Richard Satchwell offered a large chest freezer for free on a website a week after reporting his wife missing, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Mr Satchwell, who is 58, denies murdering his 45-year-old wife Tina Satchwell, whose remains were found buried under the couple's sitting room in Youghal six-and-half years after she was first reported missing.
The jury has heard the prosecution case is that Mr Satchwell put his wife’s body in a freezer in the shed before burying her in a grave under the stairs in March 2017.
Sergeant Ciaran Crowley told the court he made inquiries from the website Donedeal.ie in August 2017. He received a copy of an ad published on the morning of 31 March 2017, associated with Mr Satchwell’s phone.
The ad was for a "large chest freezer" and it stated that it was "free to take away, working perfect", and just needed a clean.
The ad continued that he was giving it away because he needed the space.
Forensic accountant Tadhg Twomey told the court he had carried out an examination of the couple’s finances. He said he was told that Mr Satchwell had said €26,000 in savings had been taken by his wife when she left.
He said this was money they had raised over four to five years and was made up of money left over after the sale of their previous home and purchase of their house in Youghal.
Mr Satchwell also said he could make €150 to €200 a week from selling at car boot sales.
Mr Twomey said the couple had one bank account in the name of Richard Satchwell which between September 2015 and April 2017, was almost constantly in an unauthorised overdraft. He said Mr Satchwell was spending more money than he brought in.
There were also a large number of transactions with two money transfer agents, particularly Western Union.
The amount of money Mr Satchwell received was almost 18,000 dollars, the court was told, and the amount of money going out was over 16,000 dollars, meaning there was a credit balance of almost 1,700 dollars.
But Mr Twomey said the gardaí had told him there were other accounts and there could be a negative position of 869 dollars.
In relation to another money transfer agent, he said there was a "positive net gain" of almost €6,000.
Mr Twomey said Tina Satchwell had a credit line with Littlewoods Ireland with a maximum credit limit of €4,500, which was either almost fully used or at times, breached.
He said there were significant arrears building up on the account. He said Ms Satchwell did not have a job at the time.
The court was also told that when the couple’s house in Fermoy was sold and they bought the house in Youghal, they were left with €372.
He said there was no sign of any cash windfall that would account for the €26,000 in savings Mr Satchwell said they had.
The court also heard from a number of people who had attended car boot sales where they had met Richard and Tina Satchwell.
Mother and daughter Julie and Mary Crowley remembered meeting the Satchwells at a sale in Doneraile in Co Cork where Ms Satchwell had admired Julie Crowley’s doc martin boots.
They did not know Mr or Ms Satchwell’s names at the time.
On 17 April 2017, Julie and Mary were at another car boot sale in Blarney in Co Cork.
Mr Satchwell was there but Tina Satchwell was not.
Julie said he was selling doc martin boots – mostly with original boxes.
She said her mum asked him about the shoes which were obviously a woman’s and asked him about his wife.
The court was told Mr Satchwell told Mary Crowley that they had bought a house that had been vacant for 12 years and that had a problem with mould.
He said his wife had developed a serious respiratory infection and had gone to England for treatment where she remained.
The court was told Mr Satchwell told them that the doctor had told Ms Satchwell she had come for treatment just in time and they were trying to raise money to carry out necessary work on the house.
Mary Crowley asked him what his wife would think about him flogging her boots.
But he replied that she had told him to do so because they were trying to raise money for the house.
Julie Crowley said she bought a pair of docs and paid €70 for them.
All the boots were the same size, she said, and she realised they were probably all from his wife’s collection.
They met him again at a car boot sale on the following May bank holiday weekend, where he repeated the story he had previously told them about his wife’s respiratory infection.
Mary Crowley said he told her that his wife was immuno-compromised before she had become ill.
Sarah Owers told the court she had a stall beside Mr Satchwell at the sale in Blarney in May 2017.
She said he was mainly selling women’s clothes in smaller sizes, along with make-up and accessories – mostly new and in very good condition.
She said he told her that his wife had gone to the UK for treatment and while she would be okay, she would never be 100% better.
She said that he said his wife had a dog and that the dog had a bigger wardrobe than he had and she really loved the dog.
Gerard Carey told the court he knew Tina Satchwell through car boot sales where he used to "sell bits of everything".
He said she was a very outgoing bubbly person who was always in good form and dressed well in colourful clothes. He said she would normally have a dog in a little bag at her side and would buy treats from him for the dog.
He said Mr Satchwell would normally be at the stall while Tina would walk around.
He said on 17 April 2017, Mr Satchwell said his wife was not there. Mr Carey said Mr Satchwell told him she had got very ill and had gone to her sister in England to look after her.
He said Mr Satchwell told him she would not be the same again and would not be at car boot sales any more.
Witness Linda Hennessy told the court she was a regular car boot sale attendee at sales around Co Cork. She said she got to know Richard and Tina Satchwell over the years, and said Mr Satchwell was always selling Tina's clothes.
Ms Satchwell, she said, would run around and buy what she could and would then come back and sit in the passenger seat of the car while Mr Satchwell sold her stuff. She said Ms Satchwell wouldn’t lift a finger.
She said in late March or early April 2017 she was at a car boot sale in Rathcormac when she met Mr Satchwell. She asked him where Tina was and he told her she was very sick in hospital.
When she asked if she could visit her, he told her she had left to go to England to her sister. Mr Satchwell told her that Tina got a terrible infection from dry rot in the walls.
Ms Hennessy said she asked Mr Satchwell how come he hadn’t got it, and he put his head down. He said he was going to go over to England but had to get passports for the couple’s dogs.
Mr Satchwell was arrested on 10 October 2023, as gardaí brought in building equipment to search the couple’s home. The jury have been watching a very lengthy interview carried out by gardaí after Mr Satchwell’s arrest.
In the interview he told them again that he had gone out on the morning of 20 March 2017 at around 9.40am and that when he came back around two hours later his wife was gone.
He said he had kept himself busy for the following days until 24 March when he had a doctor’s appointment in Fermoy, and discovered Ms Satchwell was not staying with relatives in the town.
Mr Satchwell was asked in the interview about violence in the relationship. He said his wife had attacked him a few hundred times in the almost 30 years they had been together.
He said she wouldn’t need an argument as she could fly off the handle suddenly.
He said the last time she had been violent was in December or January 2017, when she threw a lamp at him. On a previous occasion he said she showed him her hands which were black with bruises from hitting him. He said in 1994 or 1995, she beat him so badly he tried to kill himself.
He told gardaí these were bad memories for him. He described his wife as a "beautiful looking woman with a heart of gold" but said she had hurt him physically and mentally.
The jury will continue watching the interview tomorrow.
