Partner’s son who killed tycoon was ‘consumed by hate’
Attacker said he felt ‘betrayed’ before stabbing hotelier to death and severely wounding mother
A MILLIONAIRE hotelier was stabbed to death and his partner left scarred for life by her son who told a friend he contemplated murdering the couple “day and night”, a court has heard.
Sir Richard Sutton, 83, was found dead on the landing of his £2million Moorhill estate home in Dorset after Thomas Schreiber chased him upstairs brandishing a kitchen knife.
The 35-year-old used a different blade to attack his “toxic” mother, Anne Schreiber, 65, who was found in the kitchen with 10 stab wounds and a slashed face.
Forced to move into Sir Richard’s home during lockdown, Schreiber became “consumed by hatred” and
‘Due to the injustices he felt had been perpetrated against him, it led him to consider revenge and violence’
eventually launched a “ferocious and sustained” attack on the couple on April 7 last year, Winchester Crown Court was told.
Jurors heard how Schreiber had previously sent a text message to a friend about a month before the attack, saying “I want them to suffer”, adding, “I’m so sad to report that my mind is consumed with hatred of the very worst kind towards my family.
“They really hurt me, betrayed me and destroyed all trust. Simply put, I contemplate murdering them all; morning, day and night. It’s not what I want to think about but it’s the truth.”
Sir Richard, who last year was listed at number 435 in The Sunday Times Rich List, with an estimated fortune of £301 million, had been in a relationship with Anne Schreiber for many years.
But jurors were told that her son resented the couple, having nothing good to say about Sir Richard, and described his mother, a Danish-born physiotherapist, as a “gold digger”.
It was only the actions of police and medics that saved Mrs Schreiber’s life by restarting her heart, the court was told.
Her son fled the scene in a Range Rover and was arrested in London several hours later after a high-speed chase.
Prosecuting, Adam Feest QC said police officers had located the victims after they were called to reports of a disturbance and smashed through the glass door of the conservatory at the mansion in Gillingham, Kent.
He said: “They discovered that Moorhill had been the setting of a ferocious and sustained attack by the defendant upon his two victims.
“It was an attack that left Anne Schreiber barely conscious and dying on the floor of the kitchen. With slashes across her face and stab wounds to her front, it was the multiple stab wounds to her back that were the main source of the significant blood loss that she was suffering from.”
Police later discovered messages on Schreiber’s phone that revealed the extent of the resentment he had been harbouring towards the couple.
Mr Feest added: “Built upon a foundation of many years of feeling isolated and unfairly treated by all his family, and fed by being forced to live at Moorhill due to the pandemic and the many injustices he felt had been perpetrated against him, these feelings had led the defendant to repeatedly consider revenge and violence.”
Schreiber has admitted manslaughter over Sir Richard’s death but has denied trying to murder his mother.
The trial continues.