A truck driver discovered responsible of murdering his spouse, whose stays have been discovered below the steps at their house in Eire, has been sentenced to life in jail.
Richard Satchwell, initially from Leicester, had denied the homicide of Tina Satchwell on a date between 19 March and 20 March 2017.
Her skeletal stays have been found on the Co Cork property in October 2023, six years after her husband reported her lacking.
Throughout his five-week trial, jurors heard from greater than 50 witnesses, together with law enforcement officials concerned within the investigation.
Police had found Mrs Satchwell’s stays buried below the steps in the lounge of their house. Her badly decomposed physique was wrapped in a dirty sheet and lined with a black plastic sheet.
She was carrying pyjamas with a dressing robe, with the belt of the robe wrapped round her.
A state pathologist stated she couldn’t set up the precise reason behind loss of life due to how decomposed the physique was.
Throughout police interviews, Satchwell, 58, stated that on the morning of 20 March 2017 he discovered his spouse standing on the backside of the steps with a chisel in her hand, scraping off the plasterboard, and claimed she got here at him with the article and he fell again on to the ground.
He stated Mrs Satchwell tried to stab him a number of instances with the chisel and he grabbed her clothes and restrained her by placing the belt of the dressing robe towards her neck.
Satchwell stated that in a really brief time frame she went limp and fell into his arms.
He stated he put her physique on the couch in the lounge, earlier than transferring her to the chest freezer after which burying her below the steps.
Kinfolk of Mrs Satchwell wept because the responsible verdict was returned on Friday 30 Might.
Satchwell didn’t react because the unanimous verdict was learn to the Central Legal Court docket in Dublin.
Tina’s cousin, Sarah Howard stated that Mrs Satchwell was murdered “by someone who claimed to love her”.
“The emotional toll of her loss is something I will carry with me always,” she stated.
Picture:
Tina Satchwell. Pic: Household Handout/PA
Her half-sister Lorraine Howard stated the best way Mrs Satchwell was buried in plastic in her own residence “sends shivers down my spine every time I think about it”.
“I will never be able to forgive Richard Satchwell for what he has done.”
Satchwell’s barrister Brendan Grehan SC informed the court docket that Satchwell intends to enchantment, and that he “never intended to kill Tina”.
Mr Grehan additionally stated that Satchwell stated “despite anything he said in the trial, Tina was a lovely person”.
The court docket was informed the couple married within the UK on Tina’s twentieth birthday, and later settled in Co Cork, first in Fermoy earlier than transferring to Youghal in 2016.
The trial heard that on March 24 2017, Satchwell went to gardai and claimed his spouse had left their Youghal house 4 days in the past as a result of their relationship had deteriorated.
Satchwell had additionally claimed Tina had taken €26,000 euros in money from financial savings they saved within the attic, which the court docket later heard they didn’t have the capability to avoid wasting.
He formally reported his spouse lacking in Might 2017 and claimed to investigators that his spouse was typically violent in direction of him.
Within the following years, he revamped a dozen media appearances wherein he spoke extensively in regards to the morning he claimed Tina left the home and by no means returned.
