Jealous soldier in ‘clingfilm plot to kill comrade’
He ‘wanted revenge on wife’s lover’
A SOLDIER kidnapped an ex-comrade and wrapped him in clingfilm as part of a murder plot after learning that the man was seeing his former wife, a court heard yesterday.
Private John Watson, 35, allegedly pounced on James Dicks at knifepoint after hiding outside his ex-wife’s home.
Mr Dicks, 29, was bundled into a car during the kidnap attempt in which he was tied up and had clingfilm wrapped around his face, jurors were told.
But the alleged plot was foiled when Mr Dicks broke free and fought Watson, who is said to have slashed him repeatedly before he was saved by police.
Prosecutor Daniel Fugallo told Reading Crown Court: ‘This was an incident Mr Watson had prepared for, brooded upon, thought about and planned for weeks. It
‘You have ruined my life’
was a plan founded in jealousy and anger and it was a plan that was intended to culminate in the murder of James Dicks.’
The pair and their families became friends when the soldiers served at Combermere barracks in Windsor, Berkshire.
But after both marriages failed, Mr Dicks began seeing Watson’s estranged wife Lynsey, 31, the mother of his two children.
Mr Dicks and Mrs Watson tried to keep the relationship secret, but the news leaked out, causing a bitter rift in the friendship.
Watson became ‘obsessed’ with the relationship and is said to have spent months devising a plan to get revenge on Mr Dicks.
The court was told he sent threatening texts to Mr Dicks, saying he was ‘close to losing his cool’. In one, he is said to have warned: ‘I told you, if I am going to do something you will only know when it is going to happen.’ The alleged attack took place one morning in May after Mr Dicks left Mrs Watson’s home in Windsor. Minutes later, Watson, dressed in camouflage combat fatigues and brandishing a serrated blade, approached his former colleague in the street.
Watson told Dicks to get in his car, the interior of which was covered in bedding, to discuss ‘f****** my wife’.
When Mr Dicks refused, Watson allegedly lunged at him with the blade. During the ensuing fight, Watson bound Mr Dicks’ hands and feet with plastic cable ties and forced him into the car.
A witness said Watson shouted: ‘You have ruined my life, I have lost my children, I won’t be coming back.’
After driving off, Watson is said to have stopped to wrap clingfilm around his hostage’s face.
Mr Dicks broke free of the ties and was allegedly slashed with a knife as passers-by called police.
The court heard that officers allegedly found a ‘checklist’ on Watson’s iPhone of items to be used for the murder, such a shovel and air freshener.
A day before the attack, Watson asked a water contractor working near Pirbright barracks in Surrey, where he was based, to dig a hole where he allegedly planned to hide the body.
He told the man he wanted to bury his dog.
Watson denies attempted murder, kidnapping and possession of a bladed article. He admits one count of possessing a ‘jab saw’.
The trial continues.