A man accused of murdering his wife said he held her and kissed her head moments after she died, telling Irish police there was “no taking it back” following the discovery of her body at their family home, a court heard.
Richard Satchwell said he lay on the floor with her body, and told detectives there was “shame and panic”.
Satchwell was arrested for the murder of his wife, Tina Satchwell, in October 2023, after her body was found in a shallow clandestine grave under the stairs of their home on Co Cork, six years after he reported her missing.
Satchwell, 58, of Grattan Street in Youghal, is accused of murdering his wife between March 19 and 20 2017.
He denies the charge.
Satchwell, originally from Leicester in England, formally reported his wife missing on May 11 2017.
He initially claimed he believed she had left their family home because their relationship had deteriorated and she had taken 26,000 euro in cash they kept in the attic.
Mrs Satchwell’s decomposed body was discovered lying face down in the grave, with her legs folded back over her thighs.
Following the discovery, Satchwell was arrested and questioned at Cobh Garda Station for almost three hours.
The jury at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin has been watching the lengthy interview.
Wearing a black polo T-shirt and grey trousers, Satchwell removed his glasses and wept as he claimed that on the morning of March 20 2023, his wife held a chisel in her hand and “flew” at him and he went “flying back on the floor”.
He made stabbing gestures as he described how his wife stood over him with the chisel, adding that he did not know how it happened.
He claimed he held her up with the belt of her bathrobe, adding that it was all he could do to hold her up before she “just stopped”.
Satchwell told officers he did not know what to do and lay there for a “good 20 minutes to half an hour”.
He said their two pet dogs sat looking at them and came over to his wife and “started to lick her”.
Satchwell claimed he held his wife and “kissed her on the head”.
“There was no taking it back,” he said.
“I had shame, panic. I don’t know.”
He also told officers that the “real reason” he went to the church on his way to Dungarvan that morning was to light a candle for his wife, her mother and their dead pet parrot, Pearl.
Satchwell sat listening to his interview with his head in his hands and looking down at the court floor.
He told officers that after he returned to their home in Youghal, he was trying to think what he would do next and “what my next move would be”.
He said that Mrs Satchwell was a beautiful woman but said her face was “all distorted with anger”.
“She wasn’t a bad woman, just angry at times.
“When she was calm she was loving.
“I couldn’t go back on it.
“I panicked and once the lie was told I couldn’t go back and that’s the truth.”
He said there was “no excuses” in not coming forward and revealing the circumstances of his wife’s death.
He then told officers that he buried her under the stairs.
Giving evidence, Dr Laureen Buckley, a consultant forensic anthropologist, who studies bones, said that Mrs Satchwell’s body was found lying face down and wrapped in a sheet of black plastic.
She confirmed that no fractures were found on any of her bones, including her skull and neck.
Mrs Satchwell was removed from the shallow grave and placed in a body bag and taken to Cork University Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
She said that her lower legs were folded back over her thighs.
Her right arm was tightly flexed and her left arm was loose and lay over her lower stomach.
She was dressed in her dressing gown and a purse was found in the left pocket.
Dr Buckley said that some of her bones had separated from her body, including two ribs and a neck vertebra.
She took a sample of her head hair a piece of bone was taken from her toe to carry out DNA testing.
Her identify was confirmed using dental records, the court was told.
The trial continues.
