Gardaí to review Tina Satchwell murder investigation

The investigation into the murder of a woman in County Cork is to be reviewed, the Garda Commissioner (head of the Irish police) has confirmed.

Drew Harris made the comments while attending the graduation of 120 new gardaí (Irish police) officers in Templemore, County Tipperary.

Earlier this week, Richard Satchwell, 58, was sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of killing his wife, Tina Satchwell, in March 2017.

The 45-year-old's body was kept hidden under the stairs of the couple's home on Grattan Street in Youghal for more than six years, before gardaí found her remains during a search in October 2023.

Speaking on Friday, Harris accepted that "in hindsight" it may seem "pretty obvious" where her remains were kept.

In 2017, an initial search of the Satchwell home was undertaken, but officers did not intrusively examine an area where construction work had been carried out.

Harris was asked if a sniffer dog should have been sent into the home, but he said it was "very early" to make a judgement.

He said a report on the murder would be compiled for the Irish Minister for Justice, Jim O'Callaghan.

"We want to review that ourselves," he said.

"We have the expertise within the organisation and obviously then we will report on that to the minister and to the Policing and Community Safety Authority."

Harris said while the investigation into Tina's murder in 2017 did not find her remains initially, a "significant" amount of information was found.

That evidence was used in a review of the case, he added, which resulted in the remains being found and Satchwell's murder conviction.

Harris also said a forensic scientist attended the 2017 search alongside gardaí to find blood splatter, but this was not found.

The investigation was also hampered by Tina being "isolated" while being "coercively controlled", meaning few people knew her.

Satchwell, a British truck driver originally from Leicester, reported his wife missing days after the murder and lied about what happened to her.

On October 2023, gardaí found her body buried in a makeshift grave after another search of the home.

Satchwell was re-arrested and changed his story, saying his wife flew at him with a chisel and she died as he tried to hold her off.

He said he transferred her body to a disused freezer, buried her in a grave he dug under the stairs and cemented over her body.

Harris also said the investigation into the murder of County Kerry farmer Michael Gaine would be subject to a peer review.

The remains of the 56-year-old, who had been missing for more than eight weeks before the case was upgraded to a homicide, were found near his farm in Kenmare.

The discovery came days after human tissue was discovered in fields.

"We are subjecting the Michael Gaine investigation to a peer review because I think there's learning for us around those who commit crime and then attempt to dispose of the body, and often are successful in disposing of the body," Mr Harris added.

Harris said he hoped the reviews would help change the mindset around how officers approach these cases.

"There's definitely lessons we wish to learn from all these homicides, where it's a missing persons [investigation] and then it converts in time to a homicide investigation.

"We've seen a real pattern around that in recent years."

"[It is] important we have an investigative mindset around a crime also being committed."