A year after she disappeared, Richard Satchwell speaks about the search for Tina

TINA SATCHWELL’S husband said he drove 10,000km searching for his wife in the first month of her disappearance.

Speaking ahead of the one-year anniversary of her disappearance tomorrow, Richard Satchwell, aged 52, told the Evening Echo that he drove to all the places the pair had been to together, as well as tracing members of Tina’s family in Killarney and the UK.

He spoke of the emotional turmoil he has endured over the past 364 days.

“I find myself talking to her pictures. Some days I just go into a void. There are times when a few hours lapse without me realising it. I am in a trance.”

Mr Satchwell said every day when he wakes up in the morning, he wishes he could make his wife Tina a cup of tea and a slice of toast.

He said the stress of her disappearance means he is constantly in ill-health. “In 28 years, I never got sick, now I get flu, colds and stomach bugs all the time.

Speaking about March 20, 2017, the day Tina went missing, Richard said he did not initially realise his wife had disappeared.

“I just thought she had gone into town. After that, obviously we had had talks, so I thought she had gone over to family in Fermoy, but then when I went up there on the Friday and she wasn’t seen, that is when everything fell away.

“I was physically crying talking to the guards, that’s how bad I was.”

Mr Satchwell, who had been unemployed when Tina went missing, quickly took a job driving trucks to keep his mind busy.

“When Tina left I wasn’t working, but I was totally cracking up in the house on my own, so I took a job I wouldn’t normally take as Tina wasn’t here. It alleviated some of the pressure.”

Recounting the final few days they spent together in March 2017, Richard said everything seemed normal.

“It was our first St Patrick’s Day in Youghal. We stayed in Youghal, went to the parade and got a takeaway. We stayed in all day Saturday and went to a car boot sale on Sunday.”

Discussing the possibility that Tina has moved on with her life and simply does not want to hear from Richard, Mr Satchwell said: “If I found out she was alive and well, you could move on.

“You could move on if I knew she was safe.”

Speaking about the possibility that Tina may be dead, he said: “If I found out she wasn’t with us anymore I don’t know what I would do. I know she would want me to look after the pets, which I am doing now.

“I dedicated the last 29 years of my life to Tina. I don’t talk to my own family because of a decision I made when I was going out with Tina after just six weeks. I wasn’t there when my own mother died.

“Nobody knows Tina the way I know her. We met when she was 17 and I was 22, Tina would say we grew up together because we were so young when we met. I trust her completely, even now I would trust her with my life.”

Mr Satchwell said he tries to stay positive. “I try to keep hopeful that she is out there doing whatever she needs to do for herself, whatever that might be and she will turn up. I try not to think of the negative side of things. I truly believe if you haven’t got hope you haven’t got anything.”

Richard said the local community in Youghal has started to reach out to him, a year on from his wife’s disappearance.

“People are coming up to me saying ‘you are not on your own. If you need anything just knock’.”

Mr Satchwell once again appealed to the public to come forward with any information they might have about his wife’s disappearance.

Anyone with information about the Tina Satchwell case can contact Midleton Garda Station on 021-4621550 or can use the automated messaging service on the ‘Help Bring Them Home’ line 1800-911-999.