Soldier who kidnapped love rival with cling film after ordering secret grave jailed for 16 years

A soldier who kidnapped the new boyfriend of his estranged wife, before attacking him with cling film with the intent of burying him in a pre-ordered grave, has been jailed for 16 years.

John Watson, 35, kidnapped love rival James Dicks, a former fellow soldier at Combermere Barracks, near Windsor, where Prince Harry once served.

Reading Crown Court heard how Dicks had his face wrapped in cling film by Watson, before being 'hog-tied' by his wrists with cable ties and forced into the back of a car, as he left Watson's ex-partner's house in Windsor, Berkshire.

The victim was then stabbed and slashed with a knife, before members of the public phoned police who arrived with Taser guns.

Dicks, 28, was a former friend of Watson. They both served as Household Cavalry troopers.

The pair were both living separately from their wives when the incident happened at around 7.30pm on 4 May last year.

Watson was found guilty of attempted murder at Reading Crown Court last month in addition to one count of kidnap. He had pleaded guilty to one count of possession of an offensive weapon in a previous trial in October 2016.

Watson was acquitted of a further count of possession of an offensive weapon.

The court had heard that when Watson discovered Dicks was seeing his wife, the father-of-two used Google search to discover how to dispose of a body and find out the sentence lengths for murder.

It also emerged that he had ordered a workman to dig a grave near his barracks telling the man it was to bury his dog before he went to his ex-partner's home and waited outside the property.

Watson, who had served in Afghanistan, had begun planning the murder following the death of his foster mother in March 2016.

During sentencing, Judge Angela Morris said according to Sky News: "It seems to me there are two John Watsons.

"The John Watson who was a devoted family man and the disciplined soldier who served his country with honour and bravery, and then there is the other John Watson, the one who allowed himself to become consumed by anger, jealousy, rage and murderous intent over the course of February to May 2016."

Dicks suffered a stab wound to his side and elbow, and damage to a tendon in his right middle finger, which required surgery, during the attack. The crown said that Dicks and Watson's ex-wife are still in a relationship.