A man accused of stabbing his mother and murdering her partner, one of Britain’s wealthiest men, appeared in court today.
Thomas Schreiber, 34, is alleged to have attacked Anne Schreiber, 65, and Sir Richard Sutton, 83, at Moorhill in the hamlet of Higher Langham, near Gillingham, Dorset.
Schreiber, who lived with the couple, is charged with the attempted murder of his mother, a physiotherapist.
Wearing a grey sweatshirt, Schreiber was accompanied by a security guard as he appeared in the dock at Poole magistrates’ court today. He had a thick bandage around his right hand and wrist and also had a bandage on the little finger of his left hand.
He spoke softly and had to repeat his name, date of birth and address for the court as he could not be heard at first.
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The court clerk read out the two charges the defendant faces along with a third charge of dangerous driving on the A303 and M3 in relation to the night of the alleged attack. Schreiber was arrested in Hammersmith, west London, driving a Range Rover hours after the attack in Dorset.
Detectives believe that the suspect fled Sutton’s mansion in a black Range Rover after stabbing the baronet and his partner on Wednesday night.
Abdullah al-Yunusi, representing Schreiber, made no representations.
The five-minute hearing was adjourned and Schreiber, who has short fair hair and is clean-shaven, will appear at Winchester crown court tomorrow.
Mrs Caroline Foster, the presiding magistrate, told him: “You are to be remanded in custody.”
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The police were called to Sutton’s country estate at about 7.30pm on April 7. The baronet, who owned a vast property empire, had suffered stab wounds to the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene at 9.15pm.
An initial post-mortem examination that was conducted on Friday indicated that the cause of death was stab wounds to his chest.
Mrs Schreiber was airlifted to Southmead Hospital in Bristol, where she remains in a critical condition.
Schreiber was arrested about three hours after the call to the police.
Detective Inspector Simon Huxter, of Dorset police major crime investigation team, said: “Our thoughts remain with the victims’ family and all of those affected by this terrible incident.”
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Sutton, the ninth baronet of Norwood Park, Nottingham, was listed at number 435 in The Sunday Times Rich List in 2020 with an estimated family fortune of £301 million: a rise of £83 million on the previous year.
