Blue Lagoon Murderers For Sentencing

The family who kept a vulnerable man as their slave then killed him, cut up his body and dumped it in a Bedfordshire beauty spot are due to be sentenced.

Michael Gilbert, 26, was tortured for his benefit money by the extended Watt family at their home in Luton.

The ringleader, James Watt, 27, ordered others in the family to repeatedly assault Michael Gilbert. The victim was beaten and assaulted with the attacks often recorded on mobile phones for fun.

On Friday, Watt, his girlfriend Natasha Oldfield, 29 and Nichola Roberts, 22, were all convicted of Michael's murder.

Robert Watt, 20 and Jennifer Smith-Dennis, 58, the mother of all the Watt brothers were both convicted of familial homicide – also known as causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult.

Natasha Oldfield was also found guilty of assisting an offender.

A third brother, Richard Watt, 25, had previously admitted familial homicide.

All were convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Michael Gilbert's body was dismembered and dumped at a beauty spot known as the Blue Lagoon in Arlesey, where it was discovered by fishermen in May last year.

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.

Police said he was regularly assaulted and threatened over several years;he was hit with bats, shot and stabbed .

When the 26-year-old victim escaped, James Watt traced him through his benefit payments and National Insurance number and he would be forced back in to captivity.

Police had even paid for a rail ticket so he could return to Cambridge and escape the family but he was traced and bundled into a car before being taken back to the family home.

Det Ch Insp Jon Humphries said the defendants had showed callousness beyond anything he had witnessed in more than 26 years service.

(LB/BMcC)