Photos of Tina Satchwell's dressing gown she wore when buried in her Cork home shown to jury

The court was told that it was not possible to take fingerprints from Tina Satchwell's body

The Central Criminal Court was shown photos of the dressing gown that Tina Satchwell (pictured) was buried in in the shallow grave in her Cork home. File picture

WARNING: The following article contains details some readers may find upsetting

A heavily stained dressing gown, once a very pale lilac, now almost black was what Tina Satchwell was buried in in the shallow grave in her Cork home, which was hidden there for so long that her bones protruded through the fleecy garment.

Photos of the dressing gown were shown to the Central Criminal Court during the trial of her husband, Richard Satchwell, for her murder on Wednesday. Mr Satchwell, aged 58, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife Tina Satchwell, nee Dingivan, aged 45, on March 20, 2017, at their home on 3 Grattan St, Youghal.

Mrs Satchwell’s body was so badly decomposed that it was not possible to take fingerprints at post mortem, Detective Garda Karen McCarthy told the Central Criminal Court in a statement. Garda Clinton Rock photographed the dressing gown at Cobh garda station.

“It was in a very poor state,” he said. The pockets were turned inside out and were checked for holes, he said.

Mr Satchwell had informed gardaí that he had buried a wedding ring with his wife, placing it in the dressing gown. But that wedding ring could not be found, Gda Rock said. And no holes could be found in the dressing gown pockets.

Defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC said that a number of bones had protruded from the dressing gown and there was debris on it.

“Is it possible that if a ring was in a lower pocket it could have fallen out?” Gda Rock agreed that “it would be possible”. The dressing gown was now considered a biohazard, he said. The back of the dressing gown had a large patch so heavily stained it was almost black.

The back of Mrs Satchwell’s body had become skeletal over the six-and-a-half years she was buried in a clandestine grave in her own home.

Mr Satchwell said that his wife had attacked him with a chisel on March 20, 2017, and he held the belt of her dressing gown to her neck in a bid to defend himself. But his wife then suddenly collapsed dead in his arms, he said.

He said he was heartbroken and lost. He said he lay holding her body all night before putting her body into a freezer and later burying her under the stairs in the sitting room and concreting over her shallow grave.

Richard Satchwell (pictured in black t-shirt) said that his wife had attacked him with a chisel on March 20, 2017, and he held the belt of her dressing gown to her neck in a bid to defend himself. File picture

Her husband reported her missing on March 24, 2017. Her skeletal remains were found wrapped in plastic and buried beneath a concrete floor under the stairwell in their terraced home in Youghal on October, 11, 2023.

Richard Satchwell, aged 58, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife, Tina Satchwell, nee Dingivan, at their home on 3 Grattan St, Youghal, between March 19 and March 20, both dates inclusive.

The trial in front of Justice Paul McDermott continues.