Gardaí have confirmed that human remains discovered under the stairs of a house in Youghal, Co Cork are those of missing woman Tina Satchwell (45). A suspect (50s) in the disappearance of Ms Satchwell, who went missing from Youghal in east Cork six years ago, is due to be charged or released by 8pm this evening.
The man, who was arrested at a bus shelter in Youghal town centre shortly after midday on Thursday, opted to avail of a sleep break and questioning by gardaí was suspended at midnight on Thursday, resuming at 8am on Friday morning.
Gardaí confirmed the remains found at a house in Youghal were Ms Satchwell’s through tests from the body’s dental records.
Gardaí had obtained the records from a dentist in Ms Satchwell’s hometown of Fermoy, who had treated her, and Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster was able to confirm that they matched the teeth of the person she examined at postmortem.
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Gardaí are still awaiting the results of tests on DNA samples taken at postmortem to see if they match DNA samples given by Ms Satchwell’s siblings but they say that the DNA samples are less important now that the dental records have given a positive match.
Investigators were confident that the remains found on Wednesday in Youghal were those of Ms Satchell. The remains were remarkably well preserved and they were able to discern a tattoo on the woman’s chest which matched a tattoo on the missing woman.
“There was a tattoo of Tweety Bird [a cartoon character] on the remains that was clearly visible even after six years and we knew Tina had a tattoo of a Tweety Bird while the remains were also wearing some stud jewellery that we knew that Tina had, so it was all pointing towards the body being Tina,” said a source.
The body was found wrapped in black plastic and buried beneath a thick layer of concrete almost a metre deep in a full- size grave dug in the stairwell of the stairs in the hallway of the three-storey terraced house where the main suspect in the case lived.
“This was a full size grave – six feet long and two feet wide and the poor woman was buried almost a metre down so there was serious digging involved in concealing the body – we’re not sure was it the soil type or temperature or what but the body was remarkably well preserved,” said the source.
Gardaí have not released the results of the postmortem for operational reasons, but it’s understood that the remains were intact and did not feature any broken bones or skull fractures and it may take some weeks for test results on samples taken at postmortem to indicate how Ms Satchwell died.
Meanwhile, a team of detectives with high level interview training are continuing to question a man in his 50s arrested for questioning about the murder of Ms Satchwell who was reported missing from her home in Youghal by her husband, Richard, on March 24th 2017.
The man, who was arrested at a bus shelter in Youghal town centre shortly after midday on Thursday, opted to avail of a sleep break and questioning by gardaí was suspended at midnight on Thursday and only resumed at 8am on Friday morning.
The man was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 which allows gardaí hold suspects for up to 24 hours but because the man opted to suspend questioning for eight hours overnight, he can now be held until shortly after 8pm this evening.
If gardaí get a direction to charge the man from the DPP after 5pm, he can be charged at the station and held there overnight before being brought to a special court sitting on Saturday. Alternatively, if they get a direction to charge him before then, he may be brought to a scheduled court sitting today.
It’s understood that a garda reviewing the case file on Ms Satchwell’s disappearance noticed a difference between two photographs of the stairs area of the three-storey terraced house, one from before she had disappeared and one taken afterwards when gardaí examined the house.
The officer noticed that a brick wall had been built at the side of the stairs, effectively blocking off the stairwell even though it remained accessible through the installation of louvred doors. Gardaí subsequently established that the work was carried out by the homeowner.
A garda search team was joined by a cadaver dog, a Springer Spaniel named Fern, and her handler, during their search of the house. The dog got a scent from the stairwell area through the thick concrete.
