A superintendent has said she formed the view that Richard Satchwell was a suspect in his wife’s disappearance in August 2022, a court heard.
Superintendent Ann Marie Twomey also said that she could not comment on why a previous investigative team did not carry out an “intrusive” search of the couple’s Cork home in 2017.
Satchwell is accused of murdering his wife Tina at their home in Youghal between March 19 and 20 2017.
The 58-year-old, from Grattan Street in Youghal, denies murder.
Satchwell, who is originally from Leicester in England, formally reported his wife missing on May 11 2017, weeks after the date he told police she had left their home.
Mrs Satchwell’s remains were found in a shallow grave beneath a concrete floor under a set of stairs in their home in October 2023.
On Wednesday, Ms Twomey said she could not comment on the thoughts and beliefs of the investigating team that searched the Satchwell home in 2017.
Ms Twomey, who was appointed senior investigating officer to the case in August 2021, said she was not involved in the case before then.
Asked by defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC if she had thought the previous search of Grattan Street was a thorough one, Ms Twomey said: “It was not an intrusive search or an invasive search.”
She said she had no involvement with the investigation at that stage.
Asked if she expected that the 2017 search would have “sought to unearth” the remains of Tina Satchwell, Ms Twomey said that the warrant said the search related to “assault causing harm”.
Mr Grehan suggested there was nothing to prevent gardai from conducting invasive search in June 2017.
“I cannot answer the question,” Ms Twomey said, because she could not represent “the beliefs or thoughts” of the previous investigation team.
“The team in 2017 had lawful authority to be in the house, but in relation to what they did and didn’t do, I can’t answer that because I don’t know their thought process or belief at that time.”
Ms Twomey told the court she was appointed as the senior investigating officer four years after Mrs Satchwell went missing.
She said at the time she was a detective inspector attached to the Cork North Garda division and had no previous involvement in Mrs Satchwell’s case.
She said that it took months for her and Detective Garda David Kelleher to review the material in the incident room, which included witness statements, CCTV, details of the search of Tina’s home in 2017, inquiries at ports and airports, inquiries with social welfare and the passport office, media appeals by Gardai and Richard Satchwell, and inquiries into reported sightings.
After they had familiarised themselves with the material, they carried out further inquiries and “additional lines of investigation”, including engaging with a forensic accountant, a forensic archaeologist and with the PSNI.
She said that by the end of January and the beginning of February 2022, she had “reasonable grounds” to believe that Mrs Satchwell was not a missing person and had been unlawfully killed.
She said she came to this conclusion because despite extensive inquiries carried out, there was “no suggestion that Tina was a living person”.
She said by the end of August 2022, she had formed the view that Satchwell was a suspect in wife’s disappearance and death.
When asked why Gardai did not act on that information, Ms Twomey said the investigation was “very much alive and active” and there were other lines of inquiry that needed to be pursued.
She said among the lines of inquiry pursued, was engaging with forensic archaeologist Dr Niamh McCullagh.
“I was looking for Tina Satchwell,” she told the court.
She said that between September 2022 and September 2023, she formed “reasonable grounds” that a search of the Youghal home was necessary.
She went to the District Court in early October and detailed going to the house on October 10 2023 and informing Richard Satchwell of who she was and the warrant she was executing for an intrusive search.
She said that he replied that he understood the situation.
Detective Garda David Kelleher said he became involved in the Tina Satchwell case in 2020, and among his tasks was a review of material retrieved from digital devices seized from the Satchwell home.
He told the court that a Google search for “quicklime” was made on Friday March 24 2017 at 9.08pm, and seconds later a video was clicked on that showed quicklime and water reacting.
Mr Kelleher also went through a number of emails sent from a RickieSat account and an International Monkey Rescue account.
He told the court Richard Satchwell was attempting to purchase two marmoset monkeys, called Terry and Thelma, over a period two years, from 2015 to March 2017.
On February 23 2017, at 6.05pm, the court heard an email from International Monkey Rescue was sent to RickieSat, and suggested they could “figure out the payment”.
A response from RickieSat, signed off as “Richard”, on the same date, said that he had lost his job “over going all over Ireland to send you money”.
In a later response, the monkey organisation said “we will figure the money issue and let you know” and the RickieSat account responded “Ok Many thanks”.
On March 9 2017, the international monkey sanctuary address said, “you never took our last message seriously”, and on March 27 2017, the RickieSat account said, “what do you mean by this” and said, “my wife is saying she is going to leave me over this”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Detective Sergeant David Noonan told the court that Satchwell was “very co-operative” with the Gardai.
He said the cognitive interview technique he conducted with Satchwell on June 20 2021, which was held for up to four hours, can only be done with a “co-operative witness”.
He said Satchwell was not considered a suspect in his wife’s disappearance at the time of the interview, but was considered a “significant” witness.
