By Ellen Branagh, Press Association
Five members of a family were found guilty today over the death of a man whose decapitated body was found in a lake.
Michael Gilbert was kept as a slave and tortured for his benefit money before being killed. His headless body was dumped in the Blue Lagoon in Arlesey, Bedfordshire, last year.
James Watt, his girlfriend Natasha Oldfield, and his brother's girlfriend Nichola Roberts were convicted of Mr Gilbert's murder.
James's brother Robert Watt and his mother Jennifer Smith-Dennis were found guilty of familial homicide following the trial at Luton Crown Court.
A third brother, Richard Watt, had previously admitted familial homicide.
Mr Gilbert's family gasped as the jury returned unanimous verdicts.
During the trial, the court heard "vulnerable" Michael Gilbert, who met James Watt at a children's home when they were 15, was treated as a slave by the family.
Prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC said he was hit with bats, shot, stabbed and made to walk around the house in only his boxer shorts. Beatings were often filmed on mobile phones.
He was forced to do chores and subjected to increasingly bizarre attacks, including on one occasion being made to goad a large pet lizard kept by the family until it attacked him with its tail.
The 26-year-old escaped several times but they would find him and force him to come back.
The court heard James Watt would pose as Mr Gilbert and, using his National Insurance number, discover where he was collecting benefits.
Mr Gilbert's headless corpse was spotted by two anglers fishing at the lagoon last May.
His knee joints, forearm and elbow were missing, as well as the head, although the torso and some other body parts were present.
Detectives believe he died overnight between January 21 and 22 last year as a result of the abuse he had suffered.
Painkillers and the tranquilliser temazepam were found in his body, the court heard, but the butchery of the corpse made it difficult for pathologists to say for certain what the cause of death was.
James's bedroom, which he shared with Oldfield, has been identified as the scene where the corpse was butchered.
It was not hacked to pieces but was cut cleanly with what is thought to be a saw.
The body was disposed of carefully, wrapped in layers of black bags and clingfilm "like an onion", police said.
It was then placed in a builder's bag, stowed in the boot of Roberts' car and driven to the lagoon where a fishing trolley, and later a wheelbarrow, was used to transport the corpse on the mile-long walk from the gates of the beauty spot to the lagoon.
The corpse was strapped to it and both barrow and body were thrown in together.
Mr Gilbert's severed head was not discovered until February - many months after the remains of his body were spotted.
It was found in a prison-issue hold-all, along with the other missing body parts.
Its location in the lagoon was revealed by Richard Watt, 25, who was temporarily taken out of prison to help police find it after pleading guilty to familial homicide and perverting the course of justice.
Senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Jon Humphries said he was "still not 100% sure what the motive was".
He said: "It's an unusual case in that it lacked the normal motives of robbery, revenge, greed, jealousy.
"What struck me throughout this investigation was the level of inhumanity displayed by members of the Watt household".
James Watt, 27, from Chertsey Close, Luton, Beds, was today convicted of murder. He had already admitted familial homicide and perverting the course of justice.
His brother Robert Watt, 20, was convicted of familial homicide. He had already pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and was acquitted of murder earlier in the trial.
A third brother Richard Watt, 25, had already pleaded guilty to familial homicide and perverting the course of justice.
Nichola Roberts, 22, the girlfriend of Richard Watt, and James's girlfriend Natasha Oldfield, 29, were both found guilty of murder and perverting the course of justice.
The brothers' mother, Jennifer Smith-Dennis, 58, was found guilty of charges of familial homicide and perverting the course of justice.
The brothers' father Antonio Watt, 60, was acquitted of familial homicide last month and today was also acquitted of perverting the course of justice.
James, Robert and Richard Watt, along with their mother Jennifer Smith-Dennis and Natasha Oldfield and Nichola Roberts, will return to Luton Crown Court on Monday to be sentenced.
The court heard today that James Watt has 14 previous convictions for 22 different offences, including affray and shooting someone with an airgun.
Robert Watt has two convictions, including battery and theft, while their mother is of good character, the court heard.
Oldfield has no convictions but a caution for affray, while Roberts has a caution for making off without payment, and four convictions for the same offence.
The Independent
