Reviews opened into Tina Satchwell and Michael Gaine investigations
The investigations into the murders of Tina Satchwell and Michael Gaine, whose bodies were not found during the initial searches of their disappearance, will be reviewed.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said that 'in hindsight' it may have been 'very obvious' where Mrs Satchwell's remains were secretly buried.
Advertisement
Mr Harris said a report would be compiled and given to the Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan on Mrs Satchwell's disappearance, while the case of Mr Gaine is undergoing a peer review.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. Photo: Garrett White/PA.
Earlier this week, Richard Satchwell was given a life sentence for the murder of his wife Tina at their home in Co Cork.
The British truck driver, 58, had denied murdering his wife between March 19 and March 20 2017.
The jury at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin reached the unanimous verdict last Friday after nine hours and 28 minutes of deliberations.
Advertisement
Mrs Satchwell's skeletal remain were found in a clandestine grave under the stairs of the couple's home in Co Cork in October 2023, more than six years after her husband reported her missing.
The house was subject to a search in 2017, however nothing was discovered.
In a separate case, the remains of Mr Gaine, a farmer from Co Kerry, were discovered in a slurry tank on his farmland in May, two months after he was reported missing by his wife.
The farmyard had been previously searched as part of the probe.
Advertisement
Speaking about the investigation into the disappearance of Mrs Satchwell, Mr Harris said the 2017 search did 'harvest' a 'huge information', which was useful in the re-examination of the case.
Speaking at the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary, Mr Harris said: 'All of those were crucial. So I would say the initial investigation was hamstrung because of the lack of information in comparison to the later re-examination of this matter.
'There's far more information to hand which gave us real grounds then for actual suspicion and then inquiries that we could lead.
'When you look at hindsight, some of these things can seem very obvious, but in the moment, what was known, what was being said in terms of sighting, what was being said in terms of the victim by her husband, and one has to recognise the victimology that was being applied here.
Advertisement
'His suppression of her, the coercive control that obviously she was subject to for many years, her isolation in that particular community, that meant that there was very few other people that we could speak to her… what Tina Satchwell's life was like.
'It was a complex investigation. Yes, the house was searched in 2017, forensic scientists also accompanied that search, it was subject to thorough examination and looked for blood splatter, none was found.'
He said the initial investigation will be subject to a review.
'We have the expertise within the organisation, and obviously, then we report to the minister and to the Policing and Community Safety Authority, as is our responsibility.
Advertisement
Ireland
Convicted rapist who harassed three female journal...
Read More
'But I do think there are definitely lessons that we wish to learn from all of these homicides, where it's missing persons and then converts some time later to a homicide investigation.'
He added: 'What I can say is, we've already reviewed all our missing person reports nationally. That was done last year. We found no other suspected homicide cases.
'Then following the Michael Gaine investigation, we're subjecting that to peer review, as I do think there's learning for us around those who would commit crime and then attempt to dispose of the body, and often are successful in disposing of the body.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
38 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Father of toddler who vanished 44 years ago reveals heartache as more than 100 women have claimed to be his missing daughter
The father of a toddler who vanished 44 years ago revealed the heartache of having more than 100 people claim to be his missing child over the years. Katrice Lee had just turned two when she disappeared on November 28, 1981, during a supermarket trip to buy food for her birthday party. At the time, her dad, Richard, now 76, who is from Hartlepool, County Durham, was stationed at an NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) army base in Paderborn, Germany - which is where the store was. The parent - then a sergeant major in the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars of the British Army - his former wife, Sharon, and Katrice's aunt, Wendy, were in the shop with the little girl, who was refusing to sit in a trolley during the haul. Placating Katrice, the mother carried the baby around the supermarket in her arms before placing her down at the checkout. She briefly left the youngster with Wendy - to run and pick up some crisps - but when she returned the toddler, who her aunt assumed rushed off to follow Sharon, was no longer there. Katrice has never been seen since. The family have never given up their fight to find the girl and their hopes have been raised on numerous occasions, as dozens have come forward alleging they are Katrice. Speaking on BBC Sounds podcast Katrice Lee: A Father's Story, Richard recalled one instance where a woman, who claimed to be the missing child, harassed the family for weeks. 'She was informed not to contact anybody in the family,' he explained. 'For a long time it went quiet, then the telephone went, like any parent with a missing child you react to that phone because you want an answer. Could this be the call. 'I picked the phone up, I was then asked "is that Richard Lee, father of Katrice Lee?"', I said yes it was, but as I was saying it I realised who it was. 'She turned around and said "oh there is nothing to worry about Mr Lee this is just a line check", I said "what, just after midnight?"'. The caller rang a further 12 times that night and was later jailed for seven weeks for harassment. Meanwhile another woman, Heidi Robinson, pleaded guilty to harassment, after sending grossly offensive, indecent and menacing messages to the family on social media. She was sentenced to 18 weeks in jail, suspended for two years, at Wirral Magistrates' Court - and was ordered to undergo mental health treatment. She also received a restraining order banning her from contacting Katrice's father or sister. The family have never given up their fight to find Katrice and their hopes have been raised on numerous occasions over the years with more than 100 people coming forward to claim they are the missing child In another instance, Richard remembered another person who came forward claiming to be his daughter which 'sparked hope' for the family. 'It was New Years Eve, I was sent a picture of Katrice and this person said "I am Katrice, I am your daughter",' he recounted. 'I couldn't believe it.' Unfortunately, they turned out to be nothing but a cruel troll, when DNA tests showed no relation. In 2012 the Lee family suffered further heartache when a woman called Donna Wright contacted them claiming to be Katrice. Yet again, DNA tests showed she wasn't their daughter, which followed with stalking and abuse for the family. Donna used more than a dozen aliases before admitting an offence under Section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act and being given a 12-week suspended prison sentence at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court. 'There are loads of people who have honestly come forward and genuinely believe that they are Katrice, for them you are grateful because it took them a great amount of courage,' Richard admitted. 'Then to find out after a DNA test that they are not Katrice they have disappeared back into the background with dignity, with discretion, but it's those people that keep me genuinely going.' Remembering the painful day that his daughter went missing and the police investigation that followed, he said: 'My mind was blank with pain, the statement I said to Sharon was "this is going to be a long one", I don't know why I said it.' Breaking down in tears Richard added that he felt 'inadequate' as a father. 'I wasn't getting answers and I wanted them,' he explained. 'I was very resentful, I just wanted my daughter back.' Elsewhere Richard revealed he considered taking his own life - explaining that it was his vow to older daughter Natasha, who was aged seven when her sister vanished, to solve the mystery of her missing sibling that kept him alive. 'I was struggling with staying on the right path, I didn't know what the right path was,' he continued. 'I went down some very dark avenues and at my lowest point I actually thought about suicide. However, he said that 'sanity comes back'. 'You turn a corner when you are in those dark places, you see a light and you are given a choice,' Richard added. 'My choice was to continue to fight and I made a promise and that's what brought me back out of the darkness, I made a promise to Natasha that I would continue to fight to get answers until I can no longer fight.' Richard revealed he still marks his missing daughter's birthday every year and continues to hold out hope that he will see her again The family believe that the authorities, including the Army, Royal Military Police and successive governments, failed to investigate the case properly. Border controls were not warned about a missing child for the first 24 hours and authorities acted as though the little girl had just wandered off without considering that she might have been kidnapped. Nor did they notify hospitals of an eye condition Katrice had that would have helped to identify the little girl. It was six weeks before staff in the shop where Katrice went missing were questioned by German police, who initially theorised that the two-year-old had walked to the nearby river and drowned. Speaking to the podcast, Sharon explained: 'Germany police said that my daughter had wondered out of busy NAAFI that morning, past a load of shoppers, down the ramp, passed a lady ticket seller, through that hedge, bearing in mind my daughter was two that morning she is a baby really, walked to the river's edge and threw herself in and not a soul saw her do it.' On the day of Katrice's disappearance Richard was sitting in the family car outside the base's NAAFI supermarket while Sharon and her sister Wendy took the toddler inside to buy food for her birthday party. When Sharon realised, at the till, that she'd forgotten to buy crisps, Wendy was left with Katrice while she dashed to fetch them. Wendy assumed Katrice had run off to find her mother - but when Sharon returned, the women realised she had gone. Speaking to the Mail Online in 2019, Richard said: 'Our whole world changed.' The father, who immediately thought the RMP's theory that Katrice — who was wearing a tartan dress, turquoise duffel coat and red wellies — had simply wandered off and fallen into the nearby River Lippe, a tributary of the Alme, was flawed. 'The only way out was via three checkouts,' he says, adding that even if Katrice had somehow managed to escape through a back door with no handle on it, the first question someone would have asked in an area chiefly populated by Forces' families was 'where are your parents?' Believing the RMP was 'ill equipped to deal with the enormity of the situation', he asked the investigating officer to ensure that hospitals were made aware of Katrice's eye condition, so they could alert authorities if she were admitted. Yet it later emerged that hadn't been done. He asked the police to inform international border crossings that his daughter had gone missing. They didn't. Statements from shop workers and other witnesses were not taken for six weeks and when Richard tried to raise awareness of Katrice's disappearance by speaking to the British Press, he was told he had no right to do so because he'd signed the Official Secrets Act. 'I wanted more action. Nothing was being done,' he admitted. 'If I raised an issue I was told, as a soldier, to keep quiet, the military police's attitude was that "we are untouchable". 'I was taught that men don't cry. So I'd go to the toilet, turn the taps on and cry my eyes out in private because I didn't want my wife or daughter to see me.' Meanwhile, his family life was shattered. Sharon divorced from Richard in 1991 but they stayed united in their desire for answers. After the couple separated in 1989, Richard left the family's red-brick flat in Paderborn, where Katrice's bedroom, with its teddy bears and toy trunk, had remained untouched for eight years, returned to his home town of Hartlepool and started a new posting in Ripon as a warrant officer. Sharon, meanwhile, moved to Portsmouth, her hometown. Both continued to lobby their local MPs for more assistance in finding Katrice. Richard continued to serve in the Army until 1999, notching up 34 years of distinguished service. However he maintains that the lack of support he and his family were provided had 'devalued' his army medals and he plans to hand them back. In 2008, a BBC programme featuring a digitally updated picture of Katrice as she might look aged 29 also led to nothing. In 2012, the family received an apology from the Royal Military Police for failings in the initial investigation and reopened an inquiry under the name, Operation Bute. Then in 2017, the government agreed to review the case and an e-fit of a man seen putting a child in a car that had been created shortly after the youngster's disappearance was released. A year later, more than 100 soldiers undertook an excavation of the Alme river, close to where Katrice disappeared, in the hope of finding answers. In 2019, a man was arrested in connection with her disappearance but was subsequently released without charge. The man arrested was a 74-year-old former soldier who served at the same base as Richard. It seems the ex-soldier had no inkling he was under suspicion either. An acquaintance recalled seeing him happy last weekend: 'He seemed his usual self. He's a comedian. He likes to crack jokes.' Richard says the name of the arrested man was 'vaguely familiar' to him, though he had no definite memories of him. The ex-serviceman is only the second person to be arrested since Katrice disappeared. In 2022, a long-promised 'father-to-father' meeting with the then PM Boris Johnson did happen, but Richard says: 'Nothing came of it. I wrote afterwards, asking for an inquiry, and for Katrice's case to be investigated by a civilian force, as it would have been if we'd been any other family.' He never got a reply. 'Politicians move on,' he says. 'We cannot.' In a statement to MailOnline, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: 'Our sympathies are with Richard Lee and his family as they continue to search for answers. 'The Defence Serious Crime Command and Unit, which now holds primacy for the investigation, continues to welcome any additional information that could help to determine Katrice's whereabouts.' Richard revealed he still marks his missing daughter's birthday every year and continues to hold out hope that he will see her again. Speaking on the BBC Sounds podcast he said: 'I light a candle every year and I let a balloon off with Katrice's picture on and it has "we will never forget you, come home Katrice". 'I ask her questions like "I hope everything is ok, I am your real dad and I want you to come home". 'I firmly believe I will get answers and I believe I will meet her, and I told her I am looking forward to seeing her. 'There are times that you feel like you are getting answers, I get this feeling that she has heard me and she wants to come home.' Anyone with information about Katrice's disappearance in 1981 can contact the Royal Military Police on social media site X at @operationbute, or by phone on 0800 616888.
Daily Mail
44 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Joanna Dennehy's twisted henchmen: Female serial killer had two 'nodding dog' devoted followers plan murders, dump bodies and hide her in their homes… but where are they now?
A tall but overweight man wearing scruffy clothes lifts up his shirt provocatively and stares gormlessly into the camera as he poses on the balcony of a suburban council block. At a glance it looks like a cringeworthy picture posted on social media - but the truth is chilling. The man in this grainy photo is Gary Stretch, a 'nodding dog' follower to one of Britain's most notorious female serial killers - Joanna Dennehy. Dennehy took the picture in 2013 while she was on the run from the police after butchering three men and just hours before she set off to stab two more innocent victims. Stretch, formerly known as Gary Richards, was Dennehy's key accomplice and called himself her 'Hubby 4 Lifey' in jail-house love letters. But he was not the only acolyte under the killer's spell. Leslie Layton was also one of Dennehy's henchmen and helped her dispose of the bodies of two of her victims. Like Stretch, he was said to be under the 'psychological' control of the killer, though was described as 'willing' by a judge. Dennehy was handed a whole life tariff after her trial heard she had a 'fetish' and 'taste' for murder. But far from reformed, last week it was revealed she had chopped off the finger of a prison guard in an audacious, but failed, attempt to escape from Britain's high security female prison, HMP Bronzefield. While Dennehy will die behind bars for her heinous crimes - MailOnline reveals what has become of the men that fell under her spell. Mother-of-two Dennehy, from Peterborough, had bragged to her friends while on the run that herself and Stretch - also a father to three children - were a modern day 'Bonnie and Clyde'. The 59-year-old had helped her hide the bodies of her three victims, 31-year-old lover Lukasz Slaboszewski, housemate John Chapman, and landlord and lover Kevin Lee. The pair then drove 140 miles west in a Vauxhall Astra registered under the false company name Undertaker and Sons to Hereford where he aided her in randomly picking out two dog-walkers to attack. But while Dennehy viewed the 7ft3 'giant' as her partner in crime, his defence claimed at trial that he had been 'manipulated' and 'bent' by Dennehy to act as she wished. Stretch's defence lawyer, Karim Khalil QC, had likened Dennehy to a 'Shakesperean' or 'Jacobean' villain, and said she surrounded herself with people she 'knew to be weak' and could 'bend to her will'. He described Stretch, 59, as her 'nodding dog', even addressing the subject of Stretch's size stating: 'Fear is a terrible thing. It crushes the human spirit. Fear makes a mockery of size.' Dennehy - who psychiatrist Dr Frank Farnham found had the condition paraphilia sadomasochism, a disorder of preference for sexual activity involving the infliction of pain or humiliation or bondage - is believed to have met Stretch several years before the killing spree. In a letter to ex-partner Julie Gibbons after trial, Stretch told of how he had met Dennehy after a spell in prison and had been staying on a sofa at her home. Speaking to The Mirror back in 2014, Ms Gibbons had told of how she feared her family could have been Dennehy's next target after Stretch suggested he had only helped her to 'keep her away from his family'. Ms Gibbons, who described Stretch as a 'gentle giant', had said Dennehy must have had him under her 'spell' and that he had 'fallen in love with her'. In twisted letters written to Dennehy from his cell while they both awaited sentencing, Stretch had written that she was his 'devil in the flesh' and described sex with her as 'a dream never to come true'. He had also praised her 'bloodthirsty' leanings and 'dirty and dark mind' and even signed off the letters with 'Your biggest supporter!' 'Undertaker' and 'Hubby 4 Lifey'. Despite attempts by the defence to argue Stretch had been under Dennehy's influence, he was sentenced to life with a minimum of 19 years after being found guilty of three counts of preventing the lawful burial of a body and one of attempted murder at Cambridge Crown Court. Now, over ten years later, it is understood Stretch is still serving his sentence at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes. The infatuated accomplice of the serial killer had launched two appeals against his life sentence, both of which were rejected by an Appeal Court judge in 2014. At the Court of Appeal hearing in October 2014, Lord Justice Pitchford said the life sentence handed out to Stretch was appropriate to his crimes. 'The applicant, knowing that Dennehy was a serial killer and for that reason likely to kill again, assisted her to evade justice by concealing the bodies of her three victims. 'We agree with the judge first that the applicant presented a most serious danger to the public and second, that the sentence for the attempted murders must be condemnatory,' he said. He added: 'We conclude that it is not arguable that any part of the sentence imposed was inappropriate and for this reason the renewed application for leave to appeal is dismissed.' Dennehy's crimes were so inhumane that she is one of only four women in the UK to have ever been handed a whole life order. The twisted serial killer told police officers and psychiatrists of how she found killing 'moreish' and 'fun', and had tried it to see if she was 'as cold' as she thought. She went from killing her first victim Lukasz Slaboszewski with a single stab wound to the heart, to launching a frenzied attack of more than 30 stab wounds on her final victim John Rogers - who miraculously survived. Dennehy had met her first victim Slaboszewski just days before the murder. She had befriended him and he had messaged a friend to the effect that 'life was beautiful' now he had Dennehy as his 'girlfriend'. She then lured him to her home in Rolleston Garth, Peterborough, and stabbed him through the heart. She had then dumped the body in a wheelie bin and even brought over a 14-year-old girl she had befriended to view the body. Dennehy and Stretch then using money borrowed from landlord Lee - who later became her third victim - dumped Slaboszewski's body in a ditch. It was during her second murder that her second accomplice Layton became involved. While a judge acknowledged Layton had 'played a subordinate role to Gary Stretch', he still found he was a 'willing' participant. He was said to be another 'nodding dog' of Dennehy's, helping to hide the bodies of two of her victims and cover their tracks. Cambridge Crown Court had heard how he and Stretch had acted out of fear that they could be her next victims. Layton, who had left home and cut ties with his family as a teenager, had been living in a flat above Dennehy. The judge described how he had become 'caught up in the excitement and fascination of the appalling murders'. Dennehy's second victim, John Chapman, a 56-year-old man who was 'kindly and harmless' and had served in the Royal Navy but fallen to alcoholism, was a housemate to Layton. Stretch and Layton had met and drank with Chapman just days before Dennehy murdered him by stabbing him in his own bed sitting room. In a horrifying discovery, a photograph of Chapman's dead body was found on Layton's mobile phone. The judge found that Layton's reaction to finding Chapman's dead body was not to call for help but to photograph the body for his 'own purposes as a morbid souvenir.' Dennehy's third victim Lee, her landlord and lover, was lured to her flat and stabbed five times in the chest. Layton was found to have been involved in getting rid of the bodies and setting fire to Lee's Mondeo car. Lee's body was dressed in a black sequined dress when dumped as a final act of humiliation. Layton was sentenced to 14 years after he was found guilty of preventing the lawful and decent burial of two men and perverting the course of justice. He is understood to have been released on licence after seven years, and is believed to be living in Lincoln. Speaking to Layton's mum outside her home in Peterborough, Susan Layton, 72, told of how she did not recognise her son when she saw him in court. While she had not been in contact with her son for almost two decades, the news of the trial still came as a huge shock to her, prompting her to attend court. She said: 'My son was involved but I don't know what went on. I was shocked. I was literally shocked. 'Me and my youngest daughter, we went to court. 'It wasn't my son. It didn't look like him if you know what I mean. 'I couldn't even recognise him. 'In his teens when he was like 17 he said 'oh I can go and get a place of my own, £7 a week', I said 'go and do it', so he went and after that nothing. 'He doesn't speak to any of the family.' Representing Layton during trial, Christopher Morgan said: 'The only person who glorifies in death and who trades on it and gets satisfaction from thinking about it and doing it is Joanna Dennehy. 'Leslie Layton has nothing to do with those exceptional circumstances, he's now caught up in it.' Layton supposedly now lives in Lincoln, having built a new life and finding a partner. Layton's mother told MailOnline: 'I know that he lives in Lincoln somewhere but where I don't know. 'He didn't even speak to me before and he won't even speak to me now. 'I haven't tried reaching out because I mean it probably would be disheartening for him and for me. 'But he's got his life now and I've got mine. And I think he's got a girlfriend apparently. 'I know he got 14 years but when he came out I do not know. He's got seven years to do and I think he's got a tag on. 'Apparently, according to what I got told, he [Stretch] is going to go for him [Leslie] when he's out. 'Because apparently he thought it was him that turned and split on them two, that it was him that turned and informed the police. 'Because he got less than what them two got. 'But she [Dennehy] is still inside. And she'll stay until the rest of her life.' While Stretch could one day have hopes of being released, Dennehy will spend her entire life behind bars. As MailOnline visited one of the flats Dennehy had lived in when she carried out the murders, a neighbour who had lived in the block at the time shouted: 'Sod her! 'She can rot in jail!'
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Landlords' shock claim about couple accused of murdering Pheobe Bishop - and the brutal way they learned their house had been completely trashed
The owners of a dilapidated property rented out by a couple accused of murdering Pheobe Bishop claimed they seemed like ideal tenants and 'ticked all the boxes'. The landlords appeared stunned on Sunday as they inspected the mess left at the house on Milden Street in Gin Gin, in the Bundaberg region in Queensland. Pheobe had lived at the premises with James Wood and Tanika Bromley before she disappeared on May 15. Wood and Bromley have since been charged with her murder and two counts each of interfering with her corpse. Empty bottles, clothing and rubbish surrounded the property on Sunday with the landlord couple telling Daily Mail Australia it is 'even worse inside'. They claimed the interior was littered with dog faeces and confirmed the canines Wood kept on the property had died. The back porch is understood to be covered in faeces along with used Covid tests. Real estate photos of the home from 2024 and 2016 showed the property had previously been in pristine condition with tidy gardens and clean verandahs. The young couple have owned the property for several years and only found out about the disgusting state of their house when it made headlines. 'It was a beautiful home,' they said. The couple revealed Wood and Bromley had 'ticked all the boxes' as good tenants when they applied for the rental, which is understood to have been listed for $550 a week. It's understood the house was rented in Bromley's name and she never missed a payment. The owners, from Far North Queensland, returned to Gin Gin to assess the damage to their property, which was razed by forensics following Pheobe's disappearance. The home was declared a crime scene soon after the teenager vanished but was processed and closed late last month. 'We don't even know where to start,' the landlords admitted while surveying the garbage-strewn property. The male owner told Channel Seven: 'We started a family in this home.' Wood (right) and Bromley (left) were charged with murder and two counts of interfering with a corpse The couple hopes to 'clean it up and make it liveable to get it back on market'. Pheobe had moved in with Bromley and Wood in recent months, after troubles at her family home. A local IGA worker told Daily Mail Australia Pheobe would often come in to buy food, but didn't have enough money. 'I would pay the rest so that child could eat,' she said. On May 15, Bromley and Wood drove Pheobe to Bundaberg Airport but she never made it to the terminal. Some neighbours reported an argument at the Milden Street home in the early hours of that morning. Detective Inspector Craig Mansfield said this week that police 'will allege that three people arrived near to the airport, and that three people never left that vehicle'. Human remains were found on Friday deep within the Good Night Scrub National Park, an hour from the Milden Street property. The Gin Gin community will hold a vigil in her memory tonight.
