Satchwell's story has ‘more holes than block of Swiss cheese', murder trial told

Independent

23-05-2025

Murder accused Richard Satchwell was 'shamelessly brazen' and the narrative he gave about how his wife died was implausible and had 'more holes than than a block of Swiss cheese', the jury at his trial has been told.
Satchwell was accused of displaying 'conniving actions, full of guile', and embarked on a 'web of deceit' after he buried Tina Satchwell under the stairs of their home in Co Cork.
Satchwell, of Grattan Street in Youghal, is accused of murdering his wife between March 19 and 20 2017.
The 58-year-old, who is originally from Leicester, England, denies the charge at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.
Mrs Satchwell's remains were found under the stairs in the living room of their Co Cork home in October 2023, six years after Satchwell reported her missing.
In her closing speech to the jury, Geradine Small SC, said that Satchwell was 'shamelessly brazen' to the very end, even as he knew gardai were thoroughly searching his home in 2023.
Satchwell was given pictures of under the stairs and when asked what he kept there, he said 'bit and pieces'.
She said that he maintained the position that his wife had left him 'to the bitter end'.
Ms Small said the jury would be forgiven for thinking that after Mrs Satchwell's body was found, that there would be a road to Damascus moment.
However, she said that the defendant then embarked upon 'another narrative, another web of deceit'.
'I suggest to you this narrative has more holes than a block of Swiss cheese, it is laden with discrepancies,' she told the jury of seven women and five men.
'Your are being asked to accept this, it's totally implausible this narrative, obviously self-serving.'
She told the jury his narrative of the morning Mrs Satchwell died was that she had a chisel and attacked him.
'For some reason, Richard Satchwell loses his footing and on this account he falls back and he is lying on the ground on his back, supposedly, and he says Tina is on top of him, with a chisel in her right hand, trying to stab him but she never manages,' Ms Small said.
'This eight stone lady and 6ft man, who is a considerably heavier man.
'She is still stabbing at him. He for some reason grabs her clothing and then describes having this belt.'
Ms Small said Satchwell claimed he held her off him because he was terrified.
The jury was told that Satchwell offered no detail of what happened in the moments when she died.
Ms Small said the account was 'totally implausible'.
She said: 'It is farcical. But that is what Richard Satchwell is telling the guards.'
She said that Satchwell was not able to tell investigating gardai how many times his wife tried to stab at him, how the belt was positioned back to front, or how the belt was at his wife's neck.
On Friday afternoon, the jury heard the closing speech from defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC, who told them that Satchwell was guilty of lying.
'Richard Satchwell is guilty, there is no doubt about it, but what exactly of? He is certainly guilty of causing his wife's death, he says in a struggle where she is attacking him with a chisel, and he is guilty of burying her under the stairs of their home,' he said.
'All of those things, yes, yes, yes. He is guilty of lying. He lied to her family, cousins, the doctor, the practice nurse, to many different gardai from Youghal to Fermoy, he lied to the media, on the local airwaves, and the national airwaves, he lied on television and lied to the people of Ireland. He lied to you and he lied to me.
'That does not make him a murderer, the fact that he lied. That alone cannot make him a murderer.'
Mr Grehan said that once someone starts a lie, it can be 'very difficult' to stop, and the domino effect is to tell another lie to cover the previous one.
He said that once Satchwell told lies, he could not stop and kept on lying.
But, he said, there is not a 'scintilla of evidence' of Satchwell ever laying a hand on his wife.
He said that Satchwell loved his wife and despite the occasional 'Jekyll and Hyde' flash of temper where 'she would hit him suddenly', he loved her and was 'prepared to put up with it'.
He said that while the violence described is a small amount, it is 'significant in setting the scene where Tina suddenly turned violent', claiming this is what happened on the morning of March 20 2017.
Mr Grehan also claimed that gardai 'glossed over' the biggest elephant in the room, and that is the 'failure' of An Garda Siochana in the course of the case.
He told the jury that he accepts Satchwell was the 'author of the greatest contributor' in the delay of the case, but said there is 'more than enough blame to go around'.
'It shouldn't simply be left behind or ignored or swept under the carpet. It did influence how the investigation was dealt with,' he added.
He said that Satchwell should not be punished in the delay of finding her body.
He said that Satchwell was 'besotted, obsessed and worshipped' his wife, and that he spent her life devoted to her.
This was reflected in their rituals, including him preparing her a nightly bath with two towels laid out, rubbing baby oil over her body, rubbing her feet, and removing her nail varnish from her finger and toe nails.
Mr Grehan said that Satchwell knew things that most men would not know about their wives, not just their shoe size or clothes but of her sizes of various underwear.
The jury was told that Satchwell was far from a 'criminal mastermind' as he was someone who left a trail of breadcrumbs that would rival something from a nursery tale.
He told the jury that the prosecution would like them to focus on the aftermath of the murder, including the cover-up and the lies because they 'cannot make a case of intent' to murder or cause serious harm.
Mr Grehan said there are three possible verdicts available to the jury. They could find Satchwell guilty of murder, or there was an obligation to acquit him if they accepted he believed he was under serious threat from his wife and that he acted reasonable.
He added that if they found he used more force than was necessary but no more than he thought was necessary, then the appropriate verdict was manslaughter.
Mr Grehan told the jury that they are not here to give a certificate of good character to Satchwell, but to determine if the prosecution had proved their case beyond all reasonable doubt.
He urged them to give 'full consideration' to Satchwell and 'come to a just verdict' in the case.
The judge will begin to summarise the evidence and outline the law to the jury on Monday.