Sir Richard Sutton: Murder accused's mother gives evidence

Thomas Schreiber, 35 and of Gillingham, Dorset, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of the murder of 83-year-old baronet Sir Richard Sutton and attempted murder of his mother Anne Schreiber, on April 7.

The attack happened at Sir Richard’s Moorhill estate near Gillingham, which he shared with the Schreiber family following the separation of the defendant’s parents.

In a video interview shown to the court on Friday, December 3, recorded at Salisbury Hospital on June 29, Ms Schreiber, 66, was sitting in a wheelchair and wearing a pink top and grey scarf, holding a pillow.

The defendant sat with his head facing down for much of his mother’s filmed evidence, looking up occasionally at the screen.

Thomas Schreiber sketch by Elizabeth Cook. Picture: PA

Ms Schreiber said: “He was definitely not himself, I would swear on oath that the man who came in my kitchen could have been a total stranger, he looked not out of normal but unusual, because I was shocked when I saw him.

“His eyes were very unusual, his face was screwed up in an extraordinary grimace, he looked very, very out of control.”

She added: “I have some awful nightmares relating to this time, in my head, but they are not real so I can’t use them – I was trapped and he was my captor but they are not real.”

Ms Schreiber said she could recall her son coming into the kitchen and attacking her with a "nice and sharp" kitchen knife.

She said: "Tom looks unusual, I think that is the best description, his eyes are quite, weird is not the word, almost frightening look, because they look terribly, terribly determined.

“I say ‘What’s the matter?’ or ‘Are you all right?’, and I see a knife and I remember saying ‘Don’t be so silly’, because he gives me an indication.”

She added: “He stood with his knife, he certainly didn’t look like he was going to help me peel potatoes, let’s put it that way, it was definitely a threatening posture.”

Ms Schreiber continued: “I believe that he stabbed me, I received some stab wounds from him and I remember looking at the knife in me and being surprised that it doesn’t hurt."

Police at Moorhill after the incident

Describing her son, Ms Schreiber said "I wonder where have I gone wrong, also in some ways I have failed him".

Ms Schreiber said the defendant had strangled her while driving home from a party, about two years earlier.

She said: “I didn’t retaliate at all, I just waited until it was all over, he can then turn round and be as good as gold, it’s a weird combination, he jolly well knows when he has his hands round your throat though.”

Appearing by live video-link from hospital, under cross examination Ms Schreiber said her son had been “very strongly” affected by the death of his father and had never come to terms with it.

Sir Richard Sutton

When questioned by Joe Stone QC, representing the defendant, Ms Schreiber said she remembered her son saying to her “you’re a gold-digging *****”, but said she did not recall him saying “I’m not ******* drunk", on April 7.

Mr Stone QC asked her if she remembered Sir Richard trying to stop her son, to which she said she did.

Describing her son’s face during the attack, she said he looked out of control because of the expression of his eyes.

She said: “I know my son extremely well, that man who appears in the room, I could hardly recognise him, he was so withdrawn, and the grimaces on his face, he looked very torn on his face.

“His eyes were very wild looking.”

Ms Schreiber said her son had become “furious” after Sir Richard had hit him with his walking stick during a family argument in November 2020.

Sir Richard Sutton

When asked about the incident which she described in her video interview of her son strangling her in the car in the summer of 2019, she said she could not recall if he had actually strangled her and added: “If he did, he didn’t mean to strangle me.”

The defendant denies murder and attempted murder.

The trial continues.