DOCTOR’S MACHINE GUN PLOT
Consultant collected arsenal of weapons and hit list of targets after being sacked
A FORMER hospital consultant caught with a cache of lethal weapons was behind bars last night.
Dr Martin Watt compiled an assassination hit list of ‘bad guys’ he believed were responsible for him being
sacked from his NHS position.
When police acting on a tip-off raided the former A&E consultant’s home in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, they found an array of deadly firearms.
As well as three Skorpion submachine guns and two Valtro pistols, Watt had 57 maximum impact dum-dum bullets.
Officers also found the hit list, along with information on individuals’ addresses and car registration plates.
The ‘template’ for the attacks, a court heard, was based on a Hollywood action movie about a group of mercenaries which
starred Robert De Niro and British actor Jason Statham.
Watt, who carried out target practice in woods near his home, is facing a lengthy jail term after being convicted of possessing firearms with intent to endanger life.
He had already admitted possession of weapons and ammunition.
Speaking at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, 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.’
Watt, a doctor for 32 years, worked at Monklands Hospital, in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, until 2012.
The court heard he was dismissed following disciplinary procedures.
In evidence, Watt 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 had been involved in his ‘bullying, harassment and eventual dismissal’.
He added: ‘They were not allowing me to clear my name.’ Watt told the court he had ‘assessed how to assassinate’ people and ‘express my thoughts on paper’.
The plans, he added, were based on the plot of the 2011 action film Killer Elite, starring De Niro.
Watt claimed he had no intention of carrying out the scheme, but the jury took only 75 minutes to convict the first offender.
The trial had earlier heard from ballistics expert Julia Bilsland, who said attempts had been made to convert some of the ammunition into ‘expanding hollow-point’ bullets by drilling a hole in the nose. She said these are sometimes known as dum-dum bullets and ‘are designed to cause maximum damage’.
When asked if a type of Skorpion sub-machine gun ‘could have a lethal effect’, the forensic scientist said: ‘Yes’. Miss Bilsland said a second type of Skorpion could fire ‘up to mile’ and could also be lethal.
The ammunition discovered in the raid on Watt’s home in May last year included blank cartridges which had been made into live bullets.
The court heard this week that Watt was found to have pictures of a former medical director on his computer. Dr Alison Graham, now medical director of NHS Ayrshire and Arran, had been involved in disciplinary proceedings relating to Watt before he was sacked.
She told the court she had no idea why her picture was on his computer.
After the guilty verdict was delivered, Watt waved to friends sitting in the public benches as he was led to the cells. Judge Lady Stacey deferred sentence until next month for background reports and remanded him in custody.
She said: ‘I need to have as much information as I can before me.’
Speaking after the case, Detective Chief Inspector Kevin Jamieson said: ‘This was a particularly complex intelligence-led inves- tigation and we are grateful for the assistance and co-operation provided by colleagues at NHS Lanarkshire, the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police.
‘Working in partnership, we were able to meticulously piece together the evidence, and the timely intervention of our officers prevented Martin Watt commissioning a crime with potentially extremely serious consequences.
‘We continue to work closely with NHS Lanarkshire to help reassure its employees.’
Calum Campbell, NHS Lanarkshire chief executive, said: ‘This has been a very distressing time for all of the staff, past and present, involved in this case. Our priority has been to ensure we have had the right support in place for our staff throughout this process and I know they are all relieved that the trial is now over.
‘I would like to thank the officers of Police Scotland for their efforts which have secured a successful conviction and ensured no one came to any harm.’