Family ‘kept disabled man as slave then dumped his headless corpse’

A handicapped man was kept as a slave by a family who beat him for their own amusement before chopping off his head and dumping his body in a lake, a court heard today.

Michael Gilbert, 26, is said to have suffered a decade of abuse and was forced to sleep handcuffed to a bed.

His abusers enjoyed his humiliation, making it the subject of a "game show," Luton crown court heard.

Finally Mr Gilbert, known as the "Big Friendly Giant", was murdered at the family's home in Luton, his body dismembered and his head cut off.

His corpse was found in the privately-owned Blue Lagoon in Arlesey, Bedfordshire, last May. His head was not found in the lake until this month.

Brothers James, 27, and Robert Watt, 20, together with James Watt's girlfriend Natasha Oldfield, 29, and Nichola Roberts, 21, all deny murder.

Prosecutor Stuart Trimmer, QC, told the court: "Mr Gilbert was kept as a slave. He was kept, among other things, to take his benefit money."

Mr Trimmer said family members filmed the beatings on phones. He said: "He was abused for entertainment. He was burnt, beaten, his body had airgun pellets in it when taken from the lake."

The brothers' parents Jennifer Smith-Dennis, 58, and Antonio Watt, 60, deny causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult. The trial continues.