Sacked doctor had machine gun stash and hitlist of staff
A DISGRACED doctor caught with a stash of firearms and an ‘assassination list’ of colleagues he blamed for his sacking was jailed for 12 years yesterday.
Martin Watt’s home was raided after a tip- off and police found submachine guns, pistols, a replica assault rifle and bullets, as well as a sinister plan based on a film about a group of mercenaries.
The 62-year-old A&E consultant had been using the submachine guns for target practice and compiled a list of ‘bad guys’ he blamed for his dismissal from Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, Lanarkshire.
He claimed he did not intend to harm anyone, but a jury at the High Court in Glasgow convicted the former doctor of having the weapons with intent to endanger life.
Jailing him, Judge Valerie Stacey said: ‘These are lethal weapons. Not only did you have the guns, you had live ammunition. The weapons were all in working order because you reactivated them. ‘You had them with intent to endanger life and any court must take a very serious view of this. You represent a danger to members of the public.
‘It is sad to see a man who has held the position you have in this situation, but I must protect the public.’
Lady Stacey ordered Watt to be on licence for three years after his release from prison.
She 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.’
Watt smiled as the sentence was passed and nodded while the judge spoke.
His lawyer John Scott QC said: ‘This is clearly a most unusual case and Dr Watt is an unusual person to be sitting in the dock at the High Court.’
Mr Scott said Watt admitted having the guns in his possession, but denies having them as part of a plan to endanger life.
He added: ‘ He is a medical man with over 30 years of significant public service in the NHS. He had a prominent role in the campaign to keep Monklands Hospital. He is an intelligent man who has made a positive contribution to society.’ Watt’s relationship with colleagues collapsed after he returned to work following a quadruple heart bypass.
They became concerned about his temper and patient care and he was eventually sacked following disciplinary proceedings after refusing to work under supervision in 2012.
Police found three Skorpion submachine guns, a replica assault rifle, two Valtro pistols and 1,500 rounds of ammunition – including 57 dum-dum expanding bullets – when they searched his home in Condorrat, Lanarkshire, last May.
Watt, who worked as a doctor for 32 years, bought decommissioned weapons legally from the Czech Republic and put them back into working order in his workshop. The ‘template’ for his attacks was based on the Robert de Niro film, Killer Elite, the court heard.
Watt also carried out target practice with one of the submachines at a forest area close to a motorway near his home. Prosecutor Alex Prentice QC said: ‘All this was done in preparation for an awful event. There was an intention to endanger life – it was more than mere thinking about it. Dr Watt was harbouring a grudge and he sought out the home addresses of the key players in the disciplinary process.
‘He collected a significant arsenal of lethal weapons and felt he had been unfairly treated.’
The jury took just 75 minutes to convict Watt.
In evidence, he insisted he did not intend to kill anyone and claimed he was not a danger to the public. He said the people on the list were those involved in his ‘bullying, harassment and eventual dismissal’.
John Burke, of the Condorrat Tenants’ Association, said: ‘How can it be right that he built up such an array of weapons, guns and ammunition so close to a school and only gets 12 years?
‘He’ll be out in about seven years probably and that is no punishment at all.’ He added: ‘He had these weapons and everything else 55metres (60 yards) from a primary school and there is no telling what could have happened.’
A former neighbour of Watt, who did not want to be named, said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when I heard what had been going on. It was scary to think he had all those guns in that house.’
‘Harbouring a grudge’