A MURDER trial has been told of the dramatic moment a 17-year-old boy called 999 to hand himself in to police after stabbing his grandmother.

The jury at Lewes Crown Court was shown evidence that Pietro Addis, now 19, made the call to emergency services shortly after Sue Addis suffered 17 stab wounds.

The first words he said when Sussex Police emergency services answered his call, shortly before 7pm on January 7, 2021 were: “I’m calling to turn myself in.”

As the call progressed, Addis gave his name and said he was at 1 Cedar Gardens, Brighton, and this was his grandmother’s address.

He ended the call at this point but the jury heard the police operator called back and spoke to the teenager who, when asked what he had done, said: “There’s been a murder”.

Rossano Scamardella QC, prosecuting, told the court how the call then unfolded.

“The operator pressed Pietro about who had been killed and he said that it was his grandmother who had been murdered, and that she was in the bath, telling the police that it had all happened approximately 20 minutes ago,” Mr Scamardella told the jury.

“When asked how it had happened, he said ‘no comment’ but when asked how sure he was that his grandmother was dead he was to tell them, ‘100 per cent’.”

READ MORE: Brighton teenager stabbed grandmother in frenzied knife attack

At one point during the conversation, the operator attempted to establish where Sue Addis was in the house when the teenager made the call.

The Argus: Pietro Addis lived with his grandmother Sue in Brighton prior to her deathPietro Addis lived with his grandmother Sue in Brighton prior to her death

Call Taker: Where is [Sue Addis] at the moment?

Addis: In the bath

CT: OK, what happened? Is there anyone else in the house?

A: Just me

CT: OK, how do you know that she's dead?

CT: OK, that's all right, Pietro, you just answer what you can Ok?

CT: How long ago did this happen?

A: 20 minutes

CT: OK, give me two moments

CT: [aside] Can you call me an ambulance [and] hurry up, please

CT: OK, just getting all these details in; how did you do it Pietro?

CT: OK, you just stay where you are OK?

The emergency services then attempted to find out what took place that evening between Pietro and his grandmother.

CT: OK, OK, Pietro. How did this happen?

A: No comment

CT: Right, OK Pietro, what I want you to do is just wait where you are, what room are you in at the moment?

A: Downstairs

CT: OK, where's the bathroom, upstairs or downstairs?

A: Upstairs

CT: Right, OK, Pietro, what I want you to do is just to stay downstairs where you are. OK? You're going to have some police officers come, we're also going to get some ambulance there, OK? When you say your nan's dead, how certain are you of that?

A: 100 per cent

CT: OK, what makes you think that?

CT: Right, OK Pietro, just you wait there then. I don't think there's anything else I need to ask you at the time, OK? But I'm gonna keep you on the line, all right. Have you told anyone else that this has happened?

A: No

CT: OK

CT: Right, OK. Is the front door open, is it unlocked?

A: It's locked

CT: OK, would you be able to go and unlock it for me?

The call is then ended, and shortly after police and paramedics arrive on the scene.

The jury has heard that Pietro Addis admits manslaughter but denies murder due to diminished responsibility “because of the abnormality of mind”.

The trial, before Judge Christine Laing QC, the honorary recorder of Brighton and Hove, continues.