One of Britain’s richest men was stabbed to death in a ‘ferocious and sustained’ attack by his partner’s son who was ‘consumed with hatred and contemplated murder morning, day and night’, a court heard today.
After fantasizing for many months about the murders of his mother Anne Schreiber, Thomas Schreiber allegedly repeatedly knifed Sir Richard Sutton (hotel tycoon) and Anne Schreiber’s ‘toxic and golden digging’ mother.
A jury today heard he launched the vicious attack at Sir Richard’s £2million country mansion after ‘many years of feeling isolated and unfairly treated by all his family’ and becoming ‘consumed with hatred’ for the couple.
The 35-year-old sent a chilling message to his friend, about a month prior the shootings.
He stabbed Sir Richard with a kitchen knife before using another to inflict more then ten wounds to his mother.
The Range Rover driver fled, and police arrived on Higher Langham in Dorset to search for the horrendous scene.
Thomas Schreiber (left), is charged with injuring Anne Schreiber (65), and murdering her partner, Sir Richard Sutton (right). Sutton died from fatal stabbing wounds in April of this year.
Today, jurors heard that Mrs Shreiber, 65 years old was saved by the actions of medics and police. Her heart was restarted.
She was airlifted to Southmead Hospital in Bristol where it was discovered she had suffered ‘severe and life changing injuries’.
Sir Richard’s corpse was discovered on the landing. After having been attacked downstairs, he limped upstairs and Schreiber is reported to have then stabbed him another five times in the chest.
After a London high-speed chase, and an ‘hard stop’ at London station, Schreiber was eventually captured by police.
Winchester Crown Court today heard he had told a friend he ‘couldn’t stand and didn’t have a good word to say about’ Sir Richard, who last year was listed at number 435 in the Sunday Times Rich List, with an estimated family fortune of £301 million.
Sir Richard (83) owned more than 71,000 acres and a vast property empire, which included five-star Sheraton Hotel on London’s Park Lane as well as the Athenaeum Mayfair hotel.
A jury heard that Sir Richard (above), who was Britain’s wealthiest man, was repeatedly attacked by Thomas Schreiber at his Gillingham house.
After numerous 911 calls, Adam Feest, QC, the Prosecutor, stated that armed police broke through the glass doors of Moorhill’s conservatory on April 7.
He stated that police had responded to 999 calls by a variety of callers stating that Thomas Schreiber claimed he was going to kill his mother and sir Richard and that they had taken his life.
They discovered Moorhill as the location of a vicious and sustained attack on the victim by the defendant.
Anne Schreiber was left unconscious and lying on the kitchen floor, dying from the attack.
“With cuts across her face, stab wounds on her front and multiple stab injuries to her back, she suffered from significant blood loss.
It was due to the prompt actions of the police that brought her outside the house and then she received treatment from them as well as the doctors at hospital, she survived.
Police guard Sir Richard’s £2million property in the Dorset hamlet of Higher Langham in April
“Unfortunately, Sir Richard is not able to say the same. After going through the entire house, making sure that every room was clean, the officers found Richard’s bloodied and motionless body on the upper level just outside of his bedroom.
He had five puncture wounds just below his left armpit. The way they were placed together indicates that he was unable to move while they were done.
“Two of them were large enough to puncture his lung. The other went in one of his main blood vessels.
“Death due to these injuries would be rapid and show that he was attacked at the spot he was located.
“But, they weren’t the only injuries that he suffered.
“Defensive wounds on his hands, and severe slashing or cutting injuries to his faces would have caused him to bleed copiously.
Thomas Schreiber (35) has denied the murders of Sir Richard Schreiber as well as the attempted murder of Anne Schreiber.
“At minimum some of these must be inflicted downstairs because his blood was discovered in the kitchen and the study as well as in the pantry.
A trail of blood and two knives were found at the property. Schreiber had also been posting messages to his cell phone, revealing that he felt ‘increasingly bitter and hateful towards his mother and partner’.
M. Feest said: “Builded upon years of feeling alone and unfairly treated from all his family and forced to live in Moorhill because of the pandemic, the defendant had considered revenge and violence towards his toxic and gold-digging mother, Sir Richard. He told a friend that he could not stand the idea and couldn’t speak ill about it.
Schreiber sent a March 2021 message to a friend, writing: “I am so sorry to report that I have a hatred of the worst type towards my family.
They really betrayed and hurt me. I have been contemplating murdering their children every day, night and morning. Although it is not something I like to contemplate, the truth is there. It’s what I would like for them to experience.
M. Feest stated that the fatal attack on Sir Richard, upstairs from the landing, was separate in time and space to the attacks down below.
The movements of Sir Richard through the ground floor and up the stairs, as well as his bedroom and bathroom show there was some lull between violence in the kitchen, and the last fatal episode upstairs.
The defendant stabbed his victim to death by using a knife, after perhaps hearing Sir Richard’s footsteps upstairs. The prosecution claims that this is an obvious case of murder.
Schreiber admits manslaughter to the murder of the multi-millionaire but does not deny murder.
Concerning his mother, the defendant pleads not guilty for attempted murder.
Additionally, he has pleaded guilty for dangerous driving that night.
Sir Richard, his first wife Fiamma had two children and he also had five grandchildren.
Danish-born Mrs Shreiber is a physiotherapist with a Milborne Port practice, Dorset. She has three children, including her son Thomas.
The trial continues