Man (57) to go on trial in connection with murder of his wife in Cork

Olivia Kelleher

Truck driver Richard Satchwell is due to go on trial at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on Monday charged with the murder of his wife Tina.

The 57-year-old was charged in 2023 with the murder, contrary to common law, of Tina Satchwell, 45, on March 20th, 2017, at a location in Cork.

The British national was charged after gardaí found the skeletal remains of Mrs Satchwell whilst excavating a concrete floor and walled-up area underneath the stairwell of his home in Grattan Street in Youghal, Co Cork. She was reported missing in March 2017.

Tina Satchwell was a native of St Bernard’s Place in Fermoy, Co Cork, and was living in Youghal at the time of her death. She was reported missing on the 24th of March 2017 by her husband Richard.

After she was reported missing gardai followed 400 lines of inquiry, watched hundreds of hours of CCTV and took witness statements from 170 people. A major sea and land search was carried out by gardai following her disappearance. In March 2018 gardai led a major search for Tina at Mitchel’s Wood in Castlemartyr, Co Cork.

Mr Satchwell, formerly of Grattan Street in Youghal, Co Cork, first appeared in court on October 14th, 2023 in connection with the alleged offence.

In March of 2023, on the sixth anniversary of Tina’s disappearance, gardai issued a renewed appeal for information in a bid to locate her.

Tina Satchwell would have turned fifty in 2022. She hailed from a family of eight and is survived by her siblings. Vigils in her memory have been held in Youghal and Fermoy. A private family funeral has also taken place.

The Satchwell trial is expected to last up to a month. An application by Mr Satchwell to have the case moved from the Central Criminal Court in Cork to Dublin was granted by Mr Justice Paul McDermott. Richard Satchwell is originally form Leicester in the UK but has lived in Ireland for over twenty years.