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RTÉ News
2 days ago
- RTÉ News
Three stories from inside the Satchwell house
In mid-November 2017, Tina Satchwell had been missing eight months. RTÉ Prime Time reporter Barry Cummins visited her home in Youghal, unaware that her body lay less than ten feet away buried beneath concrete. He was there to interview Tina's husband, Richard, who was yesterday found guilty of her murder. Here he writes about that day, and later learning that her remains were feet away - a fact that troubles him to this day. As part of a special programme on the trial of Richard Satchwell, he has since spoken with others who were also in 3 Grattan Street before Tina's body was discovered, six-and-a-half years after she went missing. James McNamara has a story like no-one else. He was the Limerick builder who dug down to the spot where he found the sheeting which held the body of Tina Satchwell. It was Wednesday 11 October 2023 when James brought a Kango hammer into the house and down to the confined space, inside a cubby hole, underneath the stairs of the Satchwell home. The house had been sealed off since the evening before, when Richard Satchwell had been arrested on suspicion of murder. After a fresh review of the missing person's case, a search warrant had been obtained to allow for an intrusive search of the property. That gave gardaí the power to dig up floors, pull down walls, and excavate wherever they saw fit. A plan had been devised six weeks before James and his colleagues assisted gardaí with work at the house. The strategy was that there would be ten search zones at the property - inside, to the rear, and to the side. A kitchen extension which had been built by Richard Satchwell at the back of the property was originally earmarked for special attention by gardaí. But once the house was sealed off, and before any excavation work commenced, a cadaver dog from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) - Fern - was brought in to walk the scene. Fern has successfully found many bodies which lay hidden beneath the ground or underwater. She and her handler were brought south to Youghal and walked the entirety of the four-storey property. Fern started at the top of the stairs and walked down the four flights of stairs with her handler. At the bottom of the stairs, in the hall, towards the bottom steps, Fern suddenly lay flat, giving a firm indication that something was to be found nearby. The house was a mess. Dog faeces were on the floor in many parts of the house, and you couldn't see much of the floor space. A concrete mixer and a sofa were among the many items blocking access to the understairs cubby hole. Part of the structure beside the narrow door under the stairs was a brick wall, with one brick a different hue to the others. The wall looked odd, once you could get a proper look at it, with all the items finally removed from the floor space in front. The brick wall looked amateurish, not professionally constructed. James McNamara and his colleague Pat O'Connor, and a garda from the Technical Bureau, Brian Barry, were standing in the living room on that October evening, discussing the demolition and excavation work to be commenced the following day, when they found themselves looking at the under stairs cubby hole. "The house was manky, I'd never seen anything like it in my life. The smell was very bad," James told me. As they chatted, they decided to take a closer look under the stairs. James went into the cramped space through the narrow entrance beside the brick wall. "Brian gave me a flashlight and I shone it down, and there was lino on the floor. We pulled away the lino and we could see the colour difference in the concrete," James said. A section of the concrete floor was a lighter shade than the rest. Detective Brian Barry quickly contacted the incident room in Midleton. Gardaí immediately agreed the area should be searched. James McNamara got the Kango hammer inside and began drilling into the concrete, but he soon stopped the machine. He had been expecting to drill through up to four inches of concrete, the normal amount that might be laid for flooring, but the concrete under the stairs was much thinner. "When I took up the floor the concrete basically fell apart. The filling underneath should be solid, but it was just loose filling," James told me. James quickly put the Kango hammer aside. The space was too cramped to use a large shovel to dig. Down on his knees, he began using a trowel to remove soil and put it to the side. Even the trowel seemed too big for the space. Soon, James was using his hands to remove the earth and dig down. A portable light was put close beside him to help him see what he was doing, as Detective Barry and James' colleague Pat stayed nearby. James remembers it took just a few minutes. "I went down about the length of my arm, two-and-a-half feet, and that's when I came across the polythene plastic." Detective Brian Barry immediately told James to stop his work, and gardaí began preserving the scene. "Brian said to me 'Right lads, you're done' and told us to leave," remembers James. Two forensic archaeologists, Niamh McCullagh and Aidan Harte, then began slow and methodical work to carefully unearth what was hidden beneath the stairs, a staircase I myself had previously walked up while being given a tour of the house by Richard six years before. Interviewing Richard Satchwell By the time I had entered the house, in late 2017, Tina Satchwell was missing eight months. Myself and two colleagues, producer Kevin Burns and camera operator Shirley Bradshaw, spent most of that evening in the front room of the house in the company of Richard Satchwell, who had agreed to an interview request. By then, Satchwell had, on a number of occasions, been openly asked if gardaí considered him a suspect in his wife's disappearance. I knew as I entered the house that November evening that gardaí had previously spent a full day searching the house with no sign of Tina being found. I can remember as I entered the property the smell of must and dust, as I sat in the front living room smelling the bird droppings which littered the cage in which the couple's parrot lived. Valentine was the parrot which had replaced the previous one, Pearl. Richard told me that the couple were heartbroken at Pearl's death. "We cried for weeks, we had an autopsy done and everything," he said as I stood with him looking at various items on a shelf which spoke of the life of a missing woman. Various bottles of nail varnish sat on the shelf, the ones used by Tina the day before she "got up and left" as Richard Satchwell described it. The bottles were covered in dust, the house was dirty, and the situation was unpleasant. The interviewee picked up a dusty full bottle of Cava which he said he'd bought in Tesco to mark the couple's 25th wedding anniversary the year before. "Tina never opened it," Satchwell recalled, as Pearl looked on. "I don't drink, I'm a teetotaller," he added. We looked above the shelf at a photo of Tina. "She got that done up in Tallaght," he said as we stood beside the parrot in the narrow living room. Richard Satchwell pointed at clothes on hangers resting on a door behind a couch. The clothes Tina bought at a car-boot sale the day before she disappeared. That night, we only filmed in the front room. But to reach it, we had to walk through the hallway and the middle room beside the stairs. As we carried our filming equipment into and out of the house, we would have walked less than three feet from the understairs clandestine burial area. I have often reflected on my interactions with Richard Satchwell, and I am still processing it all. I was doing my job, interviewing a man who was making public appeals for his missing wife. On every occasion I met him - and I even had Richard Satchwell in my own car as we drove around Youghal - I would learn new information. The more I met him the more he talked, and the more he lied. Prosecution The interviews I conducted with Richard Satchwell were used as part of the prosecution's case, showing his demeanour and his comments even as his wife's body lay just feet away from where he and I sat on a couch in his home. I was one of a small number of journalists who had been inside the house at Grattan Street as Tina's body lay hidden, still dressed in her pyjamas and nightgown, as she lay face down beneath the stairs. Kyran O'Brien was working as a photographer with the Irish Independent when he photographed Richard Satchwell at the top of the house, beside the walk-in wardrobe where Tina kept the many clothes she had purchased at car-boot sales and in charity shops. The clothes were often designer labels, Tina always had an eye for a bargain, and she always had an eye for fashion. "All the clothes were immaculately folded and put in plastic and displayed very well," remembered Kyran. "And then he showed me another room where there was a sunbed that he had built as well. And it was all quite tight. It was quite a tight stairs. It was an old, very thin house. The rooms were quite small, but there were basically walk-in wardrobes." Like me, Kyran remembers there was a smell in the house, a smell of damp and dust and neglect. "There was dog poo and there was parrot poo and it was dirty. It was unkempt, it was smelly. It wasn't clean. And he kept trying to offer us cups of tea. And I kept sort of saying to him, 'we have a long drive home, so I'd rather not'," Kyran said. "It's terrible," Kyran told me, "to know I was in the house and the poor woman was not ten feet from where I was sitting. It'll stick with me." James McNamara did the State, and Tina Satchwell, a service when he got down on his knees and began to dig that October evening in 2023. It's a moment he won't forget. "We knew what we were doing was very important work. It was great to be involved with a case like this. It gives a family peace, so it was actually massive." The fact that machinery such as ground penetrating radar failed to give an indication of a body beneath the stairs is due perhaps to the fact the grave was so deep. Tina's body had been buried nearly three feet down, under soil, concrete and a layer of lino. And for years people, including myself, walked those stairs above, never knowing. There are many lessons to be learned from this case for everyone, and there are many vivid memories that will stay with me of my interactions over a number of months with Richard Satchwell.
Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Scottish Sun
Shocking moment cyclist tears through traffic with child clinging to back – before riding WRONG way through roundabout
Watch the clip in our video player YOU'RE KIDDING Shocking moment cyclist tears through traffic with child clinging to back – before riding WRONG way through roundabout THIS is the shocking moment a cyclist tears between traffic with a child clinging onto his back before going the wrong way through a roundabout. Concerning footage shows the man riding in a cycle lane on Springfield Road, in west Belfast, with a youngster on his back. Advertisement 4 Shocking footage showed the man tearing through a roundabout the wrong way 4 The child was clinging onto the rider's back with just his hands Credit: Police Appeal 4 The man swerved across two lanes before failing to slow down as they approach a roundabout Credit: Police Appeal The child, who doesn't appear to be wearing a helmet or any protection padding, is riding piggyback style. At one point the little one, donning a short sleeved red top and beige shorts, flings their legs out to the side - barely clinging on as they grip the man's neck. The rider then swerves across two lanes before failing to slow down as they approach a roundabout. A worried driver, who captured the bizarre scenes, then films the cyclist travelling through the system in the wrong direction. Advertisement A car can be seen pulling up to the roundabout as the pair whizz around, luckily avoiding oncoming traffic. The Police Service of Northern Ireland have since launched a probe into the incident. The force have urged anyone with dashcam footage to come forward. A spokesperson said: "We are aware of a video circulating social media of an adult and a child cycling in an unsafe manner in the Springfield Road area of the city. Advertisement "If anyone has any information, or any further dashcam footage please contact us on 101 quoting serial number CC2025052901396". This comes after the shocking moment a fishermen dad and his topless son scrap with officials was caught on camera. The duo, who verbally and physically assaulted two officers, fists flying have been whacked with a hefty £12,000 court bill. Anglers Sidney Bowman, 75, and a topless Andrew Bowman, 44, assaulted two Environment Agency officers who had asked for their names and addresses after they caught them fishing without a licence. Advertisement Despite being informed that they were on camera, Sidney poked an officer in the eye after his son hit his colleague in the face. Elsewhere, the a "rude" dad was filmed parking his car on a stranger's driveway to avoid school run chaos – before a furious mum confronted him. Dion Joy says she thought a red Toyota was turning around outside her home in Tameside, Greater Manchester, but quickly realised the driver was planning to use her drive as a free parking space. Footage shows the shameless man pull up onto her tarmacked driveway, get out, then spot 33-year-old Dion staring at him through her front window. Advertisement He immediately points towards the primary school three doors down but Dion calmly says 'no, can you get off my drive please?' The dad still attempts to convince the mum-of-three to let him stay by mentioning his daughter but his pleas fail to work as Dion explains her boyfriend is coming home to park there. She firmly repeats her order to leave and tells the man 'that's so rude' before he gets back into the car and reverses off to park further down the street - where there were spaces free. Do you have any shocking dashcam footage? Email Advertisement
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
NI leaders urged to support families 'living in fear' of sectarian attacks
The first and deputy first ministers have been called on to publicly condemn sectarian attacks on homes in north Belfast. Independent councillor Paul McCusker, who has written to Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly, said they need to "come out, show commitment and get behind these families". TUV councillor Ron McDowell said local residents are living in "terror and fear". It comes after masonry was thrown at properties in Annalee Street and Alloa Street on Wednesday. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said they have stepped up patrols in the area. On Friday, a number of residents said they planned to leave their homes. McDowell said those targeted were "young girls in their early 20s with babies in their arms". "When they say their houses have been attacked - there are no windows in their homes – they are completely boarded up with a threat of a repeat visit," he added. McDowell said there was an issue with police resources in north-west Belfast. "I don't doubt that the police are doing what they can – they stepped up yesterday and pledged more – they now have the alarms that people can press - but they don't appear to have the resources to deal with this adequately," he added. He said there was a high density of peace walls in the area. "There is a lot of insecurity around community displacement – there are predators within the community within paramilitary gangs who would play on the fears of the local inhabitants, who are protective of homes for their own people and their children," he said. "This has been a minority group of Catholic houses that have been targeted in a predominantly unionist area. "Incidents along the peace line are nothing new though they don't often get reported - they go on for months and it can be a living hell for people in those areas." Following a meeting between the affected families, police and community representatives on Sunday, McCusker said most families want to stay, but "no one can guarantee their safety". McCusker called for the NI Executive to intervene and for the first and deputy first ministers to "come out and call this out for what it is". Speaking to BBC News NI on Monday, he said: "I mean this is a major problem, you know, north Belfast is one of the most divided parts of Belfast, and a lot more work needs to done to ensure that people regardless if you're Catholic or Protestant or whatever religion you are, that you're entitled to live in a safe home in any community." He added: "It's a massive big upheaval in anybody's life, particularly if you're homeless for eight years to then get a new house and then to be treated this way is just shocking." He said the sectarian attacks are "becoming more of a problem here in north Belfast" and are "not being reported enough". "And we're aware of other families in recent months this has happened to as well and we need that commitment from first minister and deputy first minister to actually to come out, show commitment and get behind these families." PSNI Supt Allister Hagan said: "We are treating what happened in these residential areas not just as criminal damage, but sectarian-motivated hate crime - which is totally unacceptable. "This will not be tolerated. We will continue to work closely with our partners, housing provider, community representatives and local residents in relation to these issues." Police have been "regularly patrolling these areas at varying intervals to deter crime and provide reassurance to the community," Supt Hagan added. "In addition, we have been meeting with residents regularly to listen to their concerns and offer practical support." Clanmil Housing said it has been on site over the weekend. In a statement, a spokesperson said: "Some families have left their homes at this time, and we have provided alternative temporary accommodation where needed. "We absolutely condemn the continued and unprovoked threat to families living peacefully in their homes. Everyone should be allowed to live safely in their home, free from any type of intimidation or threat." The NI Executive office has been contacted for comment. Residents 'on edge' following sectarian attack
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Police defend arrests of Pro-Palestinian protestors
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has defended its actions after two women, one of whom is a pensioner, were arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest in Belfast. Sue Pentel, 72, a long-standing campaigner and member of Jews for Palestine Ireland, and another woman in her 50s were detained by police outside a Barclays Bank branch in Castle Place on Saturday. Both were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. Stickers had been placed on an ATM. Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said having looked at body-cam footage of the incident, determined that the officer's actions were "lawful and proportionate". "I am limited in what I can say about this incident as due process must be allowed to run its course," he said in a statement to BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show. "However, due to the degree of interest in this case, I want to reassure the public that, having reviewed footage of the incident (including from body worn camera,) I am satisfied that our officers acted with courtesy and professionalism." ACC Henderson said the officers were reacting to an emergency call from a city centre business. "Their actions were lawful and proportionate to the situation they discovered," he added. Both of the women were released later on Saturday, pending a report to the Public Prosecution Service. ACC Henderson said the right to both freedom of speech and assembly are "fundamental human rights". "However, they must be balanced with the need to uphold the rights of others, protect public health and safety, minimise disruption to normal life and by the need to prevent and detect crime." Following the arrests, a number of pro-Palestinian protesters held a further demonstration outside Musgrave Street PSNI station. Branches of Barclays have been targeted around the UK by pro-Palestinian groups, who want the bank to stop investing in certain companies. There has been mass condemnation of the arrests, with Ms Pentel's solicitor Pádraig Ó Muirigh saying she was detained after "peacefully protesting". "She has committed no offence and should not be criminalised for exercising her right to peaceful protest against these ongoing atrocities," he said in a statement. "Our client will robustly contest any attempt to criminalise her if a decision is made to prosecute. "We will also be advising her in relation to the lawfulness of her arrest." Patrick Corrigan, the Northern Ireland director of Amnesty International UK, told The Nolan Show that the right to protest is "fundamental to our democracy". "That includes making the point with your body – standing in the street or even with placing a sticker - those symbolic acts," he added. "It's in the public interest that police protect those rights." Mr Corrigan said peaceful protest is protected by law "even when it disruptive or causes a minor nuisance to people but that is not a reason to criminalise people". "When you arrest people for a sticker you lose all sense of balance." Pensioner arrested during pro-Palestinian protest
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
NI police 'need support to deal with lasting trauma'
A former police officer has spoken about the lasting trauma of attending tragic incidents, saying many officers have experiences that stay with them "forever". Linzi McLaren was speaking as new statistics show that more than 60% of police officers in Northern Ireland, who took long-term sick leave in the past year, cited mental health reasons. Figures obtained from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) via a Freedom of Information request, have also revealed that the number of officers who have taken leave over anxiety, depression and PTSD has risen in the past five years. The Police Federation of Northern Ireland said colleagues were "suffering" because of a lack of resources. Ms McLaren, a councillor who served in the PSNI for 18 years, said most officers "all have one or two incidents that they will remember forever". "I remember attending a suicide 20 years ago. Even now, driving home at night in the dark, if I'm in the car on my own and I look through the rear-view mirror, I can see him on the back seat," she said. "I remember one colleague who worked with the murder team for 30 years, and it never fazed him, every time he went to a scene no matter how graphic. "It was only when his own children became the ages of those victims that all of a sudden it had a huge impact on him." Ms McLaren said mental health had always been a major problem within the service, but attitudes towards support have only recently changed. "In days gone by, especially during the Troubles, you didn't go off sick with mental health," she said. "You maybe got a day [off] and your mates got you a bottle of whiskey." Ms McLaren said some colleagues have held back on admitting the extent of their struggles for fear of how it would affect their career. The PSNI defines long-term absence as officers who have been absent from work for 29 days or more, in one period. More than 1,700 officers took such an absence in 2024-25, more than 27% of the total police workforce. Of that number, 1,032 are on psychological sick leave. There has been a notable increase in the number of officers who took at least one day off work due to various mental health reasons. 163 officers took at least one day off work for anxiety in 2021-22 - the number was 264 in 2024-25 40 officers took at least one day off work for depression in 2021-22 - that number was 52 in 2024-25 65 officers took at least one day off work for PTSD in 2021-22 - but by 2024-25 it was 102 The number of officers who have left the PSNI directly after taking psychological sick leave has also risen. Figures also show that 218 officers left the organisation after a period of psychological sick leave in the latest financial year, compared to 74 in 2021-22. Ms McLaren said that these days PSNI officers were more willing to engage in discussions around mental health, but occupational health services were not able to keep up with demand. "Our occupational health is not an emergency service, and they remind us of that all the time," she said. "They [officers] have nightmares, they can't sleep, they've got anxiety or depression – and they go to occupational health services but maybe can't get an appointment for six months." Ms McLaren said more and more people were turning to private health care, but some felt it was not a sufficient option for them because the experience of dealing with various forms of trauma while working as an officer is so unique. "You are also tied to data protection, so you can't go and discuss the murder or suicide you just attended," she added. "You can't go home and discuss it with your partner or your children. "So there really is no other avenue or outlet to talk about what you've witnessed, apart from your colleagues." Early counselling is something Ms McLaren has been calling for. "For those officers that attend traumatic incidents, give them counselling at that time in a bid to stop them from deteriorating to the point that they can no longer work," she explained. The chair of the Police Federation of Northern Ireland, Liam Kelly, said the latest figures were "not in the least bit surprising". "[Officers] are doing more with less and without adequate resources from the devolved executive, these pressures will inevitably intensify," he said. "Colleagues with a number of conditions - some complex and long-term - are suffering because of both a lack of resources and a limited cadre of overburdened professionals capable of supporting and assisting them. "The situation is immensely challenging and this federation has been voicing serious concern at the lack of tangible and speedy progress." Clare Duffield, the PSNI's assistant chief officer for people and organisational development, said: "The rise in employee absence for mental health reasons is an issue affecting many employers and sectors. "The Police Service of Northern Ireland is no exception to this." She added the PSNI recognised that officers faced "considerable and unique challenges" in their careers and the organisation was "committed to continuously improving the range of health and wellbeing services and support" it offers. PSNI says it needs £200m extra to address staffing deficit More than 3,000 apply to join police service PSNI has 550 officers off sick each day, says chief
