Murder of Tina Satchwell

Tina Satchwell
Born	Tina Dingivan 30 November 1972
Disappeared	20 March 2017 (aged 44) Cork, Ireland
Status	Deceased
Body discovered	12 October 2023
Nationality	Irish
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Spouse	Richard Satchwell

Tina Satchwell (née Dingivan; born 30 November 1972) was an Irish woman who went missing under suspicious circumstances on 20 March 2017. Her remains were found hidden in her home in October 2023. Her husband, Richard Satchwell, a truck driver, was arrested and charged with her murder.

Background

Tina Satchwell (née Dingivan) was from St Bernard's Place in Fermoy, County Cork. In the 1980s she moved to Leicester, England, to live with her grandmother. There she met Richard Satchwell and in 1990 the couple were married in Oldham. They later moved back to Ireland, settling in Fermoy.

In November 2001, Richard Satchwell was sentenced to 7 days in prison for larceny and 3 days in prison for fraudulent use of a motor tax disc at Fermoy District Court, as well as being disqualified from driving for one year for driving without insurance. In December 2002, Richard Satchwell was sentenced to a month in prison after being found guilty of social welfare fraud.In 2016, the Satchwells moved to Grattan Street in the seaside town of Youghal where they lived with their two dogs.

Disappearance

Tina Satchwell was last seen alive in public on Sunday the 19th March 2017 at a car boot sale with her husband in the town of Carrigtwohill. On 24 March 2017, Richard Satchwell walked into Fermoy Garda station and reported that his wife Tina had gone missing from their home in Youghal. He claimed that the last time he spoke to her was 4 days previously on the morning of Monday the 20th March 2017, and at 10:30am he drove to Aldi (which was 30 kilometers away) in Dungarvan to buy fish at Tina's request. When he returned to their house at around 12 noon she was not there and he had not heard from her since. Tina was aged 44 at the time of her disappearance.

Richard stated that his wife had been depressed and was troubled by family disputes. He said that he believed that she had chosen to leave "to get her head straight". He later suggested that she may have gone to live with family in the United Kingdom with the help of a third party; however, Tina's family rejected this idea. Gardaí (Irish police) stated that Tina did not pass through any Irish or UK port or airport and that they believe she did not leave Ireland. She did not possess a passport, and her identification documents were not missing. Richard stated that he believed she had taken €26,000 in cash, the proceeds of the sale of a house. Two suitcases were missing from the house. Her phone has not been used, and her bank account had not been accessed since the day of her disappearance.

Missing Person Investigations

On 07 June 2017, Gardaí conducted a technical examination of the Satchwell’s home on Grattan Street, however nothing of evidential value was discovered. On 19 August 2017, the Garda water unit assisted by the Irish Coast Guard conducted search operations in Youghal harbour at low tide.In March 2018, Garda Síochána carried out a search in Mitchel's Wood near Castlemartyr in County Cork, 20 minutes from Youghal. The operation was based on a tip from a member of the public who claimed to have seen a blonde haired woman matching Tina’s description enter the woods on the night of Satchwell's disappearance with another person, but this person thereafter left the woods alone without the blonde woman. A no-fly zone was established over the area. Despite an extensive search, which included the use of detection dogs, no trace of Satchwell was found. Searches were also carried out in scrubland and off the quays in Youghal, but nothing was discovered. Gardaí also engaged with Interpol.

Media Coverage

The sudden disappearance of Tina Satchwell attracted a lot of media attention in Ireland, with her husband Richard Satchwell making frequent appeals for information and granting interviews intended to generate publicity for her case. Satchwell would later accuse the Irish print media of quoting his words out of context in an effort to create misleading stories, and eventually turned down all requests for newspaper articles in favour of live television or radio interviews, in an attempt to prevent his words being "twisted," as he said.

RTE programming

In June 2017, Richard Satchwell appeared alongside Tina's aunt, Margaret Maher, on the RTÉ show Crimecall to make a public appeal for information regarding his wife's sudden disappearance. Satchwell later commented that his appearance generated thousands of phone calls to the Gardai, however he did not think the authorities "got anything concrete" in regards to Tina's whereabouts. The following month, in response to social media speculation that he was somehow involved in her disappearance, Satchwell stated that their house on Grattan Street was recently searched by the Gardai without his knowledge and nothing incriminating was found, and that he would be willing to take a lie detector test to prove he was innocent of any wrongdoing. In January 2018, RTÉ aired a Prime Time special programme on Tina's disappearance, featuring Richard, Tina's cousin Sarah Howard, and gardaí involved in the case.

Ray D'Arcy interview

On 11 March 2018, Satchwell appeared on The Ray D'Arcy Show to discuss Tina's disappearance. During the interview, Satchwell clarified that €26,000 in cash that went missing from their house came from the sale of their former home in Fermoy, and it had not been deposited in a bank account as he was claiming unemployment benefit at the time and depositing it would have affected his eligibility to receive social welfare payments. When D'Arcy asked Satchwell why did he think there was speculation that he was involved in Tina's disappearance, he said the husband would be the primary suspect in the majority of missing persons cases. Satchwell reiterated his belief that Tina was still alive, and revealed that a man had recently come forward to claim that he had spoken to a woman that resembled Tina walking a dog on a beach a few months previously in County Dublin, who said she was renting accommodation in the area. The man claimed he approached this woman as she was underdressed for the extremely cold January weather and he was concerned for her wellbeing, and she informed him she was "just walking a new puppy" she had bought.

Neil Prendeville interview

On 12 March 2018, Satchwell was interviewed by Neil Prendeville on Cork's Red FM regarding Tina's disappearance. Satchwell reiterated his belief that Tina was still alive and had left home to sort out some personal problems. He also claimed that a few months before she vanished she had asked him for his UK National Insurance number, which reinforced his belief that she was living with friends or relatives in England. When asked by Prendeville why he did not think to enquire with Tina's best friend about her location in the days before he officially reported her as missing to the police, Satchwell explained that he did not have her phone number and that it was not saved on Tina's phone either. When challenged that it was strange she did not save her best friend's number on her phone, Satchwell claimed that they always met up on a daily basis at the same place when they lived in Fermoy, so it was unnecessary to pre-arrange any meetups by phone. Regarding continuing speculation that he was somehow involved in her disappearance, Prendeville offered Satchwell the chance to take a lie detector test live on-air, however he rejected the offer as he claimed to be "feeling tired and unwell".

Murder Investigation

In July 2023, a team of detectives from Cork began reviewing witness statements previously provided by a person of interest and found major discrepancies between what he had stated and what Garda inquiries had subsequently ascertained. The suspect’s mobile phone activity and email records in the days and weeks following Ms Satchwell’s disappearance were likewise analyzed in detail. Gardai subsequently discovered that while the suspect had claimed he was not in County Cork on the morning Ms Satchwell vanished, mobile device forensics proved this was untrue. While reviewing Ms Satchwell’s case file, investigating officers also noticed a new brick wall had been built to block off the underside of a stairwell when comparing pictures of the house at Grattan Street taken before and after her disappearance. In early October 2023, utility workers attempting to clear a blocked drain of the terraced house next door to Satchwell's found suspicious material, which was then reported to Gardai.

On 10 October 2023, Tina Satchwell's disappearance was upgraded to a murder investigation. Richard Satchwell was arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to a Garda station in Cork for questioning. A Garda team was brought in to search a premises in Youghal, County Cork. On 11 October 2023, the suspect was released without charge. The suspect was re-arrested the next day following the discovery of human remains at Satchwell's home. A cadaver dog had indicated the stairwell area of the Grattan Street house to Gardai, who after knocking down the wall and digging down through a one meter thick layer of concrete discovered the dead body of a woman wrapped in black plastic sheets. On 13 October 2023, the remains were identified through dental records and confirmed to be those of Tina Satchwell. Later that day, Richard Satchwell was charged with her murder. When arrested, he stated "guilty or not guilty - guilty".

Legal Proceedings

On 14 October 2023, 57 year old Richard Satchwell appeared before Cashel District Court and was then remanded in custody to await trial in Limerick Prison. On 3rd November 2023, Satchwell was denied bail as Judge Siobhan Lankford considered him to be a flight risk. On 26 March 2024, Satchwell was served with the book of evidence at a sitting of Clonmel District Court. After ordering the release of video recordings of Garda interrogations to the defense team, Judge Brian O’Shea administered the alibi warning to Satchwell, informing him that if he intend to rely on an alibi during his trial he must notify the Director of Public Prosecutions in writing within the next 14 days.

Satchwell's trial for the murder of his wife Tina Satchwell is scheduled to begin in late April 2025 at the Central Criminal Court and will last an estimated 6 weeks. His barrister Brendan Grehan has indicated that the defence will call a significant amount of witnesses evidence from persons the accused has “communicated with by way of interview and the media as well”.

See also

• List of solved missing person cases