Tina Satchwell murder: Gardaí with digging equipment search Youghal home

Ms Satchwell was reported missing from her home in Youghal in 2017. Gardaí said: 'The investigation has been upgraded to murder'

A Garda forensic team in Youghal after a man was arrested on suspicion of her murder. Picture: Dan Linehan

Gardaí have begun using digging equipment to search a home in Youghal after a man was arrested on suspicion of murdering missing Cork woman Tina Satchwell.

A man in his 50s was arrested on Tuesday evening, more than six years after Ms Satchwell went missing from her home in Youghal.

Garda technical experts cordoned off a house and scenes of crime examiners, equipped with chainsaws, jackhammers, shovels, pickaxes, and other digging tools, entered the property to begin the search. Sniffer dogs were also brought in to help investigators.

A jackhammer could be heard drilling the pavement as detectives in white forensic suits entered the property and removed a number of items for evidence.

The search was focused inside the property and areas immediately around the house.

Ms Satchwell, originally from Fermoy, was reported missing from her Youghal home on March 20, 2017.

Tina Satchwell. File picture

Her husband Richard Satchwell had told gardaí that he brought his wife breakfast and then left to go shopping at a local supermarket in Youghal. He said that, when he returned two hours later, Ms Satchwell had vanished.

Mr Satchwell gave a number of media interviews in the years after his wife went missing, saying he believed she was still alive. He has always insisted he had no role in her disappearance.

The case was treated as a missing person for more than six years but was recently reclassified as a murder investigation.

“A male [50s] has been arrested on suspicion of murder and detained pursuant to the provisions of Section 4 Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at a Garda station in Cork county,” Gardaí said in a statement.

“A family liaison officer has been appointed to the family of Tina Satchwell.”

A member of the Garda forensic team with a camera going into a house in Youghal where a search is been carried out. Picture: Dan Linehan

The arrested man is being held at Cobh Garda Station and can be questioned for 24 hours, excluding breaks.

Gardaí have followed more than 400 lines of inquiry over the last six and a half years and took witness statements from over 170 people.

A 12-day search of 40 acres of woodlands in Castlemartyr was also carried out in March 2018 but failed to find any trace of Ms Satchwell.

Shortly after the Garda Technical Bureau sealed off the house on Tuesday, crowds of onlookers gathered near the property.

Chief Superintendent Vincent O’Sullivan again appealed for members of the public to come forward with any information they might have.

“Even with the passage of time, we will talk to anyone who has any information. Do not assume we know it already,” he said.

Anyone who may have information relevant to the investigation is urged to contact Midleton Garda Station on [phone], the Garda Confidential Line on (1800) 666111, or any Garda station.