Nevin pleaded guilty to raping one woman at Bellewstown, ….read more