Garda not planning to invest in full-time cadaver dog, despite Minister's preference

Irish Times

a day ago

Cadaver dogs, used to find human remains, are very rarely needed by the
Garda
and the force has no plans to invest in having dogs available full-time,
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris
has said.
This is despite remarks at the weekend by Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan, who said it would be 'preferable' if the Garda had its own dog in light of developments in the
Tina Satchwell
murder investigation.
The commissioner said that in his near seven-year tenure as commissioner, he believed a cadaver dog had been used three times, with those dogs provided from Northern Ireland. While the Garda does 'not want to be entirely reliant on others', having a cadaver dog is a significant resource, especially as it would be rarely used in the Republic.
'A cadaver dog is not out every day working in the same way that a drugs or firearms or money dog would be, it's a very specialist resource,' he said, adding that even within the area of working dogs, these animals are 'specialist'.
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When asked if a cadaver dog should have been deployed to help find the Satchwell remains in the period immediately after she was reported missing in 2017, the commissioner said the murder investigation is being reviewed.
'But from what I know from the reports I've seen ... the suspicion was harm had been caused to Tina Satchwell, but there was no suspicion that her body was actually there [in her home].'
Satchwell, née Dingivan (45), was murdered by her husband Richard Satchwell at their home on Grattan Street, Youghal, on March 19th-20th, 2017, and her body was buried under the house in a deep grave. However, her remains were not found until October 2013, some 6½ years later.
Though the Satchwell house was searched in 2017, a cadaver dog was not used. However, when a dog was deployed during a search of the house in 2023 it focused on the area under the sittingroom stairs, where the body was later found.
Asked on RTÉ's This Week programme whether such a dog should have been brought into the Satchwell home in 2017 during the investigation, the Mr O'Callaghan said 'probably, it should have happened'. He said he spoke to the commissioner about the effectiveness of cadaver dogs.
'They're a very specialised dog in terms of trying to train them. There is one on the island of Ireland; the PSNI has one,' he said.
'That dog is sought by many police forces in Britain as well. We got the use of the dog here and he was of much assistance.
'It obviously would be preferable if we had a cadaver dog. They have a very limited work life, cadaver dogs, they're only operational for a period of about three years, they have to go through a very difficult training process. It would be preferable if the cadaver dog available on the island had been used earlier.'
Richard Satchwell (58), a lorry driver from the UK who had settled in Cork with his wife, claimed he killed her accidentally after fending off a claim attack by her. He then buried her remains under the house to conceal her death.
Satchwell, who has 14 previous convictions, was sentenced to life in prison last week. He intends to appeal the verdict.
The Garda now have two water cannons. Photograph: Alan Betson
The commissioner was speaking to reporters as the force launched a report looking back at its six-year roll-out of significant operational changes. The Garda now has the largest fleet of vehicles in its history, with 3,672, including new specialist vehicles such as two water cannons, the organisation said.