Tina Satchwell was kind, loving, happy and free-going 

Kind and loving, bubbly and affectionate, Tina Satchwell’s disappearance has devastated her loved ones and perplexed the general public

Her bright blonde hair and love of fashion, clothes, and jewellery made Tina Satchwell a noticeable figure in Youghal, where she last lived.

Kind and loving, bubbly and affectionate, Tina Satchwell’s disappearance has devastated her loved ones and perplexed the public.

Her bright blonde hair and love of fashion, clothes, and jewellery made her a noticeable figure in Youghal and at the car boot sale scene around counties Cork and Waterford which she enthusiastically frequented.

Devoted to her dogs Ruby and Heidi, Ms Satchwell was rarely seen without them. She was an animal-lover, nurturing and empathetic to creatures smaller than her and needed her protection, those who knew her said.

Six-and-a-half years after Ms Satchwell, then 45, vanished from her home in east Cork, human remains were found at that same premises, underneath the floor in the Youghal townhouse.

Those remains have been removed to Cork University Hospital where they will undergo examination and DNA analysis.

Fermoy native Ms Satchwell grew up in a large family on a quiet street in the north Cork town. “She was lovely, well looked after, polite. We were a close family. She was loved, happy, free-going, a lovely young girl,” her sister, Teresa Dingivan previously told the Irish Examiner.

“We lived on a quiet street and we’d all play on the street with our friends. She was always with us. She’d sit on the step with us and play. My parents adored her. She was the youngest girl out of five girls, there were three boys too.”

Ms Satchwell moved to England when she was 16 and lived with Ms Dingivan and their mum.

“We used to go for dinner, go shopping. I’ve never known a girl who loved clothes and jewelery as much as Tina.

“She was there when I had my firstborn. She brought her this little bunny outfit, it was so cute. I’ll always remember it.

“I have good memories of her. We always supported each other.

Tina was funny and bubbly and independent. She was kind and considerate. She was a really good sister and adored her family.

It was in England in the months after her arrival that Ms Satchwell, still a teenager, met her husband, lorry driver Richard Satchwell, whose family lived a few doors down from her new UK home.

Mr Satchwell is the last known person to see his wife alive.

He said that he brought her tea and toast that morning and she asked him to go to nearby Dungarvan for some shopping.

He said that he gave her a ‘peck’ and said he’d be back in two hours.

When he returned, he said she was not there.

Her mobile phone was left in the house, as were her beloved dogs, Ruby and Heidi. She had no passport. Identification, including her birth certificate, was also found at the house.

Mr Satchwell reported her missing four days later.

He said that he assumed she had gone to visit family in Fermoy so delayed raising the alarm.

Mr Satchwell repeatedly denied that he had anything to do with his wife’s disappearance.

Following her disappearance, he frequently appeared in the media appealing for her to come home.

He denied ever hurting his wife, telling TV3: “I have never once in nearly 30 years of being together laid a finger on her.

The most I’ve ever done to her is have a tight cuddle, loving the bones off her.

He said that he initially believed that his wife had been suffering from anxiety in the months before her disappearance but did not want to take antidepressant medication.

But he said that “she’s too much in love with herself” to ever take her own life.

The case has intrigued, perplexed and distressed the public.

Year after year, Ms Satchwell’s distraught family appealed for information that could help gardaí piece together what happened to their loved one and close the case that opened when she was first reported missing in March 2017.

It has now circled right back to where the case began — where Ms Satchwell was last reportedly seen — in her home in Youghal.