Justice Minister voices concern over time taken to find Tina Satchwell’s body

The justice minister has raised concern with the Garda Commissioner over how long it took to find the body of murder victim Tina Satchwell.

Jim O’Callaghan also said it would be preferable if An Garda Síochána had its own cadaver dog to help find human remains.

He said there is currently just one cadaver dog on the island of Ireland which belongs to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

It was announced last week that both the investigation into the murder of Mrs Satchwell, and of Co Kerry farmer Michael Gaine, will be reviewed.

A report is to be compiled and given to Mr O’Callaghan on Mrs Satchwell’s disappearance while the case of Mr Gaine is undergoing a peer review.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s This Week programme, Mr O’Callaghan said he had his quarterly meeting with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris last week and brought up the murder of Mrs Satchwell.

“I think from the outset it has to be said that gardaí deserve to be commended for getting justice in this case,” he said.

“The person responsible for her murder, Richard Satchwell, is now serving a life sentence.

“However I did raise with the commissioner concern about the fact it had taken a considerable period of time to find her body and he said he is going to prepare a report on that.” It took six years before Mrs Satchwell’s body was found.

Mr O’Callaghan pointed out there are “very devious people out there who go to very great lengths to hide their crimes”.

“That was the case with Richard Satchwell, and it is also the case with the person responsible for the murder of Mike Gaine who hasn’t yet been apprehended,” he said.

Asked whether a cadaver dog should have been brought into the Satchwell home in 2017 during the investigation, Mr O’Callaghan said “probably, it should have happened”.

He said he also spoke to Mr Harris about the effectiveness of cadaver dogs.

“They’re a very specialised dog in of trying to train them, there is one on the island of Ireland, the PSNI has one,” he said.

“That dog is sought by many police forces in Britain as well. We got the use of the dog here and he was of much assistance.

“It obviously would be preferable if we had a cadaver dog. They have a very limited work life, cadaver dogs, they’re only operational for a period of about three years, they have to go through a very difficult training process.

“It would be preferable if the cadaver dog available on the island had been used earlier.”