Richard Satchwell wove a ‘web of deceit' when he ‘knew full well' his wife was buried in their home, jury told

Irish Times

23-05-2025

Richard Satchwell
wove and maintained a 'web of deceit' over years about the disappearance of his wife when he 'knew full well she was buried under concrete' in their Cork home, prosecuting counsel has told a jury at the Central Criminal Court.
Even after his wife's remains were found six and a half years later, there was no 'road of Damascus moment' and he instead gave a 'farcical' account of how she had died, Gerardine Small SC said.
Actions by Mr Satchwell from shortly after the time he said his wife died on March 20th 2017, such as creating an email to a money sanctuary which suggested she was still alive, were 'conniving and full of guile', and involved creating 'a digital footprint' that he could avail of later on.
Right to the 'bitter end', while a forensic search of his home was underway, he was 'absolutely brazen' and his narrative only changed after the skeletal decomposed remains of his wife were found in October 2023, counsel said.
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The jury might expect that discovery to be 'a road to Damascus moment' but it was not, she said. He embarked on another narrative, 'another web of deceit, which has more holes than a block of Swiss cheese, it is laden with discrepancies'.
He had claimed his wife flew at him with a chisel and for some reason he lost his footing and his wife was on top of him with a chisel trying to stab him.
'Curiously, this eight stone lady never managed to stab this man, who was six foot two', but he, for some reason, had grabbed her clothing and said he was holding her off because he was 'terrified', counsel said.
He had given no detail of this 'totally implausible account' and that was because it was 'absolutely farcical'.
Ms Small on Friday began closing the case for the prosecution against Mr Satchwell (58), who has denied the murder of his wife at their home at No 3 Grattan Street, Youghal, on March 19th and 20th 2017.
The jury of seven women and five men is hearing closing speeches on Friday and will be charged from Monday by Mr Justice Paul McDermott. They will begin considering their verdict after the charge concludes.
Ms Satchwell's decomposed skeletal remains, the jury has heard, were discovered during a forensic search of the property on October 11th 2023, about six and a half years after Mr Satchwell reported his wife missing.
After the discovery, Mr Satchwell told gardaí that his wife had come at him with a chisel on the morning of March 20th 2017, he had used the belt of her dressing gown to fend her off, she 'went limp' and died. The prosecution's case is that he put her body in a freezer in the shed before burying her in a grave site dug in the floor under the stairs.
The assistant state pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster, has told the court that advanced decomposition due to lapse of time meant Ms Satchwell's cause of death could not be determined at a post-mortem carried out in October 2023.
In her address today, Ms Small told the jury this was a case that is 'screaming out for your common sense, your experience'.
To return a murder verdict, they must find Mr Satchwell killed his wife unlawfully and that, at the time, he had the requisite intent for murder, she said. They could infer intent from the surrounding circumstances, the actions, reactions, omissions and lies of Mr Satchwell, the manner in which he concealed the body, the 'whole web of deceit he wove'.
It was not until Ms Satchwell's body was found that narrative changes and all of this must be examined when considering intent, she said.
The prosecution does not have to prove a motive but Mr Satchwell himself said several times that his wife had said she would leave him and had told him she had wasted 28 years on him, she said.
The jury should look at what he did and did not do at the time, she said. He did not seek medical help, did not call emergency services, guards, ambulance, he did 'nothing at all'.
The address resumes after lunch.