The brother of a man missing for almost two years said last night he believes a decomposed body found at the bottom of a slurry pit yesterday is that of his missing loved one.
Gardaí said the remains of the man found in the Fawnagown area between Tipperary town and Bansha were decomposed when found at about 2pm yesterday, and had clearly been lying in place for some time.
The body was found in a slurry pit not far from the place where 52-year-old grandfather Bobby Ryan from Boherlahan, near Cashel, was last seen in June of 2011. Well-known in the Tipperary area as a DJ, under the name Mr Moonlight, Bobby Ryan also worked as a driver and his disappearance was a mystery to his family and friends who have mounted a vigorous search operation in the intervening period, along with the investigation led by gardaí.
Gardaí would not confirm yesterday if the body found was that of Mr Ryan but the missing man's brother, John Ryan, said he was "100 per cent certain" it would prove to be that of Bobby. Detectives were in touch with the Ryan family to update them on the development and confirmed that the death is being treated as suspicious. "I got a fright when I got the 'phone call but we've been searching for him for the last two years, with nothing to show for it. It's about 50 yards from where he left that morning [June 3, 2011]," John Ryan said.
A preliminary post-mortem was carried out on the remains yesterday evening by state pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy, while gardaí preserved the scene to allow a forensic examination of the scene. An incident room was set up in the garda station in Tipperary town. Bobby Ryan was a father of two — Robert and Michelle — and a grandfather of three and his family put up many posters around Bansha and Tipperary asking for information about his disappearance, as well as searching for him themselves. A major search operation was held by gardaí in a piece of woodland between Tipperary and Bansha last September, in the townland of Cordangan, but nothing was found by the 30 officers involved.