Police suspected something untoward in woman’s disappearance, murder trial told

Police investigating the disappearance of a Cork woman “strongly suspected” that something “untoward” and “criminal” had happened to her, her husband’s murder trial has heard.

Richard Satchwell, 58, from Grattan Street in Youghal, Co Cork, denies murdering his wife Tina Satchwell at the home they shared in March 2017.

Her remains were found buried under a concrete floor under the stairs in their family home, six years after she disappeared.

Satchwell, who is originally from Leicester in England, formally reported his wife missing on May 11 2017, weeks after he told police she had left their family home, suspecting it was because their relationship had “deteriorated”.

Retired sergeant John Sharkey, who worked at Youghal Garda Station in 2017, said it was treated as missing persons case for a period of time and over a two-week period in May, officers carried out a number of inquiries.

He said that on May 15, police launched a national public campaign through media platforms which included a picture of Ms Satchwell.

The court was told that this did not generate any assistance to investigators.

He said that police carried out inquiries to locate her, including trawling CCTV footage of the area in Youghal, launching a social media campaign with pictures of Ms Satchwell, using local radio and TV stations and carrying out house-to-house inquiries but they were “fruitless”.

He told the court that due to a lack of progress to locate any trace of Ms Satchwell, he became suspicious that something “untoward had occurred”.

Mr Sharkey said he was not alone in his suspicions and that there were others in (Irish police) An Garda Siochana who were also suspicious.

Asked by defence barrister Brendan Grehan if by June 2 2017, he believed Ms Satchwell may have been injured or incapacitated by a criminal event, he replied: “Correct.”

He said that in the days leading up to the search, he held a meeting with his superiors to review the case and a decision was made to apply for a search warrant.

Mr Sharkey said that full police resources were deployed to search the family home in Youghall, which began at around 7.30am and was fully completed by 7pm.

He told Mr Grehan that it was an “open search” for evidence and “whatever form that took”.

He agreed with Mr Grehan that the search team would go “where noses led” them, adding that all possibilities are contemplated “within reason”.

Mr Sharkey said it was a “thorough search” completed by a team of specialists and he believed there were up to 10 trained officers involved.

Garda Cathal Wheelan, who is a crime scene investigator attached to north Cork crime investigation unit at Cobh Garda Station, was also involved in the search.

His role was to take pictures of the premises before the search team went in to the property and take photos of anything of significance found.

Describing the house, he said it was a three-storey, semi-detached old property.

He said the house was untidy and unkept and that there was dog faeces on the floor, as well as a dirty bird cage with a parrot inside and dirty dishes.

He also noted that the stairs appeared to be made of relatively new, untreated and unpainted wood.

The wall at the stairs had unpainted plasterboard which again appeared to be “relatively new”.

He said he believed building works had been going on in the house, which appeared to be started but not finished, adding that there appeared to be some repair work.

Mr Wheelan said that upstairs he saw a large amount of racks with a lot of clothes, the master bedroom was untidy and the walls were not painted nor had wallpaper on them.

In the attic, he saw shoes and handbags.

The trial continues.