Man begs missing wife to return on live TV – police realise horrifying truth years later

A woman reported missing by her husband was not found for six years – until police made a chilling discovery “inside the walls”.

Tina Satchwell was reported missing by her husband^[1] in 2017, with the pair living in County Cork, Ireland. The disturbing case^[2] has rocked the country once more after a new documentary called The Trial of Richard Satchwell aired on Virgin Media^[3] One on Monday night (September 29). It provided a devastating account of what happened and below we look back on the haunting tragedy.

Tina’s husband, Richard Satchwell, was a truck driver originally from Leicester. He faked being perplexed by her whereabouts when he reported her missing to the police^[4].

He lived with Tina in Youghal, Cork, and he falsely told Gardai (Irish police) that €26,000 (approx £22,700) in cash savings were also gone from the attic.

Tina was last seen in public at a car boot sale on March 19, 2017, but it wasn’t until March 24 when Satchwell went to the police. He claimed he didn’t report her missing initially because they had an argument before she supposedly walked out.

He would later appear on TV expressing his love for Tina and begging her to return – even insisting that all would be forgiven. Satchwell, breaking down in tears, told the camera: “Tina, come home. There’s nobody mad at you. It’s killing me love. ”

However, in the documentary, Tina’s childhood friend and niece, Sarah Howard, was suspicious from the off, for a specific reason.

She revealed: “I found out from my mother that Tina was gone. She mentioned Richard had called her and said Tina was gone. Straight away I went out and got my phone and I rang Tina first – obviously no answer. I rang Richard’s phone and he answered.

“When I asked if she brought the dogs^[5] or were they at home, he said ‘no, the dogs are here’. Straight away I was like ‘she would never go without them’. It would be like me walking out on my children. They were her babies. So I was kind of alarmed at that.”

Friends provided a sinister picture, claiming Satchwell was a controlling husband, and that since Tina moved into the Youghal home, she had become isolated.

Lorraine Howard, her half-sister, told the documentary: “I think she felt she could never, never be free from him.”

In May of that year, two months after Tina, 46, was reported missing, police began to suspect that a crime may have taken place.

A warrant was obtained to search the house and electronic items were seized. Unfortunately, the grim truth was painfully close to the officers, but it would not be uncovered until October 2023 when cops returned to the couple’s house.

Up until this point, Satchwell, despite questions from police, maintained his innocence, and even stated: “One way or another this will all come out in time and it will prove I did nothing wrong.”

But when police returned in October 2023, they “went into the walls” of the home. They did so after a forensic officer realised poured concrete on the ground under the stairs looked different and newer to other cement nearby.

And with the aid of a cadaver dog and builders using heavy-duty hammers to break concrete,Tina’s skeletal remains were found buried in plastic hidden in a hole that was found under the stairwell. Tina’s dressing gown with a belt, pyjama top and bottoms, underwear and purse were also recovered.

A heartbroken Lorraine told Virgin Media producers: “When I heard all the gory details of what went on and what he did to her I was having nightmares for weeks after that. Everything I thought I knew about him I didn’t.”

She added: “Was he thinking about killing Tina for weeks, for months? Nothing would surprise me anymore.”

Satchwell was re-arrested and this time he claimed he acted in self-defence, and that Tina charged at him with a chisel. He claimed she lost her life while he tried to hold her off.

He said he moved the body into a disused freezer before digging her grave under the stairs where he cemented it over.

Disturbingly, after moving Tina’s body, he would ask Sarah if she wanted the freezer that he initially used to store her friend’s body.

Reflecting on it, she said: “That was one of the hardest things of all.”

Satchwell went on trial. Dealing with the courts^[6] was something he had become accustomed to, given he had 14 previous convictions, including for larceny from a shop, cheque book fraud, theft and public order.

The trial at the Central Criminal Court lasted five weeks and the jury deliberated for nine hours and 28 minutes before unanimously agreeing that Satchwell intended to kill Tina, and was therefore guilty of murder.

Lorraine meanwhile said the family holds no “ill feelings” towards the police despite saying: “I do look back and think that Tina could have been found in months rather than years.”

And although Satchwell was sentenced to life in prison^[7], the truth surrounding Tina’s final moments will likely never be known.

But her half-sister Lorraine told the programme: “At the same time I’m kind of relieved I don’t know how she died. I don’t actually want to know. I think that it’s no harm that I don’t actually know how she died because there is no good in knowing.”

Sarah meanwhile added: “We can’t go by what he said, so we will never know the truth. But to be honest I don’t want to know what happened because we have heard enough through the trial. We, her family, heard things we should never have had to hear or go through.”