Phone linked to Richard Satchwell messaged about monkeys over same period as alleged murder, trial hears

A phone linked to Richard Satchwell sent text messages about issues purchasing monkeys over the same period when he is alleged to have murdered his wife, with one message reading: “I am in a mess right now because my wife has said she is leaving me over this”, his trial has heard.

The jury were also told today of text messages sent by the phone to both Mr Satchwell’s family and that of his wife Tina. The court heard Mr Satchwell told Tina’s cousin that he discovered a “birth cert and marriage cert” were gone.

“Please try to understand that I love her with all my being....You know that I cry all the time even now writing this... I feel I let her down in some way,” another message read.

There was also evidence the phone sent a text message to a saved as ‘Dad’ that read: “Hi dad, hope you are well and good, I just want to let you know that Tina walked out on Monday and took all our savings with her.”

The trial has heard that on March 24, 2017, Mr Satchwell told gardaí that his wife Tina 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.

The accused formally reported Ms Satchwell missing the following May but her body was not discovered for over six years, when gardaí in October 2023 found her decomposed remains in a grave that had been dug underneath the stairs of her home.

Mr Satchwell’s home was searched by a team of 10 gardaí on June 7, 2017, but the jury have been told this was a non-invasive search.

Superintendent Annemarie Twomey told Geraldine Small SC, prosecuting, that she was appointed senior investigation officer for the case on August 16, 2021, at which point Tina Satchwell had been missing for four years and five months.

Supt Twomey said that once she had reviewed the material in the incident room — including inquiries with ports, airports, the social welfare and port offices — she had reasonable grounds to believe that Tina was not a missing person and had met her death through unlawful means. She said she had reasonable grounds to believe the arrest of Mr Satchwell was necessary for a proper investigation into the murder of Tina.

The Supt said there had been up to 65 reported sightings of Ms Satchwell in Ireland and abroad, which all proved negative. She said the sightings abroad had necessitated the assistance of Interpol.

The witness said that on October 10, 2023, she told Mr Satchwell she had a warrant and that on this occasion it would be an “intrusive or invasive search” of his home, different to the previous search conducted in 2017.

Under cross-examination by Brendan Grehan SC, defending, Supt Twomey said she had no involvement in the investigation prior to August 2021.

Asked by Mr Grehan whether there was a report from the garda in charge in 2017 to outline what exactly was searched in Grattan St and if the house had been intrusively or invasively searched, the Supt said she couldn’t whether there was a report in the incident room but there may have been.

She told Mr Grehan it was at the end of August 2022 that she had reasonable grounds to believe it was necessary to arrest Mr Satchwell. However, she said gardaí didn’t arrest Mr Satchwell at that stage as 58 other lines of inquiry needed to be exhausted.

Supt Twomey said it was in February 2022 that gardaí formed the view that Tina was no longer a living person.

The witness said she knew the search of Grattan St by gardaí in June 2017 had not been an intrusive one. However, the she said when she got the search warrant in 2023, it was for an invasive search and she was accompanied to Grattan St by an archaeologist and a building contractor.

Asked by Mr Grehan if she thought gardaí had conducted a thorough search in 2017, Supt Twomey said she had no involvement in that investigation.

“Would you have expected any such search would have sought to unearth the remains of Tina Satchwell in the house?” asked counsel. Supt Twomey said in 2017 the search had related to assault causing harm to Tina and items such as mobile phones were seized.

Mr Grehan put it to the witness that she should have sought information as to how thorough the search of Grattan St was in 2017, including as to whether anyone had raised floor boards or whether there was any sign of fresh building works. The witness said photographs taken had shown works completed on the stairs. She said she told the district court judge when applying for the warrant in 2023 that a “surface search” of Grattan St had been conducted in 2017.

“How did you know it was a surface search if you didn’t have any report from anybody detailing how thorough the search was?” asked Mr Grehan.

The witness said, for her, “an intrusive search” is “causing movement of blocks or walls or stairs and from the information I had from the incident room I knew that hadn’t happened,” she replied.

Mr Grehan put it to the witness that, as a matter of law, there was nothing to stop gardaí from conducting an invasive search of the house in June 2017.

“I can’t answer that question... what they did or didn’t do; I don’t know what the investigation’s belief was at the time,” she replied.

‘Quicklime’

Detective Garda Dave Kelleher told Ms Small that laptops were taken from a search of Grattan St in 2017 and it was found that a search for “Quicklime” had been carried out on one of the devices at 9.08pm on March 24, 2017, four days after Mr Satchwell told gardaí that his wife Tina had left their home.

The officer said a video on YouTube for ‘Quicklime and water reaction’ had been viewed on two occasions seconds later. The video was shown to the jury today and depicted a blue basin and a chemical reaction taking place.

Location data

A timeline of movements attributed to Mr Satchwell from March 19, 2017, to March 28, 2017, was shown to the jury through a Powerpoint presentation. Mr Satchwell’s mobile phone showed he was in Youghal Post Office at 11.16am on March 20, 2017. The accused’s device then returned to Grattan St and it did not leave the house until 12.49pm. The device then arrived at ‘Aldi’ in Dungarvan at 1.20pm and arrived back at Grattan St at 2.47pm.

CCTV footage also showed the accused arriving with his two dogs at Youghal Post Office at 11.13am and then at ‘Aldi’ in Dungarvan at 1.20pm. The jury has heard that in a 2021 interview with gardaí, Mr Satchwell said he left his home for Dungarvan around 10am on the morning Tina disappeared to get bird seed, before going to Aldi.

Marmoset monkeys

Det Gda Kelleher told the prosecutor that Mr Satchwell had attempted to purchase two Marmoset monkeys named Terry and Thelma from 2015 up to March 2017, but the animals never arrived at his door.

Det Gda Kelleher told Ms Small that a Samsung mobile attributed to Mr Satchwell was seized from the house in October 2023. He said there had been 299 exchanges between a saved as ‘Airport3’ and the accused between April 2016 and April 2017, which related to the purchase of Marmoset monkeys.

On March 20, 2017, at 10.46am, Mr Satchwell sent a text message to Airport3 saying: “Hello Mr James I in a mess right now because my wife has said she is leaving me over this so please let the organisation know this, Richard.”

The detective said the accused had sent a text message to a UK mobile to a saved as ‘Dad’ on March 25 2017. It read: “Hi dad, hope you are well and good, I just want to let you know that Tina walked out on Monday and took all our savings with her. I’m hoping she is in touch with me so I can find out what is happening. Love Richard.”

Other text messages between Mr Satchwell’s mobile phone and Tina’s cousin Sarah Howard between March 26, 2017, and July 12, 2017, were shown to the jury. On March 26, 2017, a message was sent from the accused to Ms Howard saying: “Sarah did you Mag, Sindy and Teresa have not heard anything from Tina.”

On April 10, 2017, the accused sent another text message to Ms Howard saying: “No news but I had to get a job and they needed some paperwork, discovered birth cert and marriage cert gone. Trying to keep everything ticking over until she gets in touch, don’t know what else to do.”

Financial review

Det Gda Kelleher told Ms Small that a financial review of the couple’s income was carried out in order to establish whether Tina had left with €26,000 on March 20, 2017, as claimed by the accused.

The detective said a financial document was taken from Ulster Bank under the name Richard Satchwell. A national forensic ant found that one bank in the name of Richard Satchwell from 2015 to 2017 was “constantly in an unauthorised overdraft — always in the red”. The ant said the Satchwells’ did not have the capacity to accumulate anywhere near €26,000.

Cross examination

In cross-examination, Det Gda Kelleher told Mr Grehan that gardaí became aware of the search for ‘Quicklime’ “well into 2021”, when he started looking at devices seized from Grattan St. He said ‘Quicklime’ had a number of uses including as an odour suppressant in third world countries during mass burials. Mr Grehan said it is thrown on top of bodies to aid the decomposition process. The detective said the timing of the Google search was extremely important “considering now what we know where Tina’s body was at this time”.

The witness agreed with Mr Grehan that the evidence would be that Tina had died the previous Monday so she was dead four days at that stage.

The detective said CCTV footage showing the accused entering Youghal Post office — which was “in direct contradiction” of the accused’s statement that he was in Dungarvan at this time — was secured by gardaí within a month of Tina’s disappearance.

The witness said there was an attempt by the accused to buy and import two monkeys in 2015 and Mr Satchwell had sent significant amounts of money through Western Union “right through 2016 and 2017” and was also receiving money. Asked by Mr Grehan whether it was some sort of a scam or something criminal, the detective said the two monkeys never arrived and there was a “constant demand” for more money but it never came to anything.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of five men and seven women.

Mr Satchwell, aged 58, with an address at Grattan St, Youghal, Co Cork has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 45-year-old wife Tina Satchwell — nee Dingivan — at that address between March 19 and March 20, 2017, both dates inclusive.