Ex-consultant who hatched evil plan jailed

A disgraced former University Hospital Monklands consultant caught with an array of lethal weapons and a sinister “assassination list”has been jailed for 12 years.

Last month, we reported on how Dr Martin Watt compiled a list of“bad guys” he blamed for his dismissal from the Airdrie hospital and hatched an evil plan to“assassinate”them.

He was convicted of intent to endanger life after police discovered three Skorpion sub-machine guns, two Valtro pistols and ammunition including 57 dum-dum bullets when they searched his Condorrat home last May, following a tip-off.

A jury at the High Court in Glasgow took just 75 minutes to convict the 62-year-old of having the weapons with the intent to endanger life; the first offender had admitted the possession of weapons and ammunition.

Sending Watt to prison, judge Lady Stacey said:“You had live ammunition. The weapons were all in working order because you reactivated them.

“It is sad to see a man who has held your position in this situation, but I must protect the public.”

Former A&E consultant Watt worked as a doctor for 32 years before he was dismissed in 2012 after disciplinary procedures.

The judge added:“In your evidence, you described a list of names in an envelope on which you had written the words‘bad guys’as your assassination list.

“You had researched routes to some addresses; you told the jury you practised shooting to make yourself a better marksman.

“The jury did not accept your assertion you intended to do no harm and you wrote things out and did research as a way to make yourself feel better.”

Lady Stacey also granted a serious crime prevention order that will restrict Watt’s use of the internet and ban him from entering any NHS establishment without good reason for five years after his release.

During his trial, Watt chillingly told the court he had“assessed how to assassinate”people on the list and “express my thoughts on paper”, with the plans being based on the plot of Robert De Niro film Killer Elite, about a group of mercenaries – but said he had no intention of ever carrying out the scheme.

He added:“Playing out the retribution game on paper gave me some sort of comfort. I do not see myself as a danger to the public.”

Behind bars Martin Watt has been jailed for 12 years

Live ammunition Watt had an extensive cache of weapons