A man told gardaí his wife “went limp” and died after he used her dressing gown belt to fend her off and protect himself when she went to stab him in the head with a chisel, a Central Criminal Court jury has been told
Richard Satchwell told gardaí he moved his wife Tina’s body to a chest freezer and, five days after her death, buried her in a grave dug under the sitting room floor and then cemented over, prosecuting counsel Gerardine Small SC said.
Mr Satchwell changed his “narrative” about his wife’s 2017 disappearance after decomposed human remains, wrapped in black sheeting, were found in their home in October 2023, counsel said. The remains were identified as Ms Satchwell’s and a pathologist was “unsurprisingly” unable to state the cause of death.
Ms Small, with barrister Imelda Kelly, was opening the prosecution’s case in the trial of Mr Satchwell (58), from Leicester in the UK, who denies the murder of his 45-year-old wife at No 3 Grattan Street, Youghal, between March 19th and 20th, 2017.
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The Satchwells married in the UK on her 20th birthday and moved to Ireland. Ms Satchwell was “very petite” and a “very glamorous” lady who adored her two dogs, Heidi and Ruby, and considered them her children, Ms Small said.
Mr Satchwell went to Fermoy Garda station on March 24th 2017, where he told Garda Conor Gateley his wife left their home about four days earlier. He said he had no concerns for her welfare and felt she left due to a deterioration in their relationship.
He said she left without her dog, which was unusual, but a dog would make finding accommodation more difficult and she had taken about €25,000 from their savings in a box in the attic.
Gardaí followed up the matter and, on May 2nd 2017, Mr Satchwell again told a Garda he had no concern for his wife’s safety and anticipated she would be home sooner or later.
Gardaí spoke to him again and on May 15th he made formal statements in which he said Ms Satchwell asked him on March 20th 2017 to go to Dungarvan for items. He said he left at about 10am and returned home in the early afternoon to find she was not there.
Mr Satchwell had given media interviews about his wife’s disappearance which were similar to what he told gardaí, counsel said.
On June 7th, gardaí got a search warrant for No 3 Grattan Street and took electronic devices.
The Garda investigation was a missing persons one and “significant inconsistencies” emerged in what Mr Satchwell was, counsel said, including that CCTV and phone data did not match Mr Satchwell’s account of being in Dungarvan on the morning of March 20th.
They would hear Mr Satchwell sent an email at 10.42am on March 20th to an international monkey rescue organisation the Satchwells were trying, with difficulties, to buy two monkeys from. The email said he had put a lot of work into getting the monkeys, and his wife was saying she would leave him over this, counsel said.
A Garda operation on October 10th 2023 involved Mr Satchwell’s arrest and an invasive search of the house, counsel said. He was released the next day.
The search was continuing and, late on that evening, decomposed human remains were found and he was rearrested. This time his narrative changed, counsel said.
He said he did some plumbing in a shed early on March 20th and, on returning to the house, he saw Ms Satchwell in a dressing gown at the bottom of the stairs with a chisel in her hand, scraping plasterboard he had put up.
He said he asked her what she was doing, and she flew at him with the chisel, he lost his footing and fell backwards. He said she was on top of him trying to stab him in the head with the chisel, counsel said. Mr Satchwell said all he could do to protect himself was use her dressing gown belt to hold her weight off him. He said she fell limp in a matter of seconds and was dead, counsel said.
He told gardaí he moved her on March 22nd to a freezer in the shed and, four days later, took her body out of the freezer, dug a grave and cemented it over.
After the opening, the jury heard evidence from four gardaí who had interactions with Mr Satchwell. Various statements taken from him were read.
In a statement of May 11th 2017 in relation to a missing person’s report, Mr Satchwell said he believed his wife had an undiagnosed psychiatric condition that became worse over years. She sometimes had “violent outbursts” and also had “quiet periods”.
Mr Satchwell also provided consents for releasing photos in the context of media appeals about his wife’s disappearance, the jury heard.
In a statement of May 14th 2017, Mr Satchwell said all he wanted was for his wife to be found safe and well. “I gave up my family for her, she is my whole world.”
In a statement from the next day, Mr Satchwell said she was in good form on the morning of May 20th 2017.
On the Tuesday before she went missing, his wife “got angry out of nowhere” and told him she had “wasted 28 years” on him, he said. “She wore the trousers in our relationship, I was just a bit of a walkover.”
He said he experienced “real violence” from her three or four times a year and she would slap him a few times a week.
He said: “I never hit her, I took her abuse because of what she was in pain from life.” He said she “is not a bad person, she was so warm” and was abused by people “because she was different, so into her fashion”.
He said: “I would never lay a hand on her, I totally love Tina, I would give my life for her.”
The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and the jury.
