‘I would never hurt my wife Tina’
THE husband of a woman missing for almost a year has again denied murdering her.
Speaking as gardaí yesterday launched a woodland search for his 46-year-old wife Tina, Richard Satchwell insisted: ‘I would never hurt her.’
The search of a 40-acre site, which adjoins an old graveyard at the old Ballyoughtera parish church, was launched yesterday after gardaí received ‘reliable and credible information’.
Ms Satchwell has been missing from her home in Youghal, Co. Cork, since March 20, 2017.
The area had been cordoned off to the public by yesterday.
Contractors erected 10ft fencing, with black plastic sheeting obscuring views from the nearby roadside into the woodland area.
Gardaí yesterday said they are ‘looking for evidence relating to Tina’s disappearance’.
Detectives are appealing for anybody who was in Mitchell’s
Garda search at 40-acre site
Woods, near Castlemartyr, Co. Cork, last March and saw anything suspicious to contact them.
It is understood that in March 2017, construction on a pedestrian link into the woods from nearby Ladysbridge village was under way. It is believed that a section of this link will feature in the search.
While detectives have refused to confirm they are looking for a body, they are using specialist search dogs brought over from the UK.
But just hours after gardaí briefed reporters at the search site, where up to 60 detectives and other specialists will work each day, Mr Satchwell again protested his innocence.
He has previously denied having anything to do with his wife’s disappearance. Yesterday, he told Paul Byrne of TV3: ‘I am hoping that Tina is out there and she’s going to get in touch. I don’t want to even go down the road of thinking the other way because I won’t be able to cope.’
He also said that he only officially learned of the launch of the search from gardaí on Sunday night.
‘I feel sick and I have been in touch with Tina’s family and they feel the same way,’ he said.
‘I hardly slept a wink last night (Sunday night) and I don’t think I will tonight because the worry is always there.’
He told TV3 that he had never been in the woods before.
Towards the end of the inter- view, he was asked by Mr Byrne point blank: ‘Richard Satchwell, I’ve asked you this before: did you have anything to do with your wife’s disappearance? ‘Did you harm her? ‘Did you kill her?’ Mr Satchwell said: ‘I could never harm my wife. Never. And everybody who knows us knows that. My wife is there somewhere and I do believe she’s going to turn up.’
Mr Satchwell reported his wife of 27 years missing four days after she vanished. He has said previously that he believes someone helped his wife with her disappearance – and claims €26,000 is missing from the family home.
He is adamant he does not believe his wife is dead, even though she does not have a passport and was not spotted in CCTV footage at ports or airports.
Detectives are satisfied that Ms Satchwell never left Ireland. While two suitcases were missing from her home, travel documents and other financial material were still in the house.
The missing woman’s mobile phone has also not been used.