Truck driver found guilty of murdering wife and hiding her body under stairs
30 May 2025, 13:42 | Updated: 30 May 2025, 14:04
A truck driver has been found guilty of murdering his wife at their home in Co Cork and hiding her remains under the stairs.
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Brit truck driver Richard Satchwell, 58, pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife Tina at their home on March 20 2017.
Appearing in court on Friday, the killer did not react as the unanimous verdict was read.
The family of Mrs Satchwell wept as the verdict came in after 9 hours and 28 minutes of jury deliberation.
Satchwell, who sat with his head in his hand as the jury entered the courtroom, will be sentenced on June 4.
Police discovered Mrs Satchwell’s skeletal remains buried under the stairs of their home in October 2023 after a search of the property in Grattan Street.
Her body was decomposed, wrapped in a soiled sheet and draped in black plastic.
She was wearing pyjamas with a dressing gown, and the belt of the gown was wrapped around her.
State pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said she could not determine the exact cause of death because of the advanced state of decomposition.
During Garda interviews, Satchwell said that on the morning of March 20 2017, he found his wife standing at the bottom of the stairs with a chisel in her hand, scraping at the plasterboard.
He claimed that she came at him with the chisel, and he fell back on to the floor.
He added that Mrs Satchwell tried to stab him multiple times with the chisel and that he grabbed her clothing and restrained her by putting the belt of the robe against her neck.
Satchwell said that in a very short period of time, she went limp and fell into his arms.
He then placed her body on the couch in the living room, before moving her to the chest freezer and then burying her under the stairs.
It was more than six years before police discovered her body.
After killing his wife, Satchwell acted as if she was missing, pleading with her: “Tina, come home. There’s nobody mad at you. My arms are open. The pets are missing you.”
Within a week of murdering his wife, Satchwell had placed her body in an unplugged chest freezer, which was kept in the shed at the back of the property in Grattan Street.
He then dug a hole, measuring almost one-metre deep, under the stairs of their three-storey home. Tina’s body, still wearing her pyjamas and dressing gown, was then wrapped in a black plastic sheet and placed inside the hole with her head facing down.
On Friday, March 24 2017, a “not overly emotional” Satchwell walked into Fermoy Garda Station to report that his wife had left him and he had not seen her in four days.
Garda Conor Casey suggested making a missing person report, but Satchwell said she was “OK”.
It was more than seven weeks after Tina disappeared that Satchwell formally reported her missing to gardai, and her case was upgraded to a missing persons case.
Over the 12 months following Tina’s disappearance, Satchwell embarked on a media campaign in which he spoke extensively to TV and radio journalists about Tina and the day she left their home and their marriage.
