Richard Satchwell to appeal conviction for murdering wife and burying her under the stairs

Richard Satchwell, who is serving a life sentence for murdering his wife and secretly burying her under the stairs of their home, will attempt to overturn his conviction next March.Satchwell (60) had pleaded not guilty to murdering Tina Satchwell (45) – née Dingivan – at their home address at Grattan Street, Youghal, Co Cork between March 19th and March 20th, 2017, both dates inclusive.Satchwell was convicted of Tina Satchwell’s murder by the unanimous verdict of a Central Criminal Court jury. He was sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment by Judge Paul McDermott in June 2025.At his sentencing hearing, Tina Satchwell’s sister, Lorraine Howard, described Richard Satchwell as a “master manipulator” who secretly buried his murdered wife under the stairs of their home, where he could have “ultimate control” over her.READ MOREShe said Satchwell “showed Tina’s dog in death more respect” by getting the animal “cremated and making a shrine”.Tina Satchwell was formally reported missing by Richard Satchwell in May 2017, but her body was not discovered until October 2023.Her cause of death could not be determined due to the skeletonised nature of her remains when they were eventually uncovered.Richard Satchwell, a 6ft 2in truck driver, had claimed that his 5ft 4in wife Tina Satchwell, who weighed eight stone, had attacked him with a chisel and died during a struggle in which he either lacked the intent to kill her or was acting in self-defence. The jury, however, unanimously rejected his defence and agreed with the prosecution case that Satchwell’s narrative of how his wife died after he held her off by the belt of her bathrobe – the only account of her death they were given – was “absolutely farcical” and had “more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese”.[ The Trial of Richard Satchwell review: The story of an innocent woman who became the victim of a violent husbandOpens in new window ]The jury had watched video clips of a tearful Satchwell making televised appeals for his wife to come home, months after he murdered her and buried her in a grave dug almost one metre deep beneath their Cork home.At the time Satchwell was sentenced, his barrister Brendan Grehan said his client had indicated his intention to appeal, insisted that he never intended to kill Tina Satchwell and that “despite anything said in the trial, Tina was a lovely person”.Satchwell’s appeal was listed for directions before Judge Isobel Kennedy as she managed a list of cases at the Court of Appeal today.When the matter was called on, a junior barrister for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said the appeal was likely to take half a day. Judge Kennedy fixed March 18th, 2027, as the date for Satchwell’s appeal to be heard. The judge also granted legal aid for a solicitor and three counsel.Satchwell’s trial heard that on March 24th, 2017, Satchwell told gardaí that his wife had left their home four days earlier but that he had no concerns over her welfare, feeling she had left due to a deterioration in their relationship.[ Judge orders potentially life-saving medication for girl against mother’s wishesOpens in new window ]The Leicester native formally reported Tina Satchwell missing the following May, but her body was not discovered for more than six years, when in October 2023 gardaí conducting a second, invasive search of the Satchwell home found her decomposed remains in a grave dug underneath the stairs.When rearrested on suspicion of Tina Satchwell’s murder after her body was removed from their home, Satchwell told gardaí that his wife “flew” at him with a chisel, that he fell backwards against the floor, and described her death after he said he held her weight off him by the belt of her bathrobe at her neck.Satchwell told gardaí he had kept his wife’s body in a chest freezer in his shed before burying her beneath their home. He offered the same freezer to her cousin, Sarah Howard, before advertising it on Done Deal as “free to take away ... just needs a clean” days after the murder.