Man in his 50s charged with murder of Tina Satchwell in Youghal

A man has been charged with the murder of Cork woman Tina Satchwell, whose body was discovered during a search of a house in Youghal earlier this week, more than six years after her disappearance.

The 57-year-old suspect was charged just before 8pm on Friday by gardaí at Cobh in connection with the death of Ms Satchwell, who was aged 45 when she went missing.

The man will be held overnight at Cobh Garda station and brought before a special sitting of Cashel District Court in Co Tipperary at 10.30am on Saturday.

Investigating gardaí were in contact with the Director of Public Prosecutions on Friday afternoon and evening. The suspect had to be either charged or released by around 8pm, with the direction to charge coming shortly before the expiry of his permitted period of detention.

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Dental records were used to confirm that the human remains found in a house on Grattan Street in Youghal earlier this week were those of Ms Satchwell, who was reported missing by her husband Richard Satchwell in March 2017.

Gardaí had obtained the records from a dentist who treated Ms Satchwell in her hometown of Fermoy and Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster was able to confirm that they matched the teeth of the person she examined at postmortem.

The results of tests on DNA samples taken at postmortem to see if they matched samples provided by Ms Satchwell’s siblings are still awaited, but investigators say these findings are less pressing with the dental records having provided a positive match.

The results of the postmortem have not been released for operational reasons, but it’s understood that the remains were intact and that it may take some weeks for test results on samples taken at postmortem to indicate how Ms Satchwell died.

Gardaí on Tuesday arrested a man for questioning and sealed off the house in Youghal following a detailed review of evidence gathered over the six years since Ms Satchwell’s disappearance.

The man was questioned before being released without charge on Wednesday. He was again arrested, at a bus shelter in Youghal town centre, shortly after midday on Thursday following the discovery of human remains.

During the search, an 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. 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 and the remains were subsequently found wrapped in black plastic.