'I physically couldn’t stop' - murder accused on fatal knife attack

The man accused of paralysing his mother and murdering her partner in a knife attack has told a jury he "didn't know" what he was doing and "physically couldn’t stop".

Thomas Schreiber, 35, told the jury he "lost it" and "went completely crazy” as he stabbed millionaire hotelier Sir Richard Sutton to death at his mansion in Dorset. He admits manslaughter but denies murder.

He also denies the attempted murder of his mother - Sir Richard's partner - Anne Schreiber. She was found barely conscious, lying in her own blood by armed police called to the Gillingham estate in April of this year.

She is now paralysed, having suffered more than a dozen knife wounds.

Schreiber is on trial at Winchester Crown Court and gave evidence for the first time today (December 9).

He told the court he stabbed the couple after his mother shouted at him for being “drunk like his father”.

Schreiber said on the day of the attack - which was on the anniversary of the death of Schreiber’s alcoholic father - he had gone to visit his father’s grave.

He said he then spent the afternoon painting before having a chat with Sir Richard as they remembered his father, before his mother returned having also visited the grave.

He said: “Richard and I were sat peacefully in the office, Mum came in, she took one look at me and said: ‘You are drunk, just like your father’."

"The voice in my head had shouted: ‘Attack, attack’"

He said he then shouted "I am not drunk", saying this prompted his mother to "storm off".

"I stormed off after her and I punched her in the arm or the back," he said.

“There was a knife on the island and I just went completely crazy and I saw the knife and the voice in my head had shouted: ‘Attack, attack’, I picked up the knife and started stabbing my mum.

“Richard came in and I think he tried to stop me and I started stabbing him and I just couldn’t stop attacking my mum and Richard.

“My mum at one point shouting ‘Will you stop, will you stop?’ and I couldn’t stop.”

He described how he continued to go “back and forth” between the pair, stabbing them.

He said: "When Mum said that, I went completely crazy, I wasn’t drunk and I wasn’t a drunk like my father and after she said that I physically couldn’t stop what I was doing and I didn’t know what I was doing but what I was doing was horrific.”

He added: “It was a very accusatory anger when she said what she said, and I completely lost it and I went completely crazy.”

Describing his state of mind afterwards, Schreiber said: “My mind was completely frazzled, I want to leave behind the horror show I had caused, say my goodbyes and end my life.”

The jury heard Schreiber had previously suffered from depression and lockdown left him feeling like he was stranded in a "pressure cooker" at home.

He said: “I was really struggling, every day was a continual struggle, suicidal thoughts morning and night, ‘What is the point of going on? My family hate me, I’m a failure like my father and everything is just terrible’.

“Before lockdown I would negate a lot of the negative emotions and a lot of the sadness by going to see friends, by going to an art gallery, by travelling.

“Lockdown put a magnifying glass on my mental health and shone a big light on it.

“It had a detrimental impact on my mental health because the opportunity to get out of myself and the house became in my mind less and less possible because of the restrictions in force.

“I had flights booked to go skiing in Italy, I had flights booked to Berlin, I had flights booked to Panama, all of that was stopped, home life was very much a pressure cooker and it just got worse and worse.”

"I had quite a few demonic thoughts"

He said he carried out internet research into his mental health and added: “I was struggling to control my own thoughts, it was a distraction and it was unwelcome, I didn’t want these thoughts in my head and I wanted them to stop.”

Schreiber admitted he sent messages to his girlfriend and his friend saying he wanted to burn down the house with the adults inside, and that he thought about “murdering them morning, day and night”.

He said: “I had quite a few demonic thoughts that were coming and going in my mind.

“I was crying out for help from her and my friends and I was aware it was not normal to have these disgusting thoughts, these horrific thoughts.”

Schreiber admits causing the fatal injuries to Sir Richard and knife wounds to his mother but denies murder and attempted murder.

He previously admitted the manslaughter of Sir Richard and pleaded guilty to driving a Range Rover dangerously on the A303, A4 and M3 before his arrest.

The trial continues.