Man accused of wife’s murder says he is ‘not a monster’

A man accused of murdering his wife and dumping her body in a shallow grave at their home said he is “not a monster”, and that “once the lies started” about what happened, he could not stop, a court has heard.

The jury at Richard Satchwell’s trial has been watching a police interview carried out after his wife’s remains were found under the stairs in the living room of their Co Cork home.

Satchwell was arrested for the murder of his wife, Tina Satchwell, in October 2023, after her body was found in a shallow clandestine grave, six years after he reported her missing.

Satchwell, 58, of Grattan Street in Youghal, is accused of murdering his wife between March 19-20 2017.

He denies the charge.

Satchwell, originally from Leicester in England, formally reported his wife missing on May 11 2017.

He initially claimed he believed she had left their family home because their relationship had deteriorated, and she had taken 26,000 euro in cash they kept in the attic.

Mrs Satchwell’s decomposed body was discovered lying face down in the grave, with her legs folded back over her thighs.

Following the discovery, Satchwell was arrested and questioned at Cobh Garda Station.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin has been shown the first of several interviews.

Wearing a black polo T-shirt and grey trousers, Satchwell removed his glasses and wept as he claimed that on the morning of March 20 2023, his wife held a chisel in her hand and “flew” at him and he went “flying back on the floor”.

On the morning of the killing, he said he woke up early as he always did and went downstairs to make himself a coffee.

He said he wanted to make an extra special breakfast for his wife as it was her grandmother’s anniversary.

He explained how he was in the shed carrying out some plumbing work on their washing machine when their two dogs came in, wagging their tails.

After returning to the kitchen, he said he could hear a scrapping sound and then saw Mrs Satchwell standing at the bottom of the stairs with a chisel in her hand, and was scraping at the plasterboard.

He claimed that Mrs Satchwell “flew” at him, saying the next thing he remembers was him falling back on the floor.

Making stabbing motions to describe what his wife was doing with the chisel, Satchwell claimed she was going for him and that his attention was focused on the chisel.

“It just happened so fast,” he said.

He said that as she was on top of her, he grabbed her clothing and held the belt from her dressing gown at her throat.

“I was holding the rope belt of the bathrobe, I don’t know how but the belt was here (and motioned to his neck),” he said.

Asked to confirm it was across her throat, he replied: “Yes.”

He said the next thing he remembered was his wife going limp and her body falling on top of him.

He told Detective Sergeant David Noonan that he pulled his wife into his arms and held her for a while, but could not say how long for.

Describing it as the worst day of his life, Satchwell said he tried to keep things normal and walked their two dogs to the post office and returned to the house.

“There was a sense of, what is the word, reality and it not being real,” he said.

“It’s like you know this happened but part of you is telling you it is not reality.

“I’m not a monster, it all happened so fast.

“The worst thing in all of this, is once the lies started I couldn’t stop. That feeling is inside you day in, day out.”

He said he often dreams about his wife, and that he never wished her any harm, adding that he “never wanted to harm her”.

He also told the detective that he felt a sense of relief that “this is out”.

Wiping away tears, Satchwell said that when he picked up Mrs Satchwell, it was like she was breathing.

“I hate myself. You don’t know how many times I nearly walked off the pier,” he added.

He said the shame has never left him over the previous six years.

He also told gardai that after returning to the house from Dungarvan on the morning of her death, he came home and his wife was in the same spot.

He sat down and held her again and said it was like she was the 17-year-old girl he had met.

“I know what it sounds like. You think I’m a crazy bastard,” he added.

“I feel it should be me who is gone.

“It was the only time I truly defended myself against her.”

Asked what he thought caused his wife’s death, Satchwell said he imagined it was the way she was forcing herself on top of him and the belt being where it was, meaning she was not able to breathe.

“I can’t say how, it happened so fast,” he added.

He said he spent all night holding her in his arms and had no feeling in his back.

At some point, he put his wife on the couch and later moved her into the chest freezer because their dogs kept going over to her.

Asked if he could provide further specifics, he said that if he tried they would “be lies”, saying that he has done “enough lies and covering up”.

He said that there was an area under the stairs that was not covered in concrete.

“I know that this is sick. I wanted to keep her with me,” he added.

He used a shovel to dig out a hole under the stairs, but could not say how long he worked at the hole, adding that his knuckles were left bleeding.

He said that he had wrapped her body in black plastic so she would not get dirty from the soil.

He added: “Before I covered her, I put flowers in. I wanted to get her roses but I couldn’t.”

He said he got her tulips from Tesco instead.

He then held a “self-funeral”, saying he had wanted to make it special for her.

“It was hard to make the process good for her,” he added.

After laying his wife on the plastic, he put her into the hole he had dug out under the stairs.

“I didn’t chuck her down. I didn’t drop her into the hole. I wasn’t disrespectful,” he added.

He told the detective that it was difficult to lay her flat in the makeshift grave, and he had to bend one of her legs back.

Satchwell said he did not put any trinkets in with her, but that he put the wedding ring in her dressing gown pocket.

He said that over the years, he used to sit and talk to her.

He added: “I don’t know if you can understand this, but I love her. I still do. But I never wanted to do what I did.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the court heard how Satchwell claimed he had held his wife and kissed her head moments after she died, telling the detective there was “no taking it back”.

Satchwell said he lay on the floor with her body, and told detectives there was “shame and panic”.

He also told officers that the “real reason” he went to the church on his way to Dungarvan that morning was to light a candle for his wife, her mother and their dead pet parrot, Pearl.

Satchwell sat listening to his interview with his head in his hands, rubbing the back of his head and looking down at the court floor.

He told officers that after he returned to their home in Youghal, he was trying to think what he would do next and “what my next move would be”.

He said that Mrs Satchwell was a beautiful woman, but said her face was “all distorted with anger”.

He added: “She wasn’t a bad woman, just angry at times.

“When she was calm she was loving.

“I couldn’t go back on it.

“I panicked and once the lie was told I couldn’t go back and that’s the truth.”

He said there was “no excuses” in not coming forward and revealing the circumstances of his wife’s death.

He also described the evening before she was killed, saying they ordered pizza and he later ran her a bath, and removed the nail polish from her toe nails.

He said he rubbed baby oil over her and they went to bed, saying that she went to sleep crying on his shoulder.

Giving evidence, Dr Laureen Buckley, a consultant forensic anthropologist – who studies bones, said that Mrs Satchwell’s body was found lying face down and wrapped in a sheet of black plastic.

She confirmed that no fractures were found on any of her bones, including her skull and neck.

Mrs Satchwell was removed from the shallow grave and placed in a body bag and taken to Cork University Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

She said that her lower legs were folded back over her thighs.

Her right arm was tightly flexed and her left arm was loose and lay over her lower stomach.

She was dressed in her dressing gown and a purse was found in the left pocket.

Dr Buckley said that some of her bones had separated from her body, including two ribs and a neck vertebra.

She took a sample of her head hair a piece of bone was taken from her toe to carry out DNA testing.

Her identify was confirmed using dental records, the court was told.

The trial continues.