An aspiring artist convicted of murdering one of the UK’s wealthiest landowners and attempting to murder his mother has been jailed for a minimum of 36 years. Thomas Schreiber, 35, killed Sir Richard Sutton, 83, in a knife attack at the multimillionaire’s country estate in Dorset during Covid lockdown restrictions in April. He also injured Anne Schreiber, 66, so badly that she remains in hospital eight months later. Schreiber was found guilty of murder and attempted murder on Friday after a three-week trial at Winchester crown court. He previously admitted Sutton’s manslaughter but denied murder. The judge, Mr Justice Garnham, sentenced Schreiber to life with a minimum term of 36 years for the attack. Sentencing, he told Schreiber: “Your actions have caused utter devastation in the Sutton and Schreiber families.” He added: “You treated Sir Richard’s house and possessions as if they were your own. You showed neither him or your mother any respect. Instead, during your time in their home you displayed a breathtaking sense of entitlement. At times you left Sir Richard feeling like a prisoner in his own home. You are a man with a very bad temper.” Schreiber admitted carrying out the “horror show” attack on the pair on the eighth anniversary of the death of his alcoholic father, David Schreiber, after he said his mother had shouted at him for being “drunk like his father”. He told the court: “I just went completely crazy, I completely snapped and I just launched for her and began attacking her uncontrollably.” Sobbing and shaking, Schreiber’s sister, Rose McCarthy, read her victim impact statement in court directly to the defendant, saying: “You took a knife to our world. In doing so you took away Richard, you took away the most innocent and kindest of men in the most brutal of ways. He never stood a chance. “You also killed our mother. You took her life away and left her trapped in a body she can’t use and is in constant pain.” With the defendant crying in the dock, she added: “Tom, I love you but I struggle so badly with what you have done. What a waste of all these lives for a moment’s anger.” Their sister, Louisa Schreiber, added in her statement: “I miss my mother’s touch most of all. It pains me when she asks me to put her arms around me.” During a break in proceedings, Schreiber, sobbing, spoke to his sisters from the dock, saying: “I am so sorry, I really am. I love you.” In a letter to the judge, the defendant spoke of his “heartfelt shame and total disgust” at his actions. He added: “I have been a coward, hugely arrogant and selfish in my behaviour. I am so sorry for this and wish I had the clarity of thought I have now.” He added: “This was not the actions of a demonic monster but someone in need of help and intervention.” The victim’s son, Sir David Sutton, told the court: “This was a senseless act that has taken away the life all too early of a generous, loving, elderly man who only wanted to enjoy his twilight years.” The attack happened at Sir Richard Sutton’s Moorhill estate near Gillingham, Dorset, which he shared with the Schreiber family following the separation of the defendant’s parents. The trial heard that the defendant was angry with his mother for “abandoning” his father, who suffered from depression, to move in with Sutton and that Schreiber accused her of being a “gold-digging bitch”. Schreiber also felt that Sutton treated him unfairly compared with his two sisters despite him receiving a £1,000 monthly allowance and £100,000 towards buying a house. The court heard that family arguments descended into violence on three previous occasions including once when Sutton hit the defendant with his walking stick in November 2020, causing the cane to shatter and leaving Schreiber “humiliated”. The defendant blamed lockdown for worsening his mental health by forcing him to remain in the “toxic pressure boiler” environment of Sutton’s estate. In March 2021 he told a friend: “My mind is consumed with hatred of the very worst kind towards my family. I contemplate murdering them all morning day and night.” Anne Schreiber – who listened to the sentencing proceedings by video link – suffered up to 15 separate injuries including wounds to her head and body including a partially severed spinal cord that has left her paralysed. Schreiber was also sentenced for driving dangerously when he failed to stop a Range Rover for armed police in a 135mph pursuit after the killing. When he was detained he stabbed himself in the chest and shouted at officers to shoot him.