Richard Satchwell returned for trial over the murder of his wife Tina (45)
Richard Satchwell (57) is charged with the murder of his wife, Tina (45), whose body was unearthed last year in their Youghal home following a week-long Garda excavation.
She had vanished without trace from her Cork home in March 2017.
Satchwell was charged with his wife’s murder three days after her body was discovered by gardaí following an intensive search operation last October over six and a half years after she vanished.
Judge Brian O’Shea at Clonmel District Court was told today by Sergeant Tom O’Brien that the book of evidence in the case had been formally served on Satchwell and his defence legal team.
Judge O’Shea had warned two weeks ago that if the book of evidence was not ready for service on the defence by today the State ran the risk of the matter being struck out as he noted that the defendant had been charged last October and had by now been over five months in custody.
Sgt Tom O’Brien said evidence would be offered to the court by Det Garda David Kelleher.
“At 10.07am today I served the book of evidence on Mr Satchwell,” the detective confirmed..
Solicitor Aidan Leahy, acting for defence counsel Eddie Burke, confirmed receipt of the case file in the matter and said he had no applications to make.
Judge O’Shea formally remanded the defendant for trial.
“The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has already ruled on a trial by indictment, that is to say trial by judge and jury in the Central Criminal Court,” the judge said.
“In the event you have an alibi to rely on in your trial, you must present written details of that alibi to the prosecution within 14 days.”
Judge O’Shea also made an order releasing video copies of all Garda interviews conducted with Satchwell as part of their investigation to the defence legal team.
The judge confirmed free legal aid and extended the certificate to cover both a junior and a senior counsel.
He remanded Satchwell in continuing custody to appear before the next sessions of the Central Criminal Court at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin.
Satchwell appeared in court wearing a grey sports top and grey tracksuit pants.
He did not speak during the hearing.
The defendant had followed all previous court hearings this year by video-link from prison.
Ms Satchwell vanished without trace in March 2017 and was the focus of a major Garda missing person investigation for over six and a half years.
Mr Satchwell, who has an address at Grattan Street, Youghal, Co Cork, was charged with the murder of his wife, Tina Satchwell nee Dingivan, at a special sitting of Cashel District Court last October.
He is charged with the murder of his wife on March 20 2017 at a location in Cork.
The charge is brought contrary to Common Law.
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – March 26th
Last January, Supt Adrian Gamble confirmed that he personally supervised the handing of the Garda case file to the State Solicitor for North Cork, Jerry Healy, for submission to the DPP.
Supt Gamble explained to the court that some of the matters in respect of the case file such as expert reports had been outside the control of gardai.
Satchwell, who is originally from Leicester, has been resident in Cork for over 20 years.
He was arrested after gardaí launched a search operation at the home he shared with his wife last October after a lengthy missing person investigation.
Satchwell was charged with the murder of his wife after her remains were discovered by specialist Garda search teams who had painstakingly excavated a concrete floor and walled-up area underneath the stairwell.
Tina Satchwell
He had been arrested when the search operation commenced but was then released without charge.
Satchwell was re-arrested within 24 hours when the human remains were found at the property.
Det Gda Kelleher previously told the court that 38 statements were requested from the initial arrest, detention, further extensions and the subsequent re-arrest of Satchwell.
He said they had been awaiting State Pathologist, forensic, forensic archaeology, anthropology, State Laboratory and toxicology reports.
Satchwell was previously denied bail at a High Court sitting at Cloverhill Court last year.
Gardai had objected to bail on the basis of the serious nature of the charge involved and that the accused was a potential flight risk.
Judge Siobhan Lankford formally denied the bail application having considered the various submissions.
She said the defendant faces “very serious charges…the most serious charges on the criminal canon.”
Tina Satchwell was from St Bernard’s Place in Fermoy, Co Cork.
She had moved to the UK as a teenager which is where she met her husband.
They returned from the UK and lived for a time in Fermoy before relocating to Youghal.
Ms Satchwell was reported missing on March 24 2017 by her husband.
In a massive missing person search operation over the subsequent six years, gardaí followed 400 lines of inquiry, watched hundreds of hours of CCTV and took witness statements from a total of 170 people.
Gardaí also consulted with UK police.
Sea and land searches were carried out at various locations in east Cork.
In March 2018, gardaí conducted a search operation for Tina over two weeks at Mitchel’s Wood in Castlemartyr, Co Cork.
On the sixth anniversary of Ms Satchwell’s disappearance last March, Gardaí issued a renewed appeal for information in a bid to locate her.
Ms Satchwell would have celebrated her 51st birthday this year.
She hailed from a family of eight and is survived by her siblings.
Candlelit vigils were held in both Youghal and Fermoy in her memory last October.