Murder accused Patrick Quirke remained intimate with his wife while he was having an affair with widow Mary Lowry, his trial heard.
The 50-year-old’s revelation came during gardai interviews after the discovery of Bobby Ryan’s body on a Co Tipperary farm in 2013.
Quirke denies murdering the 52-year-old part-time DJ who was also in a relationship with Ms Lowry.
He told gardai he loved his wife Imelda but was “in love with” Ms Lowry who gave him “companionship, intimacy, trust and honesty”.
Quirke was “angry and sad” when he found out his lover was having an affair with the man he is accused of killing, his trial also heard.
A jury at the Central Criminal Court also heard evidence of his financial arrangements with Mary Lowry, from whom he leased a Co Tipperary farm.
In interviews with gardai, he described finding out she was seeing Mr Ryan when he found her phone under her pillow.
He was angry and “in a rage” and she had to plead with him to get the phone back.
Gardai suggested his behaviour had the hallmarks of jealousy. He replied: “It was anger, the jealousy came later.”
At that time he thought their relationship could survive the argument but it broke them up.
He agreed he was sad and depressed and the break-up was a blow to him.
Quirke said he met Mr Ryan on a couple of occasions and denied telling Ms Lowry that he didn’t like Mr Ryan or that he “smells”.
When gardai asked if he was jealous, he responded: “I wouldn’t say I was ever jealous. Angry, sad, but not jealous.”
He also talked of how he loved his wife but was “in love with” Ms Lowry who gave him “companionship,
intimacy, trust and honesty”.
Quirke, 50, of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of the part-time DJ, known as Mr Moonlight.
Mr Ryan, 52, went missing on June 3, 2011, after leaving his girlfriend Ms Lowry’s home at about 6.30am.
His body was found in an underground run-off tank on the farm owned by Ms Lowry and leased by the accused at Fawnagown, Co Tipperary, in April 2013.
The prosecution claims Quirke murdered Mr Ryan so he could rekindle his earlier affair with Ms Lowry, 52.
Gardai asked the accused about the beginning of his relationship with Ms Lowry in 2008.
When asked why he started an affair, he replied: “It’s a good question that I have asked myself.”
He said he was in love with Ms Lowry and she told him she loved him.
Quirke added he was happy with his wife and remained intimate with her at that time. He said he “bitterly regretted” his actions.
He disagreed with gardai when they suggested Ms Lowry was vulnerable, having been left alone with three young children. He added: “I believe she knew what she was doing.”
The accused replied “yes” when asked: “You loved Imelda but were in love with Mary?”
He said life was “normal” for a time but in December 2010 he “found out she was seeing Bobby Ryan and had deceived me”.
Quirke also detailed financial involvements with Ms Lowry amounting to tens of thousands
of euro.
It also emerged that when EU subsidies were taken into account, Quirke was paying €1,600 to rent Ms Lowry’s farm.
Det Gda David Buckley yesterday told prosecutor Michael Bowman he arrested Quirke on January 20, 2014, on suspicion of harassment of Ms Lowry. He was questioned him at Tipperary station.
Gardai asked Quirke about a provision in Ms Lowry’s will for €100,000 to be left to him.
He said he discussed this with her, telling her that if something happened to her she would have to consider what would happen to her children. He added whoever was to look after them would need the money to buy a bigger car and to add an extension to their home. Quirke denied this was a benefit to him.
Gardai suggested to him he had demanded this money. He replied he didn’t and said if he was able to get €20,000 by demanding it he would have asked for €200,000. He denied he was trying to “take Mary Lowry to the cleaners”.
Gardai put it to him he pressured Ms Lowry into giving him a cheque for €50,000. He said that was a “downright lie”.
Following the death of Ms Lowry’s husband Martin, Quirke took some of his cows into his own herd. He said he paid Ms Lowry for these when he sold them.
In October 2010 he discovered his herd had been infected with bovine venereal diarrhoea from Mr Lowry’s animals and estimated he had lost 12 cows to the disease.
He told Ms Lowry her husband would have compensated him for his loss but didn’t want to give her a figure because that could be seen as a form of intimidation. She suggested he keep the €20,000 she had loaned him and he was satisfied with this.
Gardai told him Ms Lowry said she was harassed and pressured to make a payment. The trial continues.
