Murder accused's call with sister weeks after 'knife attack'

The 35-year-old defendant is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of the murder of the millionaire hotelier and attempted murder of his mother, Anne Schreiber on April 7 at their home near Gillingham, Dorset.

The court was told that Thomas Schreiber called his sister, Louisa Schreiber, 40, while on remand in custody at HMP Winchester awaiting trial.

The following is the full details from that 12-minute call on April 27 between Thomas Schreiber (TS) and his sister Louisa Schreiber (LS).

The call was played to the jury during Louisa Schreiber's evidence on Thursday, December 2.

LS: "Hello?"

TS: "Louisa, it’s Tom. Please … please don’t hang up. Um I … I’m sorry to bother you. I … I just wanted to hear … hear your voice and … and see if mum’s … see how mum’s doing and things."

LS: "I don’t know what to say Tom."

TS: "S... I’m so sorry. It’s complete ******* madness. It’s a complete nightmare. I have… I’m waking up every day hoping to wake up from this nightmare and it… and it’s just… I’m so sorry. I… I don’t know what happened. I completely lost control. It’s just complete madness and doesn’t make any sense and... (sighs). I’m so sorry. I… I didn’t… didn’t mean for any of this… this to happen. Um you … you have to believe me on that. I didn’t wanna hurt anyone and I’ve done the opposite. (Sighs). Um... "

LS: "She’s paralysed Tom from the neck down.

TS: (Indistinct)

LS: "She’s on a ventilator."

TS: (Breaking down) "No..."

LS: "Yeah. She can open her eyes though and she can smile."

TS: "No."

LS: "She seems to have her brain functioning, but I don’t know what the future holds for her."

TS: "No..."

LS: "She’s got spinal cord injury in her neck; um and… yeah. That’s her main issue now. But she’s survived against all the odds but it’s whether she’ll ever move. I don’t know. I don’t think anyone knows."

TS: "She… she can’t… she won’t ever be able to move?"

LS: "I don’t know Tom. I don’t know. No-one knows really."

TS: "She’s… so she’s currently paralysed but that… that could… she could improve?"

LS: "Maybe. No-one knows really."

TS: "Are you allowed to visit her or not?"

LS: "Yeah, yeah. I can visit her."

TS: "Can she speak?"

LS: "No. Um she tries to, but the ventilator prevents her from… so…"

TS: "Okay. And d... d... okay you don’t know, but do you think there’s any chance she’ll be able to walk and speak in the next year or so at least?"

LS: "I don’t know. I don’t know Tom. I’m not sure she (indistinct),"

TS: "Is it… is it nerve… nerve damage…"

LS: "Yeah in her neck, yeah."

TS: "... er to the spine?"

LS: "Yeah she’s… she’s had a stab wound in her neck? And it’s slightly severed her spinal cord. So she… she’s just in bed, like crumpled up.

TS: "Mm."

LS: "She can move her arm a little bit, her left arm a little bit."

TS: "Okay. And… and the ventilator’s a breathing machine isn’t it?"

LS: "Yeah, exactly, yeah."

TS: "Okay. Um… yeah. So sorry."

LS: "You can always ask the police for an update if you want."

TS: "No they… they can’t tell me anything. They don’t tell me anything. I’ve been asking, but I… I… I finally got your number today and I… I know it’s been so long and I know you don’t wanna hear from me, and I just wanted to hear… hear your voice and hear someone’s voice and… and… and find out how mum’s doing and obviously you know, how you’re doing and stuff. And I know that’s not good so… I… I…"

LS: "Well I’ll just… I’ll just tell you about mum and then…"

TS: "Yeah."

LS: "... that'll be enough won't it?"

TS: "Yeah."

LS: "So yeah, she’s um… she’s alive. I don’t know how she’s managed to be alive but she is, and um she seems to have brain function, so she’s… cause that was another worry, that she might not… she might have severe brain damage through lack of oxygen. Um but she seems to respond appropriately, and the brain scan shows er no major brain damage at the moment. Um… so and it’s really the spinal cord damage um…"

TS: "But that can heal can’t it?"

LS: "It might be able to. It might be able to. But there’s no movement in her lower body, just her arms a tiny bit."

TS: "Okay."

LS: "I don’t know. The main… at the moment the main thing now that she’s survived, and now that she has woken up from being unconscious the… the next thing is to try and get her breathing on her own without the machine…"

TS: "Okay."

LS: "... but there is a possibility she might never be able to um breathe off the machine."

TS: "God…"

LS: "And she might never… I mean I… I don’t know. The doctors say they don’t know."

TS: "Yeah."

LS: "It depends on her rehab now how long… whether she’s determined enough and she’s much of a fighter, and we all said ‘Look, if anyone can fight and be strong it’s mum’ so hopefully she can do that."

TS: "Yeah."

LS: "It’s a mental battle I think."

TS: "And is she in Yeovil… Yeovil, where you were?"

LS: "No, she’s in the Bristol er Trauma… she’s in Intensive Care still."

TS: "Yeah, okay. So it doesn’t sound like she’s gonna be able to go home for a while."

LS: "I dunno if she’ll ever go home Tom. I don’t know."

TS: "Okay."

LS: "Ohhh I don’t know. I don’t know. And it’s hard to kind of think ahead. But she’s going to be transferred to a spinal unit in Salisbury this week I think, which is positive. And there she’ll stay for as long as she can and they’ll do rehab with her and try and…"

TS: "Do you think there’s any chance she could have a normal life? I mean physically and… and ver… verbally after this? Do you think there’s any hope for that?"

LS: "I think there’s always hope. Um there’s always hope isn’t there? Um..."

TS: "Yeah, but do you think there’s a chance, like a 50-50 chance at least that she could… she could you know, move normally in the future and… and speak normally after these injuries?"

LS: "I don’t know Tom. I think looking at her I would say no, but you … you hear of amazing stories of people who are paralyzed and then they…"

TS: "Mm..."

LS: "…they make good recovery. No I don’t think she’ll ever… I mean her legs don’t… she can’t feel anything. She can’t even feel you touch her tummy. Like leg… when I hold her hand she says she can’t feel it. I think she might be able to but she’s got a catheter in. No she can’t move at all, she’s lying flat on her bed. But maybe, I don’t know. I just think maybe if she could get into a wheelchair and if she could get off the breathing machine then I think we’d be very blessed and she’d have a quality of life. That’s what I’m thinking now."

TS: "Yeah."

LS: "If we could get her off the ventilator and get her breathing for herself then I think she’ll have quality of life, and if we get her upright so she could move her hand, if she could… she can’t move her fingers or anything."

TS: "I just can’t understand why she can’t feel her legs, you know?"

LS: "Because she’s had a… a… a knife go into her neck, which has partially severed her spinal cord. And your spinal cord carries all the nerves, messages from your brain to your body."

TS: "Can that not be fixed in any way, the spinal cord though? You know, from … from you know… er I don’t know."

LS: "It’s a spartial… it’s a partial um cut…"

TS: "Mm."

LS: "… so it can… maybe able to heal a bit, but who knows? If you cut cut right through it, you know that’s what… that’s what sends the messages from your brain to your... all your nerves and nervous system that makes everything work, and your bladder and your bowels and your feet and your…"

TS: "Right..."

LS: "So I don’t… I don’t know. I don’t think she’ll have… ohhh… I don’t think she’ll ever have the same… she’ll never have… I don’t think she’ll have the same life that she did, and I don’t know. But I just… I want to get off the breathing machine, so I’m trying not to think too far ahead you know? Because…"

TS: "Yeah..."

LS: "… I didn’t even think she’d make it you know, a few weeks… a few weeks ago."

TS: "Yeah."

LS: "And they said ‘prepare for the worst’ and we are, and the fact she’s awake and recognises me and is asking about what happened means that her brain is alive, and that’s good. So it’s just slowly, slowly… (Tom Schreiber can be heard sobbing) and I don’t think Tom anyone can understand um… can tell you or me what her outcome will be. So..."

TS: "No, but thank you… for telling me."

LS: "Okay."

TS: "Sorry. I… I know that means very little, but I’m sorry and I… I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I just completely lost it, I completely flipped. That wasn’t... that wasn’t me there that day. I… it wasn’t th… it wasn’t Tom Schreiber, it was someone else. It was ******* demons, and I’m so sorry I did that to… to mum and Richard. You know, I’m… it’s… it’s… it’s so regrettable. Everything is so regrettable and all I wanna do is turn back the clock to Wednesday the 7th. And I know that’s impossible but it just doesn’t feel real and it is real and…"

LS: "I know. We’re all living it Tom. I know. I know. (Tom Schreiber can be heard sobbing) . You’re struggling. I know."

TS: "I didn’t… I didn’t… I didn’t mean it. I just wanted to give mum a hug and she… she you know… and I di… you know and I just flipped and… so many opportunities to avoid this and just showing more love and more communication and… and less… less silences from… from me and everything, and so avoidable."

LS: "Yeah."

TS: "And you know I..."

LS: "Yeah. I know."

TS: "Um..."

LS: "It's horrible."

TS: "I… It’s a complete nightmare and… and yeah I… I’m sorry…"

LS: "Are you being looked after?"

TS: "Thank you for… for picking up the phone and telling me and… (sighs)."

LS: "Okay. Are you… are you being looked after?"

TS: "I am. I’m in the healthcare wing. And..."

LS: "Okay."

TS: "… and that’s it basically. Um…"

LS: "Are they giving you any medication to help you sleep?"

TS: "Yeah I… I… I can sleep. Um I… I’m on anti-depressants now but it seems too bloody late for that. I should have taken the prescription when I had them in January, um and you know, it’s... it’s… it’s absolute hell. But… but… you know, that’s where I deserve to be and er and… you know, I’m... I’m just reading a lot and you know, I wanna speak to mum and obviously yourself and Rose and everything, but yeah I... i… it’s just terrible and you know I… I can’t explain you know how sorry I am and regretful and… and you know..."

LS: "Yeah, I know."

TS: "I… I completely flipped and… and er… I… I didn’t want…"

LS: "Yeah but… yeah…"

TS: "I didn’t want any of this to happen. I just wanted to have a drink with mum and Richard you know, on that day. I put out some pistachios and …and some champagne in the fridge and I was gonna cook upstairs in the evening and they were gonna have dinner downstairs. I had some salmon and… and… and I just completely snapped. I completely snapped and lost it and I just couldn’t stop. And I couldn’t stop. And there was a knife on the island and I… (breaks down)

LSL (Indistinct)

TS: Aand I couldn’t… I couldn’t stop. (Sobbing). So sorry Lou. Um..."

LS: "I don’t know what to say. I’m really sorry too. I just don’t know what to say. I’m sorry."

TS: "I… I love you and I… I wish you a good evening okay? I… I’ll say goodbye Lou."

LS: "All right Tom."

TS: "Okay?"

LS: "Take care."

TS: "Okay?"

LS: "Take care. God bless."

Thomas Schreiber denies murdering Sir Richard, 83,  and attempting to  murder Anne Schreiber, 66. 

The trial continues.