'Have an open mind to Satchwell case..!'

THE jury in the murder trial of Richard Satchwell have been told to approach the case "with an open mind" and "without emotion".

- BY GRAINNE NI AODHA

The judge said to jurors they should not think “less” of the accused because he did not give evidence.

Satchwell, 58, of Grattan Street in Youghal, Co Cork, is accused of murdering his wife Tina between March 19 and 20 2017.

Originally from Leicester, England, he denies the charge at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.

Mrs Satchwell’s remains were found under the stairs in the living room of their Co Cork home in October 2023, six years after he reported her missing.

Yesterday, Mr Justice Paul McDermott told jurors aspects of the trial may have been “unseemly, perhaps shocking”.

But he said if parts of the trial raised their indignation, “you have to put those things outside the door” and approach it in a “very careful clinical way”.

The judge added: “You have to approach it with an open mind, with an independent mind, without emotion, without prejudice.”

Mr Justice McDermott said they were making their determination on the charge of murder based on proof beyond reasonable doubt, which he described as higher than probable, but not “a mathematical certainty”.