Richard Satchwell told media he was ‘an innocent man' and his wife was still alive after she disappeared, murder trial hears

Irish Independent

01-05-2025

latest |
Murder accused Richard Satchwell (58) insisted in media interviews weeks after the disappearance of his wife Tina (45) that he was "an innocent man" and couldn't understand why malicious things were being said about him.
Mr Satchwell - who denies the murder of his wife - wept during an RTÉ Crimecall appeal - and claimed to TV3/Virgin Media's Paul Byrne on July 14, 2017, that elements of the Irish media were now fabricating stories about him.
When asked directly by Mr Byrne if he had killed his wife, he denied it: "Never - I never ever lifted a finger to her."
Mr Satchwell appeared for the fourth day of his murder trial before the Central Criminal Court in Dublin wearing navy slacks and a red-blue pattern shirt.
The truck driver has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife Tina at a time unknown on March 19-20, 2017, at his home at No 3 Grattan Street in Youghal, Co Cork contrary to Common Law.
Tina's partially skeletonised body was discovered following an invasive search of the Satchwell family home from October 10, 2023.
She was found buried in a shallow grave underneath the stairs which had been topped with concrete.
Mr Satchwell had notified officers at Fermoy Garda Station on March 24, 2017, that his Fermoy-born wife was missing from their Youghal home when he returned from an errand in Waterford four days earlier.
The Leicester native said his wife had left her beloved dogs, Heidi and Ruby, behind but had taken two suitcases and €26,000 in their life savings which had been stored in a tin in the attic.
At the urging of Gardaí, he made a formal missing person statement on May 11, 2017.
Mr Satchwell's home was subjected to a 12-hour search by a team of 10 Gardaí on June 7, 2017, but nothing was found.
ADVERTISEMENT
That search included conducting a 'Blue Star' test for traces of blood but none were found.
However, a new wall underneath the house stairwell was noted and photographed.
The jury of seven women and five men were today shown further clips of media interviews Mr Satchwell had conducted over June-July 2017 in support of the Garda missing person campaign to locate his wife Tina.
The trial was told they would hear a total of 14 clips from various interviews.
On Wednesday the jury listened to clips of interview appeals made by Mr Satchwell to The Irish Independent, RTÉ and 96FM.
Today, clips from RTÉ and TV3/Virgin Media were played in evidence introduced by Detective Garda David Kelleher.
"One way or another I know that she is going to turn up - she is going to make contact with Gardaí," Mr Satchwell said on July 14, 2017.
"This will all come out and prove that I did nothing wrong."
"I know her (Tina) better than I know myself."
Mr Satchwell then claimed that elements of the Irish media were fabricating stories about him - and he was not going to do further interviews.
"I think at this point they are beginning to mislead and even fabricate stories. I am not going to make any more interviews."
"I have been with my wife for 28 years. I have never, ever lifted my finger to her."
"(I wanted to offer) a good, quiet, loving marriage and nothing else."
"If I was asked to take a lie detector test I would do it."
But the truck driver acknowledged that some people were passing hurtful comments about him.
"I don't know why people are being so malicious."
Mr Satchwell emphatically denied, when directly questioned, if he had killed his wife.
"Never - I am an innocent man," he insisted.
"She has been my daylight - I have never over our nearly 30 years of being together ever lifted a finger to her."
"She obviously felt she needed a break - just to get her head straight," he told Barry Cummins on RTÉ's 'Prime Time.'
He insisted his arms were open to Tina should she come home.
"(I would offer) a tight cuddle...loving the bones off her."
"As far as I am concerned my wife is out there and she is going to come back...I do not believe she is dead. I honestly truly believe that.'
Mr Satchwell maintained between 2017 and 2023 that his wife had left the family home over marital difficulties.
The trial has already heard that Mr Satchwell claimed to Gardaí in October 2023, just hours after human remains were found in his home during a second more invasive search, that his wife Tina attacked him with a chisel on March 20, 2017, before she "went limp" after he tried to protect himself by holding her away from him with a belt, with her weight on the belt by her neck.
He placed her body in a chest freezer and then buried it in a one metre grave he excavated under the stairwell of their Cork home.
Mr Satchwell, having placed Tina's body in black sheeting and then into the shallow grave, covered it over with cement before notifying Gardaí four days later that his wife was missing.
Her remains were only found six and a half years later following a forensic and invasive search by Gardaí of the Grattan Street property.
The prosecution is led by Gerardine Small SC with Imelda Kelly BL.
Mr Satchwell's defence team is led by Brendan Grehan SC with Paula McCarthy BL, instructed by Cork solicitor Eddie Burke.
The murder trial, before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven women and five men, is expected to run until June 5-6.