Senior officer can't answer why invasive search was not carried out of Richard Satchwell's house

Alison O’Riordan

The senior investigation officer in the Tina Satchwell missing persons case, who was appointed four years after the Cork woman disappeared, has told a jury that she can't answer why gardaí did not conduct "an invasive search" of Richard Satchwell's home within weeks of his wife being reported missing.

The trial has heard that on March 24th 2017, Mr Satchwell told gardaí 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.

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 found her decomposed remains in a grave that had been dug underneath the stairs of her home.

Mr Satchwell’s home was searched by a team of 10 gardaí on June 7th 2017, but the jury have been told this was a non-invasive operation.

Superintendent Annemarie Twomey told Gerardine Small SC, prosecuting, today that she was appointed senior investigation officer for the case on August 16th 2021, at which point Tina Satchwell had been missing for four years and five months.

Supt Twomey said that once she had reviewed the material in the incident room, she had reasonable grounds to believe that Tina was not a missing person and had met her death through unlawful means.

She said she had reasonable grounds to believe the arrest of Mr Satchwell was necessary for a proper investigation into the murder of Tina Satchwell.

The witness said that on October 10th 2023 she told Mr Satchwell she had a warrant and that on this occasion it would be an "intrusive or invasive search" of his home, different to the previous search conducted in 2017.

Under cross-examination by Brendan Grehan SC, defending, Supt Twomey said she had no involvement in the investigation prior to August 2021.

Asked by Mr Grehan whether there was a report from the garda in charge in 2017 to outline what exactly was searched in Grattan Street and if the house had been intrusively or invasively searched, the Supt said she couldn't remember whether there was a report in the incident room but there may have been.

She told Mr Grehan it was at the end of August 2022 that she had reasonable grounds to believe it was necessary to arrest Mr Satchwell as part of the investigation into the murder of Tina Satchwell.

However, she said gardaí didn't arrest Mr Satchwell at that stage as other lines of inquiry needed to be exhausted.

Supt Twomey said it was in February 2022 that gardaí formed the view that Tina Satchwell was no longer a living person.

The witness said she knew the search of Grattan Street by gardaí in June 2017 had not been an intrusive one.

However, the Supt said when she got the search warrant in 2023, it was for an invasive search and she was accompanied to Grattan Street by an archaeologist and a building contractor.

Asked by Mr Grehan if she thought gardaí had conducted a thorough search in 2017, the Supt said she had no involvement in that investigation.

"Would you have expected any such search would have sought to unearth the remains of Tina Satchwell in the house?" asked counsel. The Supt said in 2017 the search had related to assault causing harm to Ms Satchwell and items such as mobile phones were seized.

Mr Grehan put it to the witness that she should have sought information as to how thorough the search of Grattan Street was in 2017, including as to whether anyone had raised floor boards or whether there was any sign of fresh building works.

The witness said photographs taken had shown works completed on the stairs.

Mr Grehan put it to the witness that as a matter of law there was nothing to stop gardai from conducting an invasive search of the house in June 2017. "I can't answer that question....what they did or didn't do; I don't know what the investigation's belief was at the time," she replied.

The trial continues on Wednesday 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 gardai 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 19th and March 20th 2017, both dates inclusive.