A jury has been shown photographs of the “gravesite” uncovered in the Satchwells’ home in Cork.
A Garda photographer described a “big operation” in 2023 to clear the Youghal house to search for the missing woman’s remains.
A search dog became “very active” at the flight of stairs in the home according to a statement read out at the murder trial on Friday.
Richard Satchwell, 58, of Grattan Street in Youghal, is accused of murdering his wife Tina Satchwell 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.
Her remains were found buried under a concrete floor under the stairs in their home in October 2023.
On Friday, the jury of five men and seven women were shown the end of a video of a police interview with Satchwell after his arrest on October 10 2023.
The couple’s Youghal home was being searched by gardai as Detective Sergeant David Noonan interviewed Satchwell at Cobh Garda Station in Cork.
A three-minute video was played in court where Mr Noonan showed Satchwell photos of the house taken from October 10 as it was being searched by gardai.
They also heard evidence from a Garda mapper and an official Garda photographer about the search.
Detective Garda Mairead Crowley explained a video and photos she had taken from the ground floor of the property on the evening of October 10.
The court heard that there was “an awful lot of articles” in the sitting room and Ms Crowley said she saw “a lot of dog faeces” in the house.
She said the search of the house was “a big operation” which involved “a skip outside” as the area “had to be cleared”.
She said she took photos of the front door, “a cement mixer and other items” in the living room, the kitchen extension, and a close up of the couch and objects around it.
She described a photo she took from under the stairs with the flooring removed, and another of the cement floor, and another with a layer of concrete removed and “a little bit of digging”.
She also described a “zoomed-up image” of little bits of white and black plastic and a stone slab.
Another photo shows a deeper excavation of “the gravesite” and another shows the stone slab removed and a view of black plastic “in its entirety” which she said “contains human remains”.
Defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC asked if the remains of Tina Satchwell were “within the black plastic” and Ms Crowley said “yes, that’s correct”.
Prosecuting barrister Gerardine Small SC read out a statement in court from Alan Ward, who is a specialised victim recovery dog handler, who trained search dog Fern to recover human remains in rural, urban and water environments.
He was briefed on Monday October 9 2023 on a search for Tina Satchwell in Grattan Street beginning the next day under warrant.
On October 10, he assisted in the removal of a small dog and a parrot from the property before entering the property later with dog Fern, who had fresh search boots and a clean harness on.
He said there was a number of areas that “piqued Fern’s interest” and that the dog became “very active” at the flight of stairs and indicated that she was working in “a target odour”.
After coming out of the scene to rest Fern, Mr Ward said he re-entered the scene as another small pet dog was spotted, put on a lead and removed.
He then re-entered the house with Fern, who showed “huge interest” at the red brick wall under the stairs, but said the settee against the wall was blocking the base of the wall.
The next morning, on October 11, he re-entered the property to continue the search, and directed the search team to remove the settee away from the wall.
He said Fern became “very active and interested” in the area under the wall and indicated on the second step of the stairs that there were human remains.
He said on the morning of October 12 they entered Grattan Street, and Fern went into “full freeze indication” at the edge of the area of excavation. Mr Ward said he then left the scene.
Earlier in the day, the Central Criminal Court was shown police interview footage of Satchwell saying his wife’s threats to leave him made him feel “miserable”.
He said that after Tina Satchwell’s brother died by suicide in 2012, “her personality changed” and she had threatened to leave.
“After her brother died, we never took sexually again,” he said, adding that this “made me feel useless”.
He told gardai that she had told him she hated him and would leave him, and would later apologise, and that this made him feel “not good” and “miserable”.
He was asked about the incidents of violence in the relationship, to which Satchwell said he would not count a slap as violence.
He said that “violence to me is when it’s not a slap” and that a slap was “nothing”, adding: “I think in some situations a slap from a woman can be sexy.”
“Would I slap a woman? No,” he said.
In a separate garda interview held the following morning, a transcript of which was read in court, Mr Noonan said Satchwell had painted a picture of him, Tina and their life.
Mr Noonan said the picture he had painted was “very different” from the picture that the evidence was painting.
Mr Noonan asked Satchwell about his account of conversations with people who had said Satchwell’s account was not true.
“We have three different things that you have said which are very different to the picture that you have painted,” Mr Noonan said.
Satchwell said to Mr Noonan that they were “mistaken” and said he did not want to call anyone a liar.
The trial continues.
