LAST UPDATE | 8 May 2025

RICHARD SATCHWELL WAS “flogging” his wife Tina’s clothes at a car boot sale just weeks after her alleged murder and claimed she had gone to her sister’s home in the UK after contracting a “terrible infection”, witnesses have told his trial.

Earlier, the court heard that a phone linked to Satchwell, who told gardaí that he kept the body of his wife Tina in a freezer before burying her beneath their home.

Satchwell subsequently posted an ad on DoneDeal reading “Large chest freezer free to take away, working perfect just needs a clean” days after her alleged murder.

The trial has 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.

The accused reported that Tina had taken approximately €26,000 from their savings from a box in the attic.

The accused formally reported his wife missing the following May but her body was not discovered for over six years, when gardaí in October 2023 conducting “an invasive search” of the Satchwell’s home found her decomposed remains in a grave that had been dug underneath the stairs.

Satchwell ‘flogging’ Tina’s clothes

Mary Crowley told Small that she attended a car boot sale on 17 April 2017 in Blarney and she saw Satchwell with his stall selling ‘Dr Martens’ boots.

Crowley said Satchwell told her that he and his wife had moved into a house which had been unoccupied for 12 years and had mould or fungus. He said Tina had gotten a “very serious respiratory illness” and was in the UK.

The witness added: “I must have said what will she [Tina] say when she comes back and you’re flogging her stuff. He said ‘she told me to sell them as we need money to make repairs to the house’.”

She said the accused told her that Tina was immunocompromised.

The daughter of the previous witness, Julie Crowley, said Satchwell told her and her mother that his wife had developed a serious respiratory infection when they moved into a house.

The accused told them the house needed serious structural work and approval from the health board. She said Satchwell said he and his wife were raising money for work that had to be done on the house.

The next witness, Ger Carey, said he got to know Tina Satchwell through car boot sales in Cork. Carey said he met the accused at his stall at the Blarney car boot sale.

“I said ‘has Tina gone walkabout’, he said ‘no she is not here today’. He said she had gotten very ill and was with her sister in England who was looking after her”.

Carey said the accused told him that Tina was so ill she wouldn’t be at car boot sales anymore.

Under cross-examination, Carey agreed with the defence he had said in his statement that Satchwell told him Tina wouldn’t be the same again, and not that he wouldn’t see her at car boot sales anymore.

‘Tina is very sick’, accused told friends

Linda Hennessy said she was at the Rathcormac car boot sale in late March/early April 2017 and met Richard Satchwell. She asked Richard whether Tina was “running around buying stuff” but said he had put his head down.

“I waited until the people went. I went over and said ‘is Tina alright’. ‘No’ he said, ‘she is not, she is very sick and in hospital’,” said the witness.

The witness asked Satchwell what hospital and whether she could go to see her.

“He said to me you can’t, she’s gone over now to the UK to her sister.”

She said Satchwell told her that Tina had got a “terrible infection” through “dry rot” from the walls in their house.

“I said right, how come you didn’t get it. He looked down. I said are you in contact with her on the phone, please send my regards to her,” said the witness.

When Hennessy asked the accused whether he was going to the UK, Satchwell said he had to get passports for the dogs. Under cross-examination, the witness agreed with the defence that it was normal for the couple to sell Tina’s “stuff”.

Foresenic Accountant

Forensic accountant Tadhg Twomey told Gerardine Small SC, prosecuting, today that he was aware Satchwell had told gardaí that his wife had taken €26,000 which had been raised over a four to five-year period.

Twomey said the accused had stated publicly that the €26,000 was from the sale of the couple’s property in Youghal and that they could make up to €200 a week from selling items at car boot sales.

The witness said that, while looking through the couple’s finances, he was made aware that Tina Satchwell had an account with ‘Littlewoods Ireland’ with a credit line for a maximum of €4,500.

He said that from mid-2016 to February/March 2017, this line of credit was 90% used and by the end of 2017 it was fully breached. He said there were significant arrears building up on the account at the time.

Twomey said the sale of a house in Fermoy was for €120,000, which was used to pay off fees for the purchase of the house on Grattan Street in Youghal. He said at the end of that process €372 in remaining funds was left to the Satchwells.

The witness testified that there was “no sign” the Satchwells had received “a significant cash windfall” to provide them with €26,000 in savings.

Under cross-examination, the witness agreed with Brendan Grehan SC, defending, that Tina had no recorded employment.

First arrest in October 2023

Detective Garda David Kelleher said he went with a search warrant to Grattan Street in Youghal at 5pm on 10 October 2023, where he arrested Satchwell for the murder of Tina Satchwell on or about 19 March 2017 and brought him to Cobh Garda Station.

In his interview with gardaí at 8.05pm that night, Satchwell e said there had been a few hundred fights between them over 30 years, including one incident where he hid in the attic while his family visited.

The trial continues tomorrow before Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of five men and seven women.

In her opening address, Small told the jury that after the body was recovered, Satchwell told gardaíthat he lost his footing and fell to the ground when his wife tried to stab him with a chisel.

He told detectives that he held her weight off with a belt but that in a matter of seconds, she was dead in his arms.

Mr Satchwell (58), with an address at Grattan Street, Youghal, Co Cork has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 45-year-old wife Tina Satchwell – neé Dingivan – at that address between March 19 and 20 March 2017, both dates inclusive.