A judge has paid tribute to a much-loved businesswoman after sentencing her grandson for her killing.

Pietro Addis, now 20, stabbed his grandmother Sue Addis 17 times in her bath in Cedars Gardens, Brighton, in January 2021. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter but was found not guilty of murder due to having diminished responsibility.

At a sentencing hearing today Judge Christine Laing KC praised Mrs Addis, 69, for her commitment to her family and her charity work, before telling Addis that he still retained a “substantial degree of responsibility for the killing”.

Addressing Addis in the dock, Judge Laing said: “She was a highly successful and very well-respected businesswoman, well known in Brighton and in the wider Sussex region.

“This was due in no small part to the huge amount of support that she gave to many charities and organisations, not just financially but giving her time too as a trustee and hosting fundraisers for the less fortunate in society.

The Argus: Pietro Addis outside court prior to his trial earlier this monthPietro Addis outside court prior to his trial earlier this month (Image: Sussex News and Pictures)

“It is the greatest testament to her that she leaves behind loving and understanding children and grandchildren prepared not only to forgive you for what you have done but continue to support you.”

Mrs Addis was a popular restaurateur who ran Donatello in The Lanes and Pinocchio in New Road, Brighton.

During the trial, she was described as “a warm and generous person who was very supportive of her family” and who “spoke about her family with affection”.

Continuing to address Addis, who cried in the dock during the sentencing remarks, Judge Laing said his misuse of cannabis and Elvanse, an ADHD medication, greatly contributed to Mrs Addis’s death.

She said it was Addis’s choice to “use and abuse those drugs” and had he not been doing so “it is highly unlikely that your grandmother would have lost her life in this appalling manner”.

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Judge Laing continued:"The terror and trauma of the final minutes of her life is unimaginable particularly because it was at the hands of her beloved grandson."

A jury previously heard that Addis stabbed his grandmother 17 times in her bath during a “brief, transient paranoid psychosis”.

Addis was found to have suffered from the “delusional belief” that his grandmother wanted to kill him.

Judge Laing said Addis had “not yet fully appreciated the seriousness of what has happened” and posed a “substantial risk of serious harm being caused by you committing a further specified offence”.

During the hearing at Lewes Crown Court today, Sarah Elliott KC, defending, said Addis was “still a child at the time of this killing”, adding: “The person who he killed was the grandmother that he loved and who he was much loved by."

The Argus: Sue Addis was a much loved Restaurateur in BrightonSue Addis was a much loved Restaurateur in Brighton

She said Addis retained the “full love and support” of the family despite the killing and read statements to the court from his uncles.

In the statement, Mrs Addis’s sons said: “The biggest punishment for him is knowing what he has done.

“We want him to have a go at life and Mum would too.”

Judge Laing sentenced Addis to 15 years in prison for the killing in January 2021, when he was 17. She said he would serve a third of the initial ten-year sentence in custody before he would be eligible for parole.

Any additional time after being released on parole, including the additional five-year extended sentence, would be served on licence in the community.