Richard Satchwell trial: Gardaí ignored ‘red flags' in Tina Satchwell murder investigation

Irish Times

30-05-2025

'Red flags' emerged soon after the disappearance of
Tina Satchwell
that were 'simply ignored' by gardaí, the murder trial of her husband Richard Satchwell heard.
Concerns about the Garda investigation into Ms Satchwell's disappearance were raised in the closing stages of the murder trial of her 58-year-old
husband
.
His defence barrister, Brendan Grehan SC, said in his closing speech to the trial that the case was full of 'what ifs' and 'a lot of failures' by gardaí and it was 'simply beyond me' why gardaí were not in the Satchwell home soon after Ms Satchwell went missing in 2017.
He suspected it was also simply beyond those gardaí became involved at a later stage in the investigation, he said.
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The defence lawyer's opinion appeared to be endorsed by forensic archaeologist Dr Niamh McCullagh, who was asked in 2021 – four years after Ms Satchwell's disappearance – to review the files in the case.
The review was requested by Supt Annmarie Twomey, who was not involved in the investigation until she was asked to take charge of it in August 2021.
She and Det David Kelleher, who was also assigned to the investigation in 2021, brought what Mr Grehan described as 'new energy' to it.
He said matters had progressed, 'though extremely cautiously', and said he still wondered at the reason for its 'pedestrian' pace up to October 2023 when Ms Satchwell's remains were uncovered.
Supt Twomey had said, while gardaí believed by February 2022 that Ms Satchwell was dead and had never left her home and, by August 2022, that Satchwell should be arrested, there were 56 other lines of inquiry that had to be exhausted first.
There were about 60 reported sightings of Ms Satchwell in Ireland and abroad after her disappearance, the trial heard.
Dr McCullagh told the jury of research into domestic homicides that showed they often involved a pattern – as happened in the
Satchwell
case – of a false narrative and a missing-person report.
Her own research into cases of 'concealment homicide' in Ireland found that most female victims were found within a kilometre of their home.
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The full story of the Richard Satchwell murder trial
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Mr Grehan said such findings hardly came as news to gardaí or to many others. Gardaí 'hardly needed' to be told what happened when a wife went missing, he said, which was that a missing-person report is 'not taken at face value' and 'every police force in the world looks at the husband'.
He expected most people would hope, if they ever went missing, for a 'greater level of inquisitiveness' from gardaí.
Brendan Grehan, left, and solicitor Eddie Burke outside Central Criminal Court in Dublin. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire
Mr Grehan accepted that
Satchwell
was the author of – and biggest contributor to – the delay in finding his wife's remains but said there was 'more than enough blame for that delay to go around'. That influenced the manner in which some of the investigation was dealt with, he said.
Dr McCullagh pointed to a 'red flag' at the
Satchwell home
during a search of the property by gardaí in June 2017: evidence of 'home renovations' and of a new red brick wall at the side of the stairs.
There was no invasive search of the property at that point but gardaí seized a laptop and other items.
An examination of that laptop showed another potential red flag: a YouTube video about the interaction of quicklime, which can disguise decomposition odours, with water was watched twice on March 24th, 2017.
The trial heard the laptop was examined by gardaí in 2021 but it was unclear from the evidence whether there was an earlier examination of it.
The jury did not hear a detailed explanation about why the June 2017 search of the property was not invasive.
Supt Twomey said she did not know what the focus of the investigation was at that stage. It was still a missing-person investigation. She also noted laptops and other items were seized from the
Youghal property.
After her review of the files, Dr McCullagh recommended an invasive excavation of the house, to include the use of ground radar technology and a cadaver dog.
Supt Twomey acted on that recommendation, and a specialist team, including gardaí, Dr McCullagh, a forensic anthropologist and a cadaver dog, entered the property on October 10th, 2023.
The cadaver dog showed interest in the area under the stairs. Det Brian Barry and a builder noted different concrete in the area under the stairs and poor brick work in the red brick wall alongside the stairs.
The concrete was then broken up and black plastic was observed in what turned out to be a grave site about a metre deep.
A painstaking excavation was then undertaken by hand and, on the evening of October 11th, the skeletal remains of Tina Satchwell were found.