Tina Satchwell’s cousin never saw her be ‘violent or aggressive’, court told

A cousin of alleged murder victim Tina Satchwell has told a court that she never saw her be “violent or aggressive”.

Sarah Howard also told the court that she thought it was “strange” that her cousin’s husband, Richard Satchwell, had offered her a chest freezer in the weeks after she disappeared.

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

The 58-year-old, who is originally from Leicester in England, denies the charge.

Mrs Satchwell’s remains were found under the stairs in the living room of their Co Cork home in October 2023, six years after Satchwell reported her missing.

Giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, Ms Howard was asked by prosecution barrister Gerardine Small if she had ever witnessed Mrs Satchwell being violent or aggressive, to which she replied: “Never.”

Ms Howard said she was “very close” to her cousin, that they would have spent a lot time together, going swimming, walking the dogs and going around the shops in Fermoy.

Asked to describe her, she said Mrs Satchwell was “kind-hearted, loving, a family person” who loved animals, that she was “bubbly, social” and a “genuinely lovely person”.

She became emotional when she watched footage taken from Prime Time Investigates which aired after Mrs Satchwell went missing.

Ms Howard said her cousin used to visit her at her home, but that she did not see her as much after the couple moved to Youghal in May 2016.

She last saw Mrs Satchwell shortly before Christmas in 2016, and said that she was in “great form”, and that she “always had the dogs”.

She told the court she first heard her cousin was missing after Satchwell called her mother’s home in Fermoy on March 26, 2017.

After learning that she was missing, she rang Mrs Satchwell’s phone but there was no answer.

She then contacted Satchwell and asked where she was and what had happened to her, adding it was unusual she left without the dogs.

Satchwell told her that there had been an argument and she had left him.

He claimed during the phone call that she had thrown a cup at him and taken a sum of money, and that two suitcases were missing from their home.

She also gave evidence that Satchwell told her they had been at a car boot sale the previous weeks and that Mrs Satchwell had told him she had wasted 28 years with him.

“I never heard any of that before,” Ms Howard told the court.

When Ms Small asked whether she had ever heard of cups being thrown before, she replied: “Never.”

She also said in her evidence that on March 30 2017, days after Mrs Satchwell disappeared, she received a text message from Satchwell offering her “their big chest freezer” for free.

She said she did not respond and when asked why, she said she thought it was unusual.

“I thought it was very strange. He is not the kind to give stuff.”

She recalled how she once went to a car boot sale with her two children, where Satchwell had a stall.

The court was told that her children picked up a CD and nail varnish and Satchwell charged them 50 cents each for the items.

“So when I was offered something for free like that I thought it was very unusual,” she added.

A number of text exchanges between Satchwell and Ms Howard in the months after Mrs Satchwell went missing were read to the court.

Ms Howard asked Satchwell several times whether there was any news about his wife, to which he had said no.

In a text sent in June 2017, Ms Howard asked Satchwell not to call to her house because her children got upset when Ms Satchwell was not with him.

She said she used to spent a lot of time with her cousin, that she would often take her away and into their local town, including the time she got her ears pierced when she was four or five.

She agreed that the loss of Mrs Satchwell has deeply affected her.

Asked if she would describe Satchwell as being besotted and obsessed with his wife, she replied: “I suppose. He was always with her.”

Defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC said that in a statement made to gardai after Mrs Satchwell went missing, she said that Satchwell was “so obsessed with Tina that he couldn’t have caused her harm”.

“That was before,” Ms Howard replied in court.

Asked whether others in her family had seen Mrs Satchwell display violent behaviour, she said she was not sure.

She also agreed with Mr Grehan that Satchwell had hand-delivered a birthday card for her in August 2017, which had been signed ‘Tina and Richard’ and contained two photographs.

She further agreed that Mrs Satchwell’s grandmother had raised her, and that Mrs Satchwell and her mother Mary Collins had fallen out in the years before she disappeared.

When asked if Mrs Satchwell was resentful that her mother had not raised her, Ms Howard replied she could not say.

Earlier on Wednesday, the court heard Satchwell contacted gardai on July 12 2017, to tell them that he saw two suitcases in the recycling area of Tesco carpark in Youghal.

He claimed they were very similar to the suitcases Mrs Satchwell took with her on the day she disappeared.

Garda Susan Nolan went and met Satchwell and he told her the suitcases were similar. She said there was a large navy and blue case and a smaller black case.

She told the court that she inquired about CCTV in the area but was told that there was no video footage of that part of the car park.

It was confirmed that while the suitcases were similar, they did not long belong to Satchwell.

The prosecution has now concluded its evidence.

The trial continues.