Satchwell told gardaí: I buried Tina in house to keep her with me, court told

Extra.ie​

14-05-2025

Richard Satchwell told gardaí he buried his wife's body under the stairs of their Cork home as he wanted to keep her with him and didn't want to leave her alone.
'I wanted her to know the hand that killed her was also the hand that loved her,' the murder accused told interviewing detectives.
Following the discovery of her remains at the couple's home in Youghal, over six years after Tina Satchwell was reported missing, the British truck driver told gardaí 'the worst thing of all' was once the lies started, he couldn't stop but had a 'sense of relief' once the truth was out. Richard Satchwell. Pic: Seán Dwyer
He told detectives he used to talk to the area where he had buried Tina and the hardest thing was 'not getting anything back'. A consultant forensic anthropologist also told the Central Criminal trial there were no injuries to any of Ms Satchwell's bones, including her hyoid bone.
Detective Garda David Kelleher told prosecuting barrister Gerardine Small, that at the outset of his first interview with gardaí following his rearrest on October 12 2023, Mr Satchwell said he and Tina had been at a car boot sale on March 19, 2017, when she hit him a slap. 'Without a word I got a slap, knocked glasses… Someone insulted her or said something nasty, I don't know, and that triggered the slap in the car.'
The accused said when he walked into the sitting room of his home the following morning, Tina was at the bottom of the stairs with a chisel in her hand taking down plasterboard. Tina Satchwell.
'This day she flew at me – I went back, fell against the floor,' he said. 'The belt of the bathrobe was where I held her up with the belt like this until she got heavier. Before I know it, it had all stopped, it just stopped.
'I put my arms around her, she fell down on top of me. I didn't know what to do. I held her for a good 20 minutes or half an hour. The two dogs just there sitting looking. They came over, started licking her, I just laid there. Sometime later, I don't know, I got up and just, like, to keep things normal.' Mr Satchwell told gardaí he was holding his wife and kissing her on the head, adding: 'There was no taking back I just don't know. Shame, panic, I don't know.' He said he later went to the couple's 'favourite spot' in Youghal and sat there thinking about his 'next move'.
He said his wife wasn't a bad woman, 'just angry at times'. He said when she was calm, 'she was loving'. He told gardaí: 'Once I'd told it, I couldn't go back on it. Buried her under the stairs… I went and got roses and called her my Irish rose but none – Mother's Day so I got her tulips,' he said. 'I ain't got no excuses; once it's done I couldn't take it back.'
He later told gardaí he might have 'startled' his wife, who was wearing a lilac nightgown, when he asked her what she was doing as she scraped away plasterboard with the chisel. He said Tina just 'flew' at him with 'so much force' he fell backwards onto the floor with her on top of him. Richard Satchwell. Pic: TV3 News
'I don't know why the robe belt was loose, I put me hands up, next thing I know she goes limp… The only thing I can tell you was she was angry. It happened so fast like,' he said.
He said Tina was in a 'blind rage' and her face was 'distorted'. 'It happened in a flash and within seconds it was over. It happened so fast I can't put it into detail,' he said. Mr Satchwell called it the worst day of his life.
'I can't turn around and say, oh her neck was broke or strangulate… It just happened so fast,' he said. 'All the weight come down, the throat on the belt as I was holding up by the belt'. He said he wasn't a 'monster' and the worst thing was once the lies started, he couldn't stop. Mr Satchwell told gardaí there was 'a sense of relief' the truth was out but he hated himself. 'You've no idea how many times I nearly walked off the fish pier,' he said, adding he had stayed for the love of their two dogs, which he said were like children to him. 'I was actually holding the same 17-year-old girl that I met nearly 30 years before. I know you're thinking in your head, 'you crazy bastard'.' He said he initially laid Tina on the couch and the next few days went by 'in a blue'.
He said he put Tina inside a chest freezer in the shed two days later on March 22 or 23, away from the dogs as they kept coming over to her. 'I was robotic, working on automatic… She was heavy, so heavy, it was like trying to lift a ten-tonne bag of coal.' Tina Satchwell.
He said he dug out underneath the stairs with a spade and laid his wife on the black plastic on the kitchen floor. 'I wanted her to know the hand that killed her was also the hand that loved her'.
He said he buried her the following Sunday afternoon, on March 26. 'I know this is sick, I wanted to keep her with me, I didn't want to leave her alone… It's been killing me since I did it.' He said he didn't know how long it took to dig the hole, it could have been 20 minutes or 20 hours, adding: 'It was light when I started and dark when I finished.' He cried as he told gardaí: 'I actually carried her into the hole, I didn't drop her into the hole, I wasn't disrespectful. I can remember folding the plastic around her, putting the flowers in.' He said he bought a couple of bunches of tulips from Tesco and put her wedding ring in the pocket of her bathrobe.
'I didn't want to dirty her so I wrapped her in black plastic, before I covered her I threw flowers in, I wanted to get her roses but I couldn't'. He said he used to open the door under the stairs and talk to Tina and sometimes it could just be 'hello love'. He said the hardest thing was 'not getting anything back'.
The trial continues.