Murder accused 'incensed' at lack of apology from hotelier, trial told
Thomas Schreiber is on trial at Winchester Crown Court for the murder of Sir Richard Sutton at his home in Gillingham
Last updated 3rd Dec 2021
A man accused of the murder of Sir Richard Sutton became "incensed and fixated" after the millionaire hotelier failed to apologise for caning him with his walking stick, his sister has told his trial.
Thomas Schreiber is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of the murder of the 83-year-old baronet at his country estate Moorhill, near Gillingham in Dorset, and the attempted murder of his mother, and Sir Richard's partner, Anne Schreiber, 66, on April 7, 2021.
The 35-year-old has previously admitted the manslaughter of Sir Richard and pleaded guilty to driving a Range Rover dangerously on the A303, A4 and M3.
The court has heard Sir Richard hit the defendant with his walking stick, causing it to shatter, during a family argument in November 2020.
Rose McCarthy, sister of the defendant, said the atmosphere at Moorhill had become a "vicious triangle", and added: "He said he wanted an apology, he became quite fixated on getting an apology from Sir Richard, then in the following weeks it hadn't materialised, he was incensed by it, it consumed him."
She also described how her brother had attacked her after she had sworn at him following an argument over who should drive home from the races at Wincanton a few years earlier.
She said: "Tom jumped on me from behind, punched, had his hands round my neck, then in seconds my sister had taken him off me."
Ms McCarthy said Sir Richard then took a swing at Schreiber but missed to which the defendant punched him, knocking him to the ground.
The trial has heard the fatal attack happened on the eighth anniversary of the death of the father of the siblings, David Schreiber, who suffered from depression and a drinking problem and separated from their mother in about 2003.
The defendant had accused his mother and sisters of being "gold-diggers" after the family moved in with Sir Richard, while their father lived alone in a bungalow on the estate.
Ms McCarthy said her brother was "controlling" of their mother and added: "Tom was very protective of our father and felt very responsible to look after him during that period of time.
"Dad was drinking and was not always of a stable mind and as loving as he was, he could be toxic and a lot of that toxicity was fed into Tom about mum and Sir Richard and Louisa and I.
"We all knew how hard dad's death would be on Tom because of their close relationship, so we did the best we could while grieving ourselves."
She said her father had been "incredibly cruel" and would regularly threaten suicide, and had woken her up at 3am on the day of her final exam to tell her that he was going to kill himself.
Ms McCarthy said all three siblings were given an allowance by Sir Richard of £1,000 a month, until she had a child when she received an extra £500.
She said Sir Richard became concerned at the defendant, who was an aspiring painter, becoming reliant on this.
She said: "It came from a place of concern for Richard, he could understand Tom not working if he needed help, he was consumed with the need to help Tom, what he couldn't understand was the audacity of Tom to help himself to everything in the house.
"He could behave as if everything was his when he hadn't contributed and all he could do was criticise.
"It became obvious to the family that it was becoming a vicious triangle, the three of them living at Moorhill.
"You had mum trying to keep the peace between Richard and Tom, and Richard taking it out perhaps a bit on mum that Tom was living there and mum not wanting to get rid of Tom because she didn't know what he would do and she said to me 'How do you kick out your own child?'."
The court was shown a text message sent by the defendant to Ms McCarthy on the day before the killing in which he wrote, having mistaken the date: "Raising a glass to dad who passed away eight years ago today. RIP. You remember right? Your real father David, not the one who 'bought you' who you call your father... cupboard love."
Ms McCarthy said: "Sir Richard was a great father figure to me, I was proud to call him my stepfather but I was not bought, as implied by this message."
She said Sir Richard had offered to pay for her father to undergo rehabilitation for his drinking.
She added that her father had also been asked to live at Moorhill with the rest of the family but her mother had not wanted this while he was still drinking.
Ms McCarthy said: "There was no lack of generosity or kindness from Sir Richard to dad, the situation of dad living by himself was of his own making and his own disease."
Schreiber denies murder and attempted murder and the trial continues.