Satchwell 'buried wife under stairs as he didn't want her to be alone..and held self-funeral'

Court hears truck driver told cops that once the lies started, he couldn't stop

- BY PAUL HEALY Crime Correspondent

RICHARD Satchwell told gardai he buried his wife Tina's body under the stairs in their home because he wanted to keep her with him and did not want to leave her alone, a court heard.

The Central Criminal Court heard that the murder accused told detectives: "I wanted her to know the hand that killed her was also the hand that loved her."

Following the discovery of her remains at the couple's home in Youghal, over six years after Tina Satchwell was reported missing, the trucker told gardai "the worst thing of all" was that once the lies started, he couldn't stop - and he had a "sense of relief" that the truth was out.

The Leicester native told detectives he used to talk to the area in which he had buried Tina and the hardest thing was "not getting anything back".

Mr Satchwell, 58, denies the March 2017 murder of his wife Tina, whose remains were found in a 3ft grave he dug for her in the home they shared on Grattan Street in Youghal, Co Cork.

Yesterday, a jury of seven women and five men watched a Garda interview with Mr Satchwell after his re-arrest when the body of Tina was found buried in the grave beneath the stairs wrapped in plastic on October 12, 2023.

In the interview, Mr Satchwell took his glasses off, broke down in tears and told Detective Sergeant David Noonan his wife died when he used the rope from her bathrobe and held it at her throat after she "flew" at him with a chisel.

He told Det Sgt Noonan he held his wife on the ground "for a good 20 minutes after" she died and that their two dogs Heidi and Ruby "were there just sitting and looking."

He said he lay there with his wife and the dogs came over and started to lick her. He said: "I was holding her and kissing her on the head."