Latest news with #PrimeTimeInvestigates
Sunday World
4 days ago
- Sunday World
The body under the stairs: How Richard Satchwell almost got away with murder
In our latest Special Investigation, the Sunday World looks at the story behind Richard Satchwell's murder of his wife Tina. Richard Satchwell turned to his brother and told him that he was going to marry the Irish teenager when his first saw her. He never forgot the date, the 3rd March 1989, when he laid eyes on the 18-year-old from County Cork. Tina had just arrived to live in England with her grandmother Florence and her uncle Frank who she had grown up with as her brother. She was glamourous and outgoing in contrast to his quiet demeanour. While for him it was love at first sight it took Tina Dingivan a little longer before eventually falling for his personality and the couple became inseparable. But the trouble with this tragic romance story is that that most of it has been told through the words of Richard Satchwell. He is, to understate it, an unreliable narrator. Fast forward to March 2017, Tina who had turned 45 the previous November is dead and buried under the stairs in their home at Grattan Street in Youghal a town on Ireland's south coast. He tells a story of how Tina had left him taking their €26,000 saving, leaving behind her beloved chihuahua Ruby after threatening for years that she would do so. Not only that, but this 5'5' eight stone woman was capable of sudden and capricious violence that he endured in silence for years. He told this story to her family, to the gardaí and to the media during which he made tearful appeals for her to come home all the while known exactly where he had put his wife's now decomposing body For six-and-a-half years he told the same story. He almost got away with murder. The Satchwells earlier in their relationship THE EARLY YEARS Tina had grown up in Beechfield Estate, Fermoy with Florence, across the main road from her niece Lorraine Howard in St Bernard's Place who was three years her junior. They were close friends and spent a lot of time together, making the journey to school together, playing in each other's houses. They were best friends until the day they discovered they were in fact half-sisters. Mary Collins who was Lorriane's mother was also Tina's biological mum and the discovery came as a shock. Approaching her confirmation time, usually when children are 12 years of age in Ireland, Tina got her birth certificate and learned the truth. Lorriane would say in court that Tina was resentful that Lorriane got to be brought up in their mother's and their relationship changed as a result. They would from time to time have rows and even screaming matches. Tina saw it as her having been given away as a child which Lorriane said was not that way at all. When Tina moved to the UK it was part of pattern where Tina would be in her life and then not in her life at all. There were good years and bad years between them and the rows always came back to Tina's sense of being abandoned as a child. Lorraine was aware at some point that Tina had met an Englishman and first met Richard Satchwell with Tina at their mother's house in Fermoy when she would have been aged 15. During their early years together, Tina and Richard would have moved back and forth between England and Ireland, returning to the UK to get married in Oldham on Tina's 20th birthday. Tina Satchwell with her husband Richard from Youghal Co Cork Anyone who knew them and who were called to give evidence at the Central Criminal Court said they were always together. Wherever Tina was going, Richard would also certainly be in her company. Tina didn't drive and mostly didn't work, so she relied on husband to get to where she wanted to be. Lorraine would also say in court that Tina loved her clothes and was high-maintenance something that Richard obviously struggled to cope with, devoted as he was to fulfilling her every wish and that she was the one who wore the trousers. TROUBLE IN PARADISE It seemed their marriage may not have been the idyllic relationship Richard had hoped for. He would later say in a Garda interview that around 1994 he took an overdose of tablets in response to being attacked by Tina who had to call a doctor to their home. He also voluntarily told the gardaí that around 2002 he got into financial trouble and succumbed to the temptation to cash in some stolen cheques. He then went back to the UK where he worked for a while, sending money home to Tina to whom he spoke every night before she came to join him in the UK. He eventually decided to return to Ireland to face up to what he had done and spent a period of time in prison. According to local newspaper records it wasn't the only time he was imprisoned for criminal offences. The Corkman reported how Satchell, described as a self-employed window fitter, had been caught with a stolen and altered tax disc on his car in January 2001, fined €850 and given 10 days behind bars. It was hardly a crime a person would commit if the window fitting business was proving to be a lucrative earner. They moved again back to Fermoy and Glanworth and there was a stint in a city flat in Cork where Tina worked for a short time in a clothes shop. There was tragedy to come for Tina and her extended family who were also dealing with an incident which, according to Lorraine, divided the family straight down the middle. She had not spoken with Tina in the 15 years before her murder in 2017. Tina's brother Tom died by suicide in 2012 which Richard would say left her devastated and changed her moods and personality. From then, he said, their relationship was no longer a sexual one, her moods had become darker and the abrupt violence she would sometimes unleash became worse. The veracity of this description of Tina is known only to Richard, who said he tried to hide her secret and never admitted to being scraped, punched, bitten and cut in what he said were sudden and vicious outbursts. Those he told of the violence said he did so only after she had gone missing in March 2017, while both Lorraine and Sarah said they had never witnessed the behaviour he had described. The only hint was a conversation Sarah overheard as teenager when she walked into a conversation between Tina and her grandmother to hear Tina mention that she had slapped Richard. But she didn't hear the start of the exchange or how it ended and couldn't put those comments in context. Tina Satchwell There were more petty crimes committed by Richard who said he was caught shop-lifting in 2014 and 2016 in Clonmel and Cork city. Their finances were not in good shape and this would later be confirmed in a report by a forensic accountant from the Garda Economic Crime Bureau which detailed how they were overdrawn on both their bank account and their online account with retailer Littlewoods. There was also the strange evidence of €18,000 being collected and sent off again via wire transfer companies that left the couple €8,000 less well-off than what they had started out with. Emails later retrieved from Richard's laptop would later suggest this was a torturous attempt starting in 2015 at adopting two marmoset monkeys named Thelma and Terry from an organisation called International Monkey Rescue. It is not clear exactly what the end goal had been for the Satchwells but it is likely, as suggested in court, they were the victims of a scam. THE MOVE TO YOUGHAL The house they had acquired in Fermoy was sold for €125,000 and they bought a dilapidated three-storey terraced house in Youghal in May 2016. Richard said he had hoped Tina, whose sadness had become worse, would be happier there, a town where she had always liked to walk along the shore. One of the few other things to have lifted her spirits in recent years was their parrot Pearl, which they bough for €450 and so the couple went to live there with the bird and their dogs Ruby and Heidi. They were a quiet living couple, non-drinkers whose main social outlet in life was travelling around Munster to car-boot sales where they bought and sold bric-a-brac and clothes. Richard did the selling while Tina, with Ruby tucked into a Juicy Couture carry case, went bargain hunting for yet more shoes, make-up sets, clothes, hand-bags and whatever fashion accessories were on offer. Her clothes shopping was prodigious and Richard had converted the rooms on the second floor of their Grattan Street house into a walk-in wardrobe with shelves and rails for her collection. In the attic there were boxes of unworn shoes and her favourite Doc Marten boots. Tina was in great form during the Christmas period in December 2016 when she met her cousin Sarah Howard. She would say in court how she was close to Tina who, when she was young, would take her to places, including downtown in Fermoy to have her ears pierced as a five-year-old. They had a great chat when Tina visited Fermoy along with her dogs, little knowing that it would be the last time she would see her. There was another setback for Tina in January, according to Richard, when Pearl the parrot died. They were bereft and cried for weeks and were upset enough that an autopsy was carried out by their vet. By March a new parrot had been found for sale on the internet and despite Richard's caution about getting the exact same type they went ahead and bought the bird on St Valentine's Day, calling it Valentine. As Richard feared the new addition was not as loveable as Pearl, but Tina persisted in trying to train it into the perfect pet Pearl had been. In a phrase repeated by those who gave evidence, the dogs and the parrot were like children to Tina and as with Richard, inseparable. In his statements Richard would say the same and that while had wanted children Tina did not and it was a decision he respected. He said this in the context that he had sacrificed a lot for Tina, having lost all contact with his own family in England because his mother hated the Irish. No 3 Grattan Street, Youghal, Co Cork, where the Satchwells lived. Photo: Kevin McNulty During their time in Grattan Street Richard continued to work on the house which was over 100 years old and had been empty for some years before they moved in. He had fitted the windows, put in new dry-lining and plastered the walls. He said Tina would sometimes be happy 'rolling away' as they painted the interior. But it was rough and ready with no central heating and a house-proud Tina was not yet ready to receive any guests there. When they would arrive home in the evening from a walk or a drive it would just be them and their pets when the door closed behind them. The casual friends they made on the car-boot sale circuit would recall Tina as a bubbly, outgoing, talkative and friendly. It was one of those people, John Keohane, who was the last person known to have spoken to Tina apart from her husband Richard at the Rathcormac car boot sale on 19 March 2017. His own wife had grown up close to members of the Dingivan family in Fermoy and they always had a few words for each other. The 'lovely' Tina had bought an outfit and some perfume prompting him poke fun that she must have a man lined up for a date. She told him that there was only one man for her and that she loved Richard. THE FINAL NIGHT In an account that he would go on to repeat for six and a half years they left Rathcormac that day and drove home to Youghal. He handed Tina cup of tea and then busied himself emptying the car-boot sale goods from his silver 2005 Limerick-reg Nissan Primera car, according to Richard in a detailed description of their finals hours together he would give in a lengthy Enhanced Cognitive Interview in June 2021 to Detective Sergeant David Noonan. He painted a picture of domestic bliss of a couple so in synch that Richard is able to anticipate her needs as she settles into an unchanging evening routine that bore all the hallmarks of ritual. Unloading the car didn't take too long, Tina had bought very little compared to usual trips to the sales, picking up just a make-up set and a mini fold-up travel hair-dryer. They discussed what pizza to order from Apache Pizza, availing of their €21.99 deal that allowed them to buy two, keeping one for the next day. They settled on one with cajun chicken and mushrooms and the other topped with chicken and sweet corn. He walked to the restaurant to collect the food and two Cokes, returning home to eat in silence. He said that Tina always insisted on no talking while they were eating. He had turned on the immersion heater and next began to run a bath for Tina, a nightly event with plenty of suds and the water hot enough to boil potatoes as Richard put it. As she soaked in the hot water Richard would remove the nail varnish from her toes and then lay two bath towels on the bed ready for Tina. Once out of the bath she would flop on the bed, Richard recalling how the steam rose from her naked body. He then rubbed oil on her body massaging her in silence, spending 30 minutes carefully rubbing each foot, taking particular care on the space between her toes. He would use a file on any hard skin, before leaving to take his own quick bath and to have a shave. On his return Tina was in her pyjamas and ready for sleep, he would bring in Ruby to sleep in her little kennel after checking on Heidi. Some of these details of their final night were added in another interview with gardaí when he was later arrested for murder in October 2023. Tina Satchwell with one of her beloved dogs They snuggled down together to fall asleep wordlessly with Richard waking early the next morning, Monday 20 October 2017, sometime before 6 a.m. which he said has been a life-long habit. Putting on jeans and t-shirt he had a coffee, changed the bird paper in the cage and gave Valentine some fruit. He then went out to the shed where he had been plumbing in a washing machine, working there until around 9 a.m. when the dogs ran into the garden signaling that Tina had gotten out of bed and was downstairs. The version of what happened next is one that Richard clung to and to which he added extra details in the subsequent six and a half years. He went inside making tea and toast for Tina which he brought into her. In a brief conversation she asked him to go Aldi in Dungarvan to buy food for the parrot, such errands being a commonplace task, according to Richard. He changed his clothes and set off for Dungarvan, stopping to light a candle at church in Grange in memory of Florence who had passed away on the same day in 1997 and one for Pearl. He continued on his journey and it was some time around 2p.m. when he opened the door and went back inside Grattan Street. He was surprised to see Tina's keys on the hall floor which he picked up. He then found her phone in the kitchen and presumed she had just gone out and had forgotten to take it. The most unusual thing though was the fact that Tina had left but had not taken Ruby or Heidi with her, a very rare occurrence. As time passed he grew curious and checked the sunbed upstairs in case Tina was there. With no sign of her return he went up stairs again, this time noticing that a box, normally behind Tina's boxes of shoes in the attic room, which contained their €26,000 savings was open and empty. Two suitcases were also gone and it sunk in that Tina had probably left him. The next few days were a blur, he'd tell Det Sgt Noonan, the first night sitting on his 'fat arse' crying as Ruby licked the tears from his face. He thought she would come back and likely had just gone to Fermoy, staying with family there. The following Friday, 24 March, he had an appointment with his doctor in Fermoy and while there he called to Tina's relatives in the town who hadn't seen her. He decided to walk into Fermoy Garda Station to tell then that Tina and gone and he just wanted to find out that she was safer. Conor Gately was on the officer on duty that evening and spoke to Richard who he described as being a matter of fact and not over emotive as he told the version of how she was gone along with the money on his return home. Richard wasn't worried that she was at risk of self-harm and suggested she had left the dogs behind to make it easier for her find accommodation. Garda Gately said he advised him to file a missing person's report and entered the details of what Richard had reported on the garda Pulse system. THE LIES 2017 – 2021 That Friday is the first day that someone other than Richard Satchwell knew that Tina was gone and her cousin Sarah Howard immediately rang Tina's phone when she heard the news. When it went unanswered she tried to call Richard who eventually called her back and she asked what had happened and why the dogs weren't with Tina. He told her that they had an argument and had thrown a cup at him and the day before she disappeared had told him she had wasted 28 years of her life with, something that Sarah said she had never heard before. Tina Satchwell In the following weeks she texted Richard to ask for any news who in turn had asked her to make contact with relatives to see if they had heard from Tina. Strangely, one text from Richard was a question asking if she wanted a chest freezer he wanted to off-load. She didn't reply. In court she'd later say it was unusual because Richard wasn't the type to give something away and cited an instance at a car boot sale when her children picked up a CD and a nail varnish from his stall he charged them both 50 cent each. Gardaí in Youghal learned of the report made to their colleagues and sought to follow up with Richard but had initially been unable to catch him at home until 2 May. When Garda Thomas Keane did get an answer at the house he spoke to Satchwell at the door who repeated the story of how she had left but he was not overly concerned and expected her to return home when she had cleared her head. Like his colleague in Fermoy the officer advised him to make a missing person's report. The officer also carried out a social welfare check to see if she had signed on to collect benefits anywhere else, but nothing was found. On 11 May, Richard finally heeds the advice to report Tina missing and made a statement to Garda James Butler in which he added that Tina had run up debts and probably suffered from an undiagnosed psychiatric condition which had been getting worse over the years and she had become more volatile and was violent towards him. Tina was more likely to lash out than harm herself, he told the garda. He also said that Tina had always told him that in the event of her leaving he would get the guards after him if he tried to find her. Satchwell expanded on his story that he had suffered violence at Tina's hands in a more detailed statement a few days later. He told Garda Aidan Dardis she could fly off the handle and veer from telling him she hated him to falling into his arms in the next. He was a walkover and she wore the trousers according to Richard, and her mood had worsened since Tom's death. At least three or four times a year he was subjected to real violence that left him bloodied and scarred. Tina was already dead at this time and now he was bent on assassinating her character. With investigation upgraded to a missing person report the gardaí carried out a trawl of CCTV, made house to house enquiries, ran a social media campaign and put out media appeals which were ultimately fruitless, according the Sergeant in Charge at Youghal, John Sharkey. A decision was taken that there was a possible criminal element to the case. Tina Satchwell It fell to him seek a search warrant from the District Court on the grounds that an assault causing harm may have taken place at the Satchwells' house. On 7 June, 48 days after Richard said Tina had left, a divisional search squad went into the property. Satchwell was on the road and not at home and was told by phone the search was going ahead. Officers who entered described it as being in a shambles. Crime scenes investigator Cathal Whelan said the house was untidy, unkempt, there was dog faeces on the floor, the bird cage was dirty and there were dishes that appeared not to have been washed in a long time. The second-floor room was crammed with Tina's clothes including unopened packages. Other officers took laptops and documents from the house in the search which otherwise yielded little in terms of clues at that stage as to Tina's whereabouts. Later in the evening a member of the Forensic Technical Bureau arrived and used Blue Star, a chemical that illuminates any trace of blood but there was nothing there to be found. The next day Richard Satchwell went into Midelton Garda Station to give another statement where this time he was met by Sgt Daniel Holland and again Richard took the opportunity to express his love for Tina while at the same time pointing out what he said was her deteriorating mental health and her violence which included being twice knocked unconscious by her. 'I took her abuse because she was in pain from life, she isn't a bad person and I don't want to paint her that way,' said Richard. He knew gardaí had been in contact with Tina's half-sister and mother Mary Collins and when he learned they had been asked if he had been violent to Tina he told Det Sgt Holland he was shocked and felt sick. 'I am destroyed by this, I just want Tina back.' Asked about the mysterious money transfers he said that it was all explained in the emails which the gardaí would be able to see on his laptop. To continue our examination of the Satchwell murder, you can read part two right here .
South Wales Guardian
21-05-2025
- South Wales Guardian
Tina Satchwell's cousin never saw her be ‘violent or aggressive', court told
Sarah Howard also told the court that she thought it was 'strange' that her cousin's husband, Richard Satchwell, had offered her a chest freezer in the weeks after she disappeared. 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 in England, denies the charge. 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. Giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, Ms Howard was asked by prosecution barrister Gerardine Small if she had ever witnessed Mrs Satchwell being violent or aggressive, to which she replied: 'Never.' Ms Howard said she was 'very close' to her cousin, that they would have spent a lot time together, going swimming, walking the dogs and going around the shops in Fermoy. Asked to describe her, she said Mrs Satchwell was 'kind-hearted, loving, a family person' who loved animals, that she was 'bubbly, social' and a 'genuinely lovely person'. She became emotional when she watched footage taken from Prime Time Investigates which aired after Mrs Satchwell went missing. Ms Howard said her cousin used to visit her at her home, but that she did not see her as much after the couple moved to Youghal in May 2016. She last saw Mrs Satchwell shortly before Christmas in 2016, and said that she was in 'great form', and that she 'always had the dogs'. She told the court she first heard her cousin was missing after Satchwell called her mother's home in Fermoy on March 26, 2017. After learning that she was missing, she rang Mrs Satchwell's phone but there was no answer. She then contacted Satchwell and asked where she was and what had happened to her, adding it was unusual she left without the dogs. Satchwell told her that there had been an argument and she had left him. He claimed during the phone call that she had thrown a cup at him and taken a sum of money, and that two suitcases were missing from their home. She also gave evidence that Satchwell told her they had been at a car boot sale the previous weeks and that Mrs Satchwell had told him she had wasted 28 years with him. 'I never heard any of that before,' Ms Howard told the court. When Ms Small asked whether she had ever heard of cups being thrown before, she replied: 'Never.' She also said in her evidence that on March 30 2017, days after Mrs Satchwell disappeared, she received a text message from Satchwell offering her 'their big chest freezer' for free. She said she did not respond and when asked why, she said she thought it was unusual. 'I thought it was very strange. He is not the kind to give stuff.' She recalled how she once went to a car boot sale with her two children, where Satchwell had a stall. The court was told that her children picked up a CD and nail varnish and Satchwell charged them 50 cents each for the items. 'So when I was offered something for free like that I thought it was very unusual,' she added. A number of text exchanges between Satchwell and Ms Howard in the months after Mrs Satchwell went missing were read to the court. Ms Howard asked Satchwell several times whether there was any news about his wife, to which he had said no. In a text sent in June 2017, Ms Howard asked Satchwell not to call to her house because her children got upset when Ms Satchwell was not with him. She said she used to spent a lot of time with her cousin, that she would often take her away and into their local town, including the time she got her ears pierced when she was four or five. She agreed that the loss of Mrs Satchwell has deeply affected her. Asked if she would describe Satchwell as being besotted and obsessed with his wife, she replied: 'I suppose. He was always with her.' Defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC said that in a statement made to gardai after Mrs Satchwell went missing, she said that Satchwell was 'so obsessed with Tina that he couldn't have caused her harm'. 'That was before,' Ms Howard replied in court. Asked whether others in her family had seen Mrs Satchwell display violent behaviour, she said she was not sure. She also agreed with Mr Grehan that Satchwell had hand-delivered a birthday card for her in August 2017, which had been signed 'Tina and Richard' and contained two photographs. She further agreed that Mrs Satchwell's grandmother had raised her, and that Mrs Satchwell and her mother Mary Collins had fallen out in the years before she disappeared. When asked if Mrs Satchwell was resentful that her mother had not raised her, Ms Howard replied she could not say. Earlier on Wednesday, the court heard Satchwell contacted gardai on July 12 2017, to tell them that he saw two suitcases in the recycling area of Tesco carpark in Youghal. He claimed they were very similar to the suitcases Mrs Satchwell took with her on the day she disappeared. Garda Susan Nolan went and met Satchwell and he told her the suitcases were similar. She said there was a large navy and blue case and a smaller black case. She told the court that she inquired about CCTV in the area but was told that there was no video footage of that part of the car park. It was confirmed that while the suitcases were similar, they did not long belong to Satchwell. The prosecution has now concluded its evidence. The trial continues.
Sunday World
21-05-2025
- Sunday World
Richard Satchwell offered wife's cousin the freezer he had stored her body in, trial told
Sarah Howard said Mr Satchwell wouldn't 'be the kind to just give stuff' after being offered the same freezer in which he later said he kept the body of his wife. Tina Satchwell's cousin became emotional today as she told the Central Criminal Court how murder accused Richard Satchwell offered her the same freezer in which he later said he kept the body of his wife before burying her beneath their home. The witness began to cry as she told the trial jury that she thought the message was "very unusual and very strange". She said Mr Satchwell wouldn't "be the kind to just give stuff". Sarah Howard also told the trial today that she had "never" witnessed Tina Satchwell being violent or aggressive. The witness also agreed with defence counsel that Mr Satchwell hand delivered a birthday card to her in August 2017 - five months after Tina Satchwell's disappearance - and it had been signed off with "Tina and Richard". At the conclusion of Ms Howard's evidence, counsel for the State told the jury that the prosecution's case was now at an end. Mr Satchwell (58), with an address at Grattan Street, Youghal, Co Cork has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 45-year-old wife Tina Satchwell - nee Dingivan - at that address between March 19 and March 20, 2017, both dates inclusive. The trial has heard that on March 24, 2017, Mr Satchwell told gardai that his wife Tina had left their home four days earlier but that he had no concerns over her welfare, feeling she had left due to a deterioration in their relationship. Richard Satchwell during his appeal on RTÉ's Crimecall. News in 90 seconds - 21st May The accused formally reported Ms Satchwell missing the following May but her body was not discovered for over six years, when gardai in October 2023 conducting "an invasive search" of the Satchwell home found her decomposed remains in a grave that had been dug underneath the stairs. When re-arrested on suspicion of Tina's murder after her body was removed from their Cork home, Mr Satchwell told gardai that his wife "flew" at him with a chisel, that he fell backwards against the floor and described her death after he said he held her off by the belt of her bathrobe at her neck. In interview with gardai, Mr Satchwell described how he had put Tina's body inside a large chest freezer in the shed two days later. Giving evidence today, Sarah Howard told Gerardine Small SC, prosecuting, that her mother and Tina's mother are sisters. Ms Howard said she would have been very close to Tina growing up as they both lived in Fermoy. Asked to describe Tina, the witness described her cousin as kind-hearted, loving, a family person, social, bubbly and someone who loved animals; "a genuinely lovely person". In a video clip of RTE's "Prime Time Investigates" from January 25, 2018, Ms Howard tells journalist Barry Cummins that her cousin had never gone missing before and that she didn't know what had happened to her. Ms Howard describes Tina's disappearance as "a puzzle, a complete mystery" and said it was tearing the family apart not knowing where Tina was. She finished off the interview by telling Mr Cummins that "someone has to know something" and that someone "can't just disappear". Ms Howard could be seen crying in the witness stand and wiping tears away as she watched the interview. The witness said she last saw Tina before Christmas in 2016 and described her cousin as being "in great form" and "very happy". She said Tina didn't go anywhere without her dogs. Tina Satchwell. The prosecutor asked Ms Howard about March 26, 2017, the day she found out that Tina was missing. "I had called to my mother's house and I found out Tina was missing, I rang her phone straight away. When she didn't answer, I rang Richard's phone". The witness said she asked Richard where Tina was, why the dogs weren't with her and what had happened. "It was very unusual that the dogs were there, Richard just said they had an argument and she had left him," said Ms Howard. Asked whether Mr Satchwell gave any details in relation to the circumstances surrounding Tina leaving, Ms Howard said the accused man told her that Tina had thrown "a cup or something at him". The witness added: "He said she took a sum of money, that a sum of money was missing and he found her keys on the floor outside the house. She had sent him on an errand to Dungarvan; he said suitcases were missing". Ms Howard also told the jury that Richard said the couple had been at a car boot sale on the Sunday before she went missing and that Tina commented to him that she had wasted 28 years with him. "But I never heard any of that before," added the witness. "In relation to violence, Richard told you Tina had thrown cups at him?" asked Ms Small. Ms Howard agreed but again said "she had never heard that before". A print out of text messages from Mr Satchwell's phone of text messages between him and Ms Howard was shown to the witness, including where she had tried calling the accused on March 26, 2017. On March 26, a message was sent from the accused to Ms Howard saying: "Sarah did you contact Mag, Sindy and Teresa have not heard anything from Tina". The witness told the jury that these women were her aunts and a cousin. On March 30, Mr Satchwell sent a text message to Ms Howard saying: "Sarah do you want our big chest freezer?". Ms Howard told the jury she had not responded to this text message as she thought it was "very unusual and very strange", and began to cry on the stand. The witness said Richard wouldn't "be the kind to just give stuff". She added: "We were at a car boot sale once and my two children were with me. Richard was at his stall and Tina was looking around and buying. I think the kids picked up nail varnish and a CD [from Richard's stall]. He charged them 50 cents". Ms Howard told the jury: "So when I was offered something like that for free I thought it was very unusual." The next text message was sent on April 10, where Mr Satchwell told that he discovered a "birth cert and marriage cert" were gone. On June 27, Mr Satchwell sent another text message to Ms Howard saying: "I know Tina is your family and I'm not so please try to understand that I love her with all my being. She's only my wife, she is my life and my best friend, my everything. I'm finding it difficult to get through the days. You know that I cry all the time even now writing this...I feel I let her down in some way". On July 2, the accused sent Ms Howard a text message saying he was setting up a website dedicated to Tina "where we decide what goes on it". Ten days later, Mr Satchwell sent another message saying: "Sarah I've just pulled into Tesco there is the same suitcase that Tina took with her, same size too. Richard". Ms Howard told the prosecutor that she didn't have any further communication with Richard after this message. "Did you ever witness Tina being violent or aggressive?" asked Ms Small, to which Ms Howard replied: "never." In cross-examination, Brendan Grehan SC, asked the witness if it was fair to say Richard appeared to be "devoted" to Tina. Ms Howard said he was. The defence counsel put it to Ms Howard she had said in her statement that Richard was "besotted if not obsessed" with Tina. The witness said Richard was always with her cousin when she was visiting. "Before Tina's remains were discovered, you said he was so obsessed and besotted with her that he couldn't have caused her harm?" asked Mr Grehan. "That was before," replied the witness. She agreed that Tina was close to her grandmother Florence, as she had effectively raised her. The witness agreed with Mr Grehan that Tina thought her grandmother Florence was her mother for a long time and would have called Florence her mother. Asked about her cousin Lorraine Howard, Ms Howard said Lorraine was a half-sister to Tina but had fallen out with her. The witness said she didn't know why this happened. The witness was asked whether she remembered gardai asking her why there had been a falling out with Tina and her family in 2006. Mr Grehan told the witness: "I think you indicated the only incident you remember is that Tina was given up by her mother Mary Collins and raised by her grandmother Florence?". Counsel put it to Ms Howard that Tina was very resentful when she found out about this. The witness said she couldn't say. She recalled Richard telling her after the disappearance that Tina had been very violent. The witness agreed she had told gardai that Richard said Tina used to throw cups at him and he said he had a lot of scars on his head, but she didn't believe Tina was violent. Ms Howard said she had never seen Tina violent. Earlier, Garda Clinton Rock told Ms Small that he took photos at Cobh Garda Station in February 2025 of the dressing gown and belt found on Tina Satchwell's body. The garda said he had removed the dressing gown from an evidence bag and it was in a very poor state. He said he had searched both pockets of the dressing gown and no items were found. Under cross-examination, the garda agreed with Mr Grehan that the dressing gown was too frail or brittle to be examined by a forensic scientist when it was recovered in October 2023 and is now considered a "biohazard". Mr Grehan put it to the witness that the dressing gown was in a far worse state in February 2025 then when it was recovered in October 2023. The garda said there was a fungus growing on it. "It also appears to be disintegrating in parts, do I take it that includes the pockets?" asked Mr Grehan. The garda said he didn't find any holes in the pockets but it wouldn't take much for the dressing gown to fall apart. The witness agreed it was possible that if there was a ring in one of the pockets it could have fallen out. He further agreed the knot on the belt was never opened so there wasn't a true measurement of the belt available. Tina Satchwell The trial has heard that Mr Satchwell told gardai that Tina's wedding ring was in a pocket of her dressing gown, but no wedding ring was documented during the post mortem of the deceased's remains. The next witness, now retired Garda Inspector Sean Leahy said he received a phone call from Mr Satchwell on July 12, 2017. The accused told him he was in a Tesco car park in Youghal and two suitcases in the recycling area were very similar to two suitcases Tina had with her when she left in March 2017. Mr Leahy said he rang Youghal Garda Station and asked a garda to meet him. Garda Susan Nolan said she met the accused on July 12 in the car park in Youghal and he had pointed out two cases by the recycling bins. "He said they were similar suitcases to what was at the house but they weren't actually theirs". The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of five men and seven women.
Powys County Times
21-05-2025
- Powys County Times
Tina Satchwell's cousin never saw her be ‘violent or aggressive', court told
A cousin of alleged murder victim Tina Satchwell has told a court that she never saw her be 'violent or aggressive'. Sarah Howard also told the court that she thought it was 'strange' that her cousin's husband, Richard Satchwell, had offered her a chest freezer in the weeks after she disappeared. 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 in England, denies the charge. 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. Giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, Ms Howard was asked by prosecution barrister Gerardine Small if she had ever witnessed Mrs Satchwell being violent or aggressive, to which she replied: 'Never.' Ms Howard said she was 'very close' to her cousin, that they would have spent a lot time together, going swimming, walking the dogs and going around the shops in Fermoy. Asked to describe her, she said Mrs Satchwell was 'kind-hearted, loving, a family person' who loved animals, that she was 'bubbly, social' and a 'genuinely lovely person'. She became emotional when she watched footage taken from Prime Time Investigates which aired after Mrs Satchwell went missing. Ms Howard said her cousin used to visit her at her home, but that she did not see her as much after the couple moved to Youghal in May 2016. She last saw Mrs Satchwell shortly before Christmas in 2016, and said that she was in 'great form', and that she 'always had the dogs'. She told the court she first heard her cousin was missing after Satchwell called her mother's home in Fermoy on March 26, 2017. After learning that she was missing, she rang Mrs Satchwell's phone but there was no answer. She then contacted Satchwell and asked where she was and what had happened to her, adding it was unusual she left without the dogs. Satchwell told her that there had been an argument and she had left him. He claimed during the phone call that she had thrown a cup at him and taken a sum of money, and that two suitcases were missing from their home. She also gave evidence that Satchwell told her they had been at a car boot sale the previous weeks and that Mrs Satchwell had told him she had wasted 28 years with him. 'I never heard any of that before,' Ms Howard told the court. When Ms Small asked whether she had ever heard of cups being thrown before, she replied: 'Never.' She also said in her evidence that on March 30 2017, days after Mrs Satchwell disappeared, she received a text message from Satchwell offering her 'their big chest freezer' for free. She said she did not respond and when asked why, she said she thought it was unusual. 'I thought it was very strange. He is not the kind to give stuff.' She recalled how she once went to a car boot sale with her two children, where Satchwell had a stall. The court was told that her children picked up a CD and nail varnish and Satchwell charged them 50 cents each for the items. 'So when I was offered something for free like that I thought it was very unusual,' she added. A number of text exchanges between Satchwell and Ms Howard in the months after Mrs Satchwell went missing were read to the court. Ms Howard asked Satchwell several times whether there was any news about his wife, to which he had said no. In a text sent in June 2017, Ms Howard asked Satchwell not to call to her house because her children got upset when Ms Satchwell was not with him. She said she used to spent a lot of time with her cousin, that she would often take her away and into their local town, including the time she got her ears pierced when she was four or five. She agreed that the loss of Mrs Satchwell has deeply affected her. Asked if she would describe Satchwell as being besotted and obsessed with his wife, she replied: 'I suppose. He was always with her.' Defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC said that in a statement made to gardai after Mrs Satchwell went missing, she said that Satchwell was 'so obsessed with Tina that he couldn't have caused her harm'. 'That was before,' Ms Howard replied in court. Asked whether others in her family had seen Mrs Satchwell display violent behaviour, she said she was not sure. She also agreed with Mr Grehan that Satchwell had hand-delivered a birthday card for her in August 2017, which had been signed 'Tina and Richard' and contained two photographs. She further agreed that Mrs Satchwell's grandmother had raised her, and that Mrs Satchwell and her mother Mary Collins had fallen out in the years before she disappeared. When asked if Mrs Satchwell was resentful that her mother had not raised her, Ms Howard replied she could not say. Earlier on Wednesday, the court heard Satchwell contacted gardai on July 12 2017, to tell them that he saw two suitcases in the recycling area of Tesco carpark in Youghal. He claimed they were very similar to the suitcases Mrs Satchwell took with her on the day she disappeared. Garda Susan Nolan went and met Satchwell and he told her the suitcases were similar. She said there was a large navy and blue case and a smaller black case. She told the court that she inquired about CCTV in the area but was told that there was no video footage of that part of the car park. It was confirmed that while the suitcases were similar, they did not long belong to Satchwell. The prosecution has now concluded its evidence.
Leader Live
21-05-2025
- Leader Live
Tina Satchwell's cousin never saw her be ‘violent or aggressive', court told
Sarah Howard also told the court that she thought it was 'strange' that her cousin's husband, Richard Satchwell, had offered her a chest freezer in the weeks after she disappeared. 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 in England, denies the charge. 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. Giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, Ms Howard was asked by prosecution barrister Gerardine Small if she had ever witnessed Mrs Satchwell being violent or aggressive, to which she replied: 'Never.' Ms Howard said she was 'very close' to her cousin, that they would have spent a lot time together, going swimming, walking the dogs and going around the shops in Fermoy. Asked to describe her, she said Mrs Satchwell was 'kind-hearted, loving, a family person' who loved animals, that she was 'bubbly, social' and a 'genuinely lovely person'. She became emotional when she watched footage taken from Prime Time Investigates which aired after Mrs Satchwell went missing. Ms Howard said her cousin used to visit her at her home, but that she did not see her as much after the couple moved to Youghal in May 2016. She last saw Mrs Satchwell shortly before Christmas in 2016, and said that she was in 'great form', and that she 'always had the dogs'. She told the court she first heard her cousin was missing after Satchwell called her mother's home in Fermoy on March 26, 2017. After learning that she was missing, she rang Mrs Satchwell's phone but there was no answer. She then contacted Satchwell and asked where she was and what had happened to her, adding it was unusual she left without the dogs. Satchwell told her that there had been an argument and she had left him. He claimed during the phone call that she had thrown a cup at him and taken a sum of money, and that two suitcases were missing from their home. She also gave evidence that Satchwell told her they had been at a car boot sale the previous weeks and that Mrs Satchwell had told him she had wasted 28 years with him. 'I never heard any of that before,' Ms Howard told the court. When Ms Small asked whether she had ever heard of cups being thrown before, she replied: 'Never.' She also said in her evidence that on March 30 2017, days after Mrs Satchwell disappeared, she received a text message from Satchwell offering her 'their big chest freezer' for free. She said she did not respond and when asked why, she said she thought it was unusual. 'I thought it was very strange. He is not the kind to give stuff.' She recalled how she once went to a car boot sale with her two children, where Satchwell had a stall. The court was told that her children picked up a CD and nail varnish and Satchwell charged them 50 cents each for the items. 'So when I was offered something for free like that I thought it was very unusual,' she added. A number of text exchanges between Satchwell and Ms Howard in the months after Mrs Satchwell went missing were read to the court. Ms Howard asked Satchwell several times whether there was any news about his wife, to which he had said no. In a text sent in June 2017, Ms Howard asked Satchwell not to call to her house because her children got upset when Ms Satchwell was not with him. She said she used to spent a lot of time with her cousin, that she would often take her away and into their local town, including the time she got her ears pierced when she was four or five. She agreed that the loss of Mrs Satchwell has deeply affected her. Asked if she would describe Satchwell as being besotted and obsessed with his wife, she replied: 'I suppose. He was always with her.' Defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC said that in a statement made to gardai after Mrs Satchwell went missing, she said that Satchwell was 'so obsessed with Tina that he couldn't have caused her harm'. 'That was before,' Ms Howard replied in court. Asked whether others in her family had seen Mrs Satchwell display violent behaviour, she said she was not sure. She also agreed with Mr Grehan that Satchwell had hand-delivered a birthday card for her in August 2017, which had been signed 'Tina and Richard' and contained two photographs. She further agreed that Mrs Satchwell's grandmother had raised her, and that Mrs Satchwell and her mother Mary Collins had fallen out in the years before she disappeared. When asked if Mrs Satchwell was resentful that her mother had not raised her, Ms Howard replied she could not say. Earlier on Wednesday, the court heard Satchwell contacted gardai on July 12 2017, to tell them that he saw two suitcases in the recycling area of Tesco carpark in Youghal. He claimed they were very similar to the suitcases Mrs Satchwell took with her on the day she disappeared. Garda Susan Nolan went and met Satchwell and he told her the suitcases were similar. She said there was a large navy and blue case and a smaller black case. She told the court that she inquired about CCTV in the area but was told that there was no video footage of that part of the car park. It was confirmed that while the suitcases were similar, they did not long belong to Satchwell. The prosecution has now concluded its evidence. The trial continues.
