GARDAI DRAW A BLANK IN THEIR SEARCH FOR MISSING TINA
MASSIVE LAND AND SEA SEACH UNDERTAKEN IN SEARCH FOR FERMOY WOMAN TINA SATCHWELL
GARDAÍ investigating the disappearance of a 45-year-old North Cork woman missing from her home in Youghal for five months say they may resume searches at a future date after weekend searches found no trace of the woman
Tina Satchwell , originally Tina Dingivan from St Bernard’s Place in Fermoy, has been missing from her home on Grattan Street in Youghal since March 20 when her husband, Richard returned from a shopping trip to Dungavan and found she had left the house.
Mr Satchwell reported her missing to gardaí in Youghal four days later on March 24h, said he waited a few days as he thought she may have needed to “get her head straight” after what he said were several months of anxiety.
A Garda spokesman said that a series of searches in Youghal on Saturday were initiated as “a result of information received and ongoing inquiries into the disappearance of Tina Satchwell” but would not be drawn on the nature of the information received
On Saturday morning a team of six divers from the Garda Water Unit in Athlone began searching the quays in Youghal in the centre of town and spent several hours searching an area over 100 metres long where there is open access to the water.
Meanwhile a team of 12 searchers from the North Cork Divisional Search Team were joined by a Defence Forces search team in a search of scrub and waste land on both sides of Golf Links Road above the town.
The Garda operation under Supt Eamon O’Neill of Midleton Garda Station also involved garda search dogs as well as dogs from the Irish Search Dogs who are assisting in the operation which saw up to 40 personnel in total assist in trying to find Ms Satchwell.
But neither the search on land or the search at sea found any trace of Ms Satchwell and concluded on Saturday late afternoon though further searches on both land and sea may resume at some date in the future, a garda source said.
Mr Satchwell, who is in his early 50s, was informed by gardaí that they were planning to undertake both sea and land searches in Youghal on Saturday but he was not in the town to witness the operations as his work for a tyre distributor took him away from home.
Gardaí are understood to be perplexed by the disappearance of Ms Satchwell as she has no history of going missing and they describe her disappearance as “out of character” for the woman who was devoted to her two dogs and a parrot whom she left behind.
Garda technical experts carried out a forensic examination of the couple’s three storey home at Grattan Street and the couple’s car in early June but the examinations found nothing suspicious to suggest that Ms Satchwell had been the victim of foul play.
Gardaí have examined CCTV cameras from around Youghal but could find no footage showing Ms Satchwell, who is 5ft 6in tall with blonde shoulder length hair, while internal CCTV footage from Bus Éireann buses servicing the town also yielded no sign of the missing woman.
Ms Satchwell, who left her mobile phone at her house, did not have a passport but gardaí have checked ferry ports and airports to see if she may have travelled to the UK where she first met Mr Satchwell when she lived in Leicester 26 years ago but they have found no sighting of her anywhere.
Meanwhile Mr Satchwell has done a number of media interviews over the last few months, has issued an appeal for his wife to make contact with him or with the gardaí just to let him know that she is safe and well.
“Tina come home. There’s nobody mad at you. My arms are open. The pets are missing you. I just can’t go on not knowing. Even if you just ring the guards, let people know that you’re alright,” said Mr Satchwell in an RTÉ Crimecall appeal at the end of June.