By CAROLINE GRAHAM and KYLIE STEVENSON

Secret recordings of a man singing about the murder of Patrick Moriarty were played at the inquest into the missing man today.

Mr Moriarty and his dog Kellie went missing from the tiny town of Larrimah, 500km south of Darwin, on December 16, 2017, and the case rapidly evolved into a murder investigation.

On December 28, police were granted a warrant to install a recording device in the Larrimah home of Owen Laurie, who worked as a caretaker/gardener for Fran Hodgetts and lived on her property.

In the tapes played before coroner Greg Cavanagh today, a man’s voice is heard singing and strumming a guitar, with lyrics including “I killerated old Paddy … I struck him on the fucking head and killerated the bastard … basherated him”, and, “He’s a good bloke. He’s terrible. No wonder I fucking belted him.”

Police allege the recordings are of Mr Laurie, but after hearing the first of eight tapes, in which the voice says, “Yeah, fucking idiots tell them what I’ve done, hit with a fucking hammer”, Mr Laurie said, “I don’t think that’s me.”

Other comments recorded by the police included the following.

“Well they didn’t fucking find the hammer. Well they can’t get me for anything.”

“Fucking kill a bastard, killed fucking Paddy up the bum. Fucking killed paddy. Donged him on the head. … Fucking killed Paddy, hit him on the head. Smacked him on the fucking nostrils with my claw hammer.”

“Smacked him on the nostrils, book book book.”

“You gotta find out who fucking done it mate. That’s if you don’t find the fucking body. Find out whodunnit. What do you reckon there’s a body somewhere and you’ve got to find out whodunnit. Who did it. I could tell you, you’re not finding out, I’ll tell you fucking repeatedly you’re not finding out. You are not finding out.”

“I kill pup dogs. I kill pup dogs. Ah-ha ha. Bye. See you. Goodbye. Hoo-roo. Bye. See you. Bye. Good bye. See you. Hoo-roo. Bye.”

On the tapes the voice could be heard talking to a dog called Ruby, which was owned by Mr Laurie but has since died, as well as melodious guitar strumming, yodelling, howling and growling.

After he was played each tape, Mr Laurie exercised his right against self-incrimination and remained silent.

Before Mr Laurie gave his evidence, his former employer Mrs Hodgetts appeared via videolink from Melbourne.

She repeatedly denied any knowledge of what had happened to Mr Moriarty.

Council Assist Kelvin Currie asked Ms Hodgetts about an agreement she made with Mr Moriarty as part of a mediation following an alleged poisoning of her garden and a long-standing feud.

Included in the agreement was that the pair would smile at one another and wave if the other waved first, but limit interactions to necessity.

She was also asked to comment on some allegations made earlier in the inquest.

Wayne Ian Ledwidge, a labourer of Pine Creek, gave evidence that in late 2017 he overheard a conversation between his friend Brian Roberts and Ms Hodgetts, in which Ms Hodgetts offered him $10,000 to “get rid” of Mr Moriarty.

Ms Hodgetts denied knowing Mr Roberts, who is now deceased.

“I never ever ever ever paid anyone to bump Paddy off,” she said. “I had money, yes, because I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t go out but I work hard.”

Mr Ledwidge also gave evidence that he believed Mr Roberts may have been involved in the 2001 death of Peter Falconio, for which Bradley John Murdoch was convicted in 2005.

Officer in Charge of the case Detective Sergeant Matt Allen told the inquest there was no evidence to connect Mr Roberts to Mr Moriarty’s disappearance, nor the Falconio case.

Coroner Greg Cavanagh will hand down his findings tomorrow morning, in what will be his last case before retirement.