Richard Satchwell told gardaí he kept 'bits and pieces' where wife's body would be found

Alison O'Riordan

Richard Satchwell told gardaí that he kept "bits and pieces" beneath the stairway in his Cork home when shown a live photograph of the area taken by officers just hours before they would discover his wife's body buried there in a shallow grave, his trial has heard.

The accused man also told gardaí that he and his wife had not been sexually active in the five years before her disappearance, the jury heard on Friday morning.

Detective Garda David Kelleher has told Gerardine Small SC, prosecuting, that he went with a search warrant to Grattan Street in Youghal at 5 pm on October 10 2023, where he arrested Mr Satchwell for the murder of Tina Satchwell on or about March 19th 2017 and brought him to Cobh Garda Station.

An invasive search of Grattan Street was conducted simultaneously, with gardaí bringing in building equipment to excavate the couple's home.

The jury has today been watching Mr Satchwell's first interview with gardaí at 8.05 pm on the night of October 10.

Mr Satchwell told detectives that Tina had been threatening to leave him "on and off" since her brother committed suicide in 2012 and her personality changed towards him. "It went: 'I'll f**king leave you, I f**king hate you', then she would apologise. It didn't make me feel good; miserable".

The accused said the couple never "took sexually again" after the suicide of Tina's brother in 2012, which made him feel "useless". "I never pestered her for sex during any point in the relationship," he added.

"We wasn't that sexually active at any point during the relationship, if it happened, it happened. I wanted a kiss, she didn't. Obviously, we didn't have any kids, I'd always bow to the way she wanted it". [sic]

"Ideally", the accused said, he would have liked two children with Tina; "one of each".

"From day one she said if you want kids I'm the wrong person for you...but I told my brother the first day I'd seen her that I'd marry her; something about her that captivated me...confidence, the way she looked, the way she walked, multiple things," he said.

Mr Satchwell said he had met his wife when he was 22 years old and had only had sex with one person before Tina. He said there were no previous relationships before Tina; "friendships but not relationships".

The accused told gardaí he had a few rules when it came to a relationship, which were "don't cheat on your partner, don't hit your partner, don't abuse kids".

On October 11th 2023, Mr Satchwell was still under arrest on suspicion of the murder of his wife Tina when Sergeant David Noonan told the accused that his house at Grattan Street was being "dug up" and gardaí were "going into the walls" and "looking at every inch of the house".

The Sgt told the accused he would be shown certain photos of his house.

Detective Garda David Kelleher, who is on the stand at the Central Criminal Court today, told Ms Small that the "photos" were coming from the scene of Grattan Street "as a live scenario".

In the video which was played to the jury today, Mr Satchwell was shown pictures on a screen in the interview room at Cobh Station of the stairs in his house.

Sgt Noonan put it to the accused in the interview room that the picture on display was a "cubby hole under your stairs".

Mr Satchwell replied "yeah".

The Sgt asked the accused what he kept in there, to which Mr Satchwell replied "bits and pieces".

When the next picture was shown to Mr Satchwell, gardai asked him "what's this, its within the cubby hole?"

Sgt Noonan went on to ask accused "Any idea?" Mr Satchwell can be seen looking at the picture.

"Do you know where this is?" asked Sgt Noonan.

"Under the stairs," replied Mr Satchwell.

"What's in behind there?" asked the Sgt.

The accused can be seen looking at the screen in the interview room.

"Any idea what's that, it's on the same hole under the stairs?" said Sgt Noonan, asking the accused to explain what he was looking at.

Mr Satchwell replied: "That was an old back door, before the previous owners put a small extension".

Det Gda Kelleher told the jury that having been detained at interview, the accused was released from custody at 4.39 pm on October 11th.

The detective said that because of the "ongoing search" at Grattan Street that night, the accused was provided with overnight accommodation and given a new mobile phone.

The detective agreed with defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC that gardaí, having detained Mr Satchwell for the maximum period they could, released him.

The trial continues this afternoon before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of five men and seven women.

In her opening address, Ms Small told the jury that after the body was recovered, Mr Satchwell told gardaí that he lost his footing and fell to the ground when his wife tried to stab him with a chisel.

He told detectives that he held her weight off with a belt, but that in a matter of seconds, she was dead in his arms.

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 20th 2017, both dates inclusive.