Richard Satchwell found guilty of the murder of his wife Tina Satchwell in 2017

Tina’s remains were discovered in a grave that had been dug underneath the stairs of her home.

RICHARD SATCHWELL, WHO kept his wife’s body in a secret grave beneath their home for six years while lying to her family and the “people of Ireland” about her disappearance, has been found guilty of her murder by a Central Criminal Court jury.

The 12 jurors took nine hours and 28 minutes over four days to convict Satchwell, a British national born on 16 June 1966 who is soon to turn 59.

The unanimous jury verdict was met with sobs from members of Tina’s family, who hugged and comforted one another at the back of the courtroom.

Four jurors were also brought to tears, while Satchwell sat still, with his head on his hand.

The six-foot two truck driver had claimed that his five-foot four wife Tina, who weighed eight stone, had launched an attack on him with a chisel and died during a struggle in which he either lacked the intent to kill her or was acting in self-defence.

Her cause of death could not be determined due to the skeletonised nature of her remains when they were eventually uncovered.

The jury unanimously rejected his defence and agreed with the State’s case that Satchwell was a “cunning” murderer whose claims were “nonsense” and had hidden his wife’s body to ensure a cause of death would not be available.

Satchwell had pleaded not guilty to murdering 45-year-old Tina Satchwell – nee Dingivan – at their home address at Grattan Street, Youghal, Co Cork between 19 and 20 March 2017, both dates inclusive.

There were three verdicts the jury panel could return in relation to the murder charge against him namely; guilty of murder, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter or not guilty.

The jury heard from more than 50 witnesses over the five-week trial, many of whom were gardaí involved in the investigation.

The five men and seven women disagreed with the defence position that, although Satchwell had lied “to the people of Ireland”, the lies did not make him a murderer or relieved the prosecution of the burden of proving the ingredients of murder.

They had watched video clips of a tearful Richard Satchwell making televised appeals for Tina to come home, months after he murdered her and buried her in a grave dug almost one metre deep beneath their Cork home.

They also agreed with the prosecution case that Satchwell’s narrative of how his wife died – the only account of her death they were given – after he held her off by the belt of her bathrobe was “absolutely farcical” and had “more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese”.

Following the verdict, presiding judge Mr Justice Paul McDermott thanked the jurors “sincerely” for their service.

He said it had been a difficult trial and he could not do anything else for them but thank them. He said he would excuse them from jury service for the next ten years.

The judge will hand down the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment to Satchwell on 4 June and remanded the defendant in custody until that date.

On that date, the Dingivan family will have an opportunity to make a statement to the court about the impact Tina’s death has had on their lives.

Reported missing

The trial heard that on 24 March, 2017, Satchwell told gardaí that his wife Tina had left their home four days earlier, but that he had no concerns over her welfare, feeling she had left due to a deterioration in their relationship.

Satchwell formally reported Tina missing the following May, but her body was not discovered for over six years, when gardaí in October 2023 conducting a second, invasive search of the Satchwell home found her decomposed remains in a grave dug underneath the stairs.

When re-arrested on suspicion of Tina’s murder after her body was removed from their home, Satchwell told gardaí that his wife “flew” at him with a chisel, that he fell backwards against the floor and described her death after he said he held her off by the belt of her bathrobe at her neck.

Satchwell told gardaí that he kept Tina’s body in a chest freezer in his shed before burying her beneath their home.

He offered the same freezer to Tina’s cousin Sarah Howard before advertising it on Done Deal as “free to take away…just needs a clean” days after the murder.

In his closing address, defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC told the jurors that there was no doubt Satchwell was guilty, but asked the jurors what exactly he was guilty of.

Gerardine Small SC alongside Maria Brosnan BL, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, submitted in her closing address that the Leicester native had woven “a web of deceit” and continued his “fabricated narrative” over the years.

Counsel said Satchwell’s objective from the very outset was “always to put everyone off the scent” and that this was done because he had murdered Tina.

Satchwell, the lawyer submitted, was “shamelessly brazen right up to the very end” his wife’s remains were discovered at the couple’s home in Youghal.