THE son and daughter of murdered DJ Bobby Ryan are suing his killer Patrick Quirke.

High Court actions were initiated by Robert Ryan Jr and his sister Michelle yesterday against the Co Tipperary farmer, who was jailed earlier this year following a high-profile trial.

The cases are being classified as personal injuries actions, indicating the siblings will be seeking damages from their father’s murderer.

However, further details are not available as papers have yet to be filed with the court.

“At the moment I am not going to say anything,” Mr Ryan told Independent.ie when contacted today.

Their solicitor, Donal Ryan, also said he was not in a position to comment.

The development comes just over two months after Quirke (50) was jailed for life after a jury found him guilty of murder on a majority verdict of 10 to two at the Central Criminal Court.

The farmer, from Breanshamore, Co Tipperary, had denied any involvement in the murder of Mr Ryan (52), a quarry worker and popular part-time DJ known as Mr Moonlight.

But the jury accepted the prosecution’s case that Quirke murdered his victim and hid the body in an underground tank so he could rekindle an affair with widow Mary Lowry, who was in a relationship with Mr Ryan.

Mr Ryan disappeared on the morning of June 3, 2011, after spending the night at Ms Lowry’s home in Fawnagowan, Co Tipperary.

Quirke “discovered” the body in a run-off tank on Ms Lowry’s farm in April 2013.

However, the prosecution said the discovery was staged as his lease on the property was going to be terminated and he would be unable to ensure the body remained hidden.

Quirke’s trial, which lasted 15 weeks, was the longest murder trial in the history of the State and largely hinged on circumstantial evidence.

While the precise detail of the claims being made in Robert and Michelle Ryan’s legal actions are not yet known, the cases are likely to centre around the suffering and distress caused by their father’s murder.

In a moving victim impact statement, Michelle Ryan spoke in court of the “mental anguish” the family suffered.

She said they closed their eyes every night and pictured their father “with fear in his eyes”.

“We are completely destroyed beyond repair because of the trauma of how our father was brutally taken away from us,” she said.

The lawsuits are the second major legal development since the jury’s verdict on May 1.

Quirke’s legal team has also filed a notice of appeal against his conviction.

His grounds of appeal have yet to be disclosed, but it is understood a number centre on rulings made in the absence of the jury by trial judge Ms Justice Eileen Creedon.

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