Jury watch footage of tearful Richard Satchwell appealing for wife to come home

A jury have watched footage of a tearful Richard Satchwell making a televised appeal for his wife Tina to come home, telling her "Nobody is mad at you, just ring the guards, let people know you're alright", months after the State argues he murdered her and buried her in a shallow grave beneath their Cork home.

The jury has now finished viewing a total of 14 video clips of the accused making media appeals and statements about his wife Tina's disappearance.

Mr Satchwell told TV3 News viewers [now Virgin Media News] in July 2017 - four months after his wife disappeared - that he was "innocent of any wrongdoing", when asked whether he was an innocent man.

The British truck driver also told the TV3 interviewer on that date: "One day my wife will turn back up or she will get in touch with gardaí, one way or another it will all come out and in time will prove I've done nothing wrong".

The Leicester native also said on Cork's Red FM in March 2018 that he had served time in prison for "what they call social welfare fraud" and that he would "sooner be in jail than where I am now". He said he asked his wife not to come to see him in Cork prison as it wasn't an environment he would like her to be in.

The Central Criminal Court jury has heard that on March 24, 2017, Mr Satchwell told gardaí that his wife 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 Tina missing the following May but her body was not discovered for over six years, when gardaí found her decomposed remains in a grave that had been dug underneath the stairs of her home.

In her opening address on Tuesday, Geraldine Small SC, prosecuting, 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, aged 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 20, 2017, both dates inclusive.

Media interviews

The first media interview played today was with Paul Byrne from TV3 News on July 14, 2017, where Mr Satchwell said he knew his wife better than anybody, adding: "I probably know her better than myself."

In the interview, the accused said he had been with his wife for 28 years and "never lifted a finger to her" during that time.

He added: 

"If I was asked to take a lie detector test I'd take one, my house was searched with my knowledge and gardaí didn't find anything to suggest anything untoward."

The next interview was a media appeal from RTÉ's Crimecall broadcast on July 25, 2017, where Mr Satchwell can be seen crying and appealing for Tina to come home. "Nobody is mad at you, the pets are missing you, just ring the guards, let people know you're alright," he said.

Another interview played to the jury was with TV3 News from November 20, 2017, where the accused said Tina had "been my life since meeting her".

Asked by interviewer Paul Byrne what he had to say to those who believed he may have harmed his wife in some way, the accused replied: 

"Never once in 30 years that we have been together have I laid a finger on her, most I've done is loving the bones off her".

When asked if he had killed Tina, Mr Satchwell said he had "never laid a finger" on her.

In footage from Prime Time Investigates broadcast on RTÉ on January 25, 2018, Mr Satchwell showed interviewer Barry Cummins a bottle of Cava he had bought for his and Tina's 25th wedding anniversary, some months previously, which was unopened.

"It's like I'm walking outside looking in on my old life, it's totally heartbreaking," remarked the accused.

Mr Satchwell can also be seen in the television interview sitting in a car with Mr Cummins and showing him where he had proposed to Tina in Youghal in October 1989.

Asked whether he had any idea what had happened on the day Tina went missing in March 2017, Mr Satchwell said: 

"She obviously felt she needed a break, to get her thoughts together, to get her head straight".

The accused was asked what it was like being in Youghal with Tina missing and Mr Satchwell described it as "very lonely because I've built my life around her and when that's gone I have nothing".

He remarked that he found the press very misleading and that they "twist everything".

Mr Satchwell said he did not believe Tina was dead and he "truly believed" she was out there somewhere and could be found.

When asked what his message to Tina was, Mr Satchwell said: "I want you to get in touch...I believe somebody out there that does know where she is because she didn't get up and leave without some help from somebody".

The accused went on to say: 

"If someone tried attacking her she would pick the nearest thing up and whack them with it. That the type of person she is, she wouldn't be a pushover."

The next media interview played to the jury was with TV3 News on March 7, 2018 at Mitchell's Wood in Castlemartyr, when a garda search was taking place.

Asked how difficult it was to go to the woods that day, Mr Satchwell said he felt sick driving down from Youghal that morning and he was "praying and hoping" the search came to nothing. When asked about the "one thing" that was "racing through" his mind, Mr Satchwell said that his wife "could be behind them barriers".

In another media interview on Ireland AM on March 8 2018, the accused said he didn't feel he was a suspect in his wife's disappearance and that he believed Tina was still alive. 

Mr Satchwell said any person who had helped his wife get out of Youghal should be "ashamed" of themselves. He said he thought someone had helped Tina as he could not see any way she could have gotten away from Youghal.

In another radio interview on CRY104FM in Youghal from March 10 2018, the accused said there was "no way" anyone would lay a finger on his wife "without walking away with some damage". He said if his wife walked in the door he would throw his arms around her and "collapse on the floor with relief".

Asked about his feelings should the "worst case scenario" happen and he found out Tina "had passed", Mr Satchwell said: "I'd be no more, I'd be no good to anybody."

In an interview with Neil Prendeville on Red FM in Cork on March 12 2018, the accused said if Tina came home his arms would go around her, there would be tears and he would make her a cup of tea, make sure she wasn't hungry, let her take a bath and then contact the gardaí and her family.

He said he would be an "emotional wreck" if he was told "something" turned up in Mitchell's Wood.

In another interview on Prime Time on March 16, 2018, Mr Satchwell said he believed there was "somebody out there knows where she is". Commenting on the search at Mitchell's Wood, the accused said Tina wouldn't even "go near a strange woods with me".

He went on to say his arms had only ever held Tina in a loving manner. He said every special occasion that arose he bought presents and cards "and they are there to open when she comes back".

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