Mary Lowry’s careless driving causing death case adjourned

A woman who was central to the ‘Mr Moonlight’ murder trial has had her sentencing for careless driving causing death adjourned until next month.

Mary Lowry (57) of Green Road, Dundrum, Co Tipperary, has pleaded guilty to the incident in which Tipperary motorcyclist Patrick Connolly (51) was killed while on a charity biking event at Springhouse, outside Tipperary town, on December 21, 2021.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison, and/or a fine not exceeding €10,000 on conviction.

Ms Lowry was due to be sentenced today at Clonmel Circuit Court before Judge Catherine Staines, and waited patiently in the body of the court for the case to be called.

But when it was called her barrister Pádraig de Búrca asked for an adjournment and the case has been relisted for March 21.

Ms Lowry, who was dressed in dark clothing, covered herself from photographers as she entered and left the court.

She previously gave key evidence at the trial of farmer Patrick Quirke for the murder of Bobby Ryan, a popular DJ who went by the stage name ‘Mr Moonlight’.

Ms Lowry, a widowed mother-of-three, began dating Quirke, who is married, following the death of her husband in 2007. But she ended the affair in the summer of 2010 having fallen for Mr Ryan

Mr Ryan (52) went missing after leaving Ms Lowry’s home in Fawnagown, Tipperary, early on the morning of June 3, 2011.

His body was discovered nearly two years later in April 2013 in a disused run-off tank on land which was leased and being farmed by Quirke.

The prosecution case was that Quirke killed Mr Ryan so he could rekindle the affair he previously had with Mary Lowry.

Key to the circumstantial case against him was the discovery by gardaí that Quirke’s computer had been used to conduct online searches for webpages about the decomposition of human remains.

Quirke, of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary, had dumped Mr Ryan’s body in the run-off water tank on Ms Lowry’s farm after murdering him. He had been leasing the farm at the time.

Mary Lowry decided to terminate his lease on her land on April 29, 2013, and the prosecution case was that Quirke then staged the “discovery” of the decomposing remains as his lease was about to end and he feared he would be found out in the future.

At the trial of Quirke, Lowry described her relationship with him to the jury as “seedy” and “sordid” and something she regretted. She described Quirke as overpowering and insisted she did not choose to have an affair but was led to it.

Counsel for Quirke described the relationship as consenting, between adults.

Quirke denied the murder but after a 15-week trial in the Central Criminal Court the then 54-year-old was found guilty by the jury by a majority of 10-2 and sentenced to life for the murder.

He later challenged the verdict but the conviction was upheld.

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