TYCOON BARONET KNIFED TO DEATH
SUSPECT ARRESTED AFTER MILLIONAIRE HOTELIER FOUND IN COUNTRY HOME
A TYCOON who was one of Britain’s richest men has been found stabbed to death in his country mansion.
Sir Richard Lexington Sutton, an 83-year-old baronet, was attacked in his £2million house on Wednesday night. Police were called but he could not be saved and was pronounced dead at the scene.
A woman, believed to be Sir Richard’s second wife Anna Schreiber, was airlifted to hospital after suffering knife injuries in the attack at Moorhill, their home in the hamlet of Higher Langham, near Gillingham, Dorset. Her condition is described as ‘critical’.
A 34-year-old man from the Gillingham area was arrested on suspicion of murder after a Range Rover police linked to the attacks was stopped in Hammersmith, west London.
He was taken to hospital for treatment to injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening. Officers said the suspect was known to the victim.
Three police vans were seen at the entrance to a long drive that leads to Sir Richard’s remote home, while forensic investigators were seen inside.
A farmer in Higher Langham described Sir Richard as ‘an old English gentry landowner’ while a neighbour said the couple were ‘lovely people’. North Dorset MP Simon Hoare added that Sir Richard was ‘a country gentleman’. The property tycoon was head of the Sutton family, which owns close to 7,000 acres of land in Dorset, Berkshire, Lincolnshire, Aberdeenshire and London.
He inherited his title in 1981, was worth an estimated £301million and was at number 435 on the Sunday Times Rich List.
His wealth included a huge portfolio of hotels, such as the Sheraton Grand Park Lane and Piccadilly’s Athenaeum, along with property in Mayfair and Soho and farms across the country. His company, Sir Richard Sutton Limited, described him as ‘a caring, generous and warm family man, who genuinely regarded those who worked for him as part of his extended family’.
Sir Richard and first wife Fiamma wed in 1959. They had two children, David, 61, and Caroline, 55, and five grandchildren. Physiotherapist Ms Schreiber has three children.