Catherine Fegan - The Murder of Mr Moonlight: how sexual obsession, greed and arrogance led to the killing of an innocent man

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First published 2019

Copyright Catherine Fegan, 2019

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Cover photos supplied by the Irish Daily Mail

ISBN: 978-0-241-98850-3

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The Garda at Tipperary Town Garda Station are investigating the disappearance of local man Bobby Ryan, who was reported missing on Friday, the 3rd June 2011.

Bobby Ryan is 52 years of age. He is described as 14st, 52, bald with hazel eyes. When last seen he was wearing a navy polo T-shirt, navy tracksuit bottoms, navy jumper and white runners. He was well known in the area, he drove a truck for a local quarry and worked as a DJ in the area, known as Mr Moonlight.

Bobby Ryans family are very concerned for his safety as he has not contacted family or friends since Friday morning, the 3rd June 2011.

From www.garda.ie, Missing Persons section

Mary Lowry was sitting on one of the high stools dotted along the bar inside the Times Hotel ballroom. It was Sunday night, the most popular night of the week in the Tipperary town venue, and the crowds had been spilling on to the maple-sprung dancefloor since eight oclock. As Mary sipped a glass of white wine, giggling and chatting to her friend Eileen, the music from the live band on the stage boomed loudly in the background. The two women had picked a quiet spot at the bar, where they could relax in their own company, but, even though they had tried to avoid attracting attention, Mary caught the eye of a nearby stranger.

Bobby Ryan had spotted her from his regular seat, the one he always occupied at the edge of the dancefloor beside his friend Dave. As Bobby stood up and made his way towards the striking, slender woman with the brunette hair, his trademark smile instantly lit up the room.

Will you dance with me? he asked.

I will, said Mary, smiling back at him and jumping excitedly from her seat.

She glanced at Eileen, her friend of more than twenty years, who could sense the instant chemistry between the two. Eileen smiled back at her, giving Mary a knowing glance as she headed towards the dancefloor, arm in arm with Bobby Ryan.

Eileen remained at the bar, listening to the music and minding the drinks, and she watched as Bobby led Mary around the floor, happy to see her friend having a good time. She and Mary had been for a Chinese meal in the Crystal Palace restaurant earlier and Mary, who was mad into music and dancing, had wanted to come to the Times Hotel, a local spot renowned for having good live bands.

Eileen was on a mission to make sure her friend had a good time that evening. It was long overdue. Marys husband had died almost three years before, leaving her widowed at forty-one and raising three young children alone. She had been left devastated by his loss and hadnt been the same since. The two women had a shared history. Like Marys late husband, Martin, Eileens husband, Arthur, was a dairy farmer. Martin and Arthur had grown up together, each taking on the family farm from his father and trying to make a living out of the land for their own families. The two men were great friends and, as a consequence, so were their wives.

Eileen had supported Mary through the darkest time in her life after Martin died and could see that her friend needed a boost.

So, on that balmy August night, the two women had put on their glad rags, dusted off their dancing shoes, and made their way to the Times Hotel to enjoy themselves. And as Bobby and Mary laughed and danced, Eileen could see something she hadnt seen in a long time. Mary Lowry, a grief-struck woman who had been numb and lost since the death of her husband, had come alive again in the arms of this stranger.

They seemed to have really connected, Eileen said about that night. They were very, very happy and seemed buzzing after the dancing together.

When Mary returned to the bar with Bobby and introduced him, Eileen watched as her friend and her new admirer chatted passionately about their shared love of music. They liked the same bands, enjoyed dancing at the same venues and had the same favourite dance, the jive. It was clear they had much in common.

For all the joy of seeing Mary so happy, Eileen was wary. She didnt know anything about Bobby Ryan, what kind of man he was or how he might treat her friend. While all three of them talked at the bar, Eileen quietly told Bobby that after what Mary had been through these past three years, she wanted to make sure her friend was in safe hands. She asked him if his intentions were good and if he would look after Mary because she needed a refuge and minding, not someone who would crush her heart and up and leave when it suited him. Mary, who could hear what Eileen was saying, laughed off her friends protective words of advice for Bobby.

As it turned out, Eileen had no need to worry about Bobby Ryan. He was as kind-natured as they come, a gentleman who had never intentionally hurt anyone in his life. Although none of them could have known it then, if any warning needed to be given, it should have been for him to be careful about what he was getting himself into.

But that night, as he swept around the room with Mary in his arms, Bobby was blissfully unaware of all that was to come. They were locked in a close embrace, himself and Mary, feet and hearts leaping as they followed the rhythm of the music, his hand firm on the small of her back, her face glowing with the dance and the sense of anticipation.

It was a warm summers night in 2010, a night when two people from two very different worlds fatefully collided: the night Mary Lowry met Mr Moonlight.

The Lowry family farm sits perched on top of a lush green hill on the outskirts of Tipperary town, with panoramic views over the wooded ridge of Slievenamuck, a landscape of rolling pasture encircled by the stark beauty of the Galtee Mountains. The farm at Fawnagowan (Fn an Ghabhann in Irish, roughly translated as wandering blacksmith) came down through the Lowry family to John Lowry. His father, Martin, had farmed the land before him and the Lowry name was among the founding members of the Tipperary Co-Operative Creamery in 1908. After Martin passed, John took on the holding of about fifty acres and worked hard to turn it into a sustainable family business.