A MAN was kept tied, gagged and locked in a flat before he was brutally murdered and his body set on fire in a bin, a court heard.

Jamie Dack was attacked with a baseball bat, bottles and knives after being held in a Southampton flat for 24 hours allegedly by a gang of four who had stolen his laptop, beaten his PIN number out of him and punished him for false claims of sexual misconduct.

Winchester Crown Court is this afternoon hearing the opening speeches of a retrial of three of the accused - Donna Chalk, Her boyfriend Andrew Dwyer-Skeats and their Big Issue seller friend Ryan Woodmansey.

In November last year the trio had stood trial alongside a fourth man, Lee Nicholls, during which he changed his plea and admitted murder near the end of giving evidence in his own defence. The trial was subsequently stopped and a retrial ordered, jurors were told.

Jamie, 22, was found dead in the early hours of Sunday April 8 last year when firefighters were called to the Empress Road industrial estate to deal with a bin blaze.

They discovered a severely burnt and charred body, the court heard. But a post mortem examination later revealed he had been stabbed many times.

Prosecutor Jonathan Fuller QC told the court it was "a callous and calculated attempt to destroy evidence of what they had done".

He told the jury of eight women and four men how all four had been arrested and charged with murder shortly after Jamie's body was found. They also faced a second charge of perverting the course of justice because of their conduct in relation to his body and the three defendants now standing trial have all admitted that charge, he added.

The court heard how murder victim Jamie Dack was effectively homeless at the time he was killed.

Jurors were told he was spending time in hostels and when no such accommodation was available he would stay wherever he could.

In the weeks before his death he was staying at Patrick House hostel in Millbrook where he met Nicholls who bullied him, according to reports given to police.

Their paths crossed over by about a week before 28-year-old was kicked out and moved to another hostel in Southampton Street.

But it was as a result of their contact that Jamie became introduced to Chalk, Dwyer-Skeats and Woodmansey who went on to allegedly kill him at a squat in Bevois Mews, the court heard.

The court heard how on the evening of March 21, less than three weeks before his death, Jamie had been attacked and left unconscious on the ground in a car park near to the Aldi store in Bevois Valley.

The attack was witnessed in part by passer by Christopher Stow who reported the assault to doormen who called police.

Nicholls, who was armed with a baseball bat, was responsible but when police arrived at the scene they found Dwyer-Skeats and Chalk.

Jamie was taken to hospital and treated for his injuries where it was discovered his mobile phone had been stolen.

Events began to unfold on Thursday April 5 that ultimately ended with the killing of Jamie Dack, the court heard.

Jurors were told how CCTV showed Jamie leaving Patrick House hostel on the day before Good Friday, carrying his laptop case.

He had booked emergency accommodation there that night and left, telling fellow residents he would be back that night but he never returned because he was prevented from doing so, Mr Fuller told the court.

There was talk between Chalk and the others about attending a rave in Bournemouth the following night and at some stage that evening they all returned to the Bevois Mews flat and were joined by Jamie.

There Nicholls and three murder accused hatched a plan to steal Jamie's laptop so Nicholls had money to buy a ticket for the rave.

Nicholls told of the plan to Amber Patterson, who he considered his girlfriend at the time, in a text message, the court was told.

Having taken it, the computer was offered for sale at Cash Generator in East Street, Southampton, by Nicholls, who had gone to the store accompanied by Woodmansey and Dwyer-Skeats. They were told they might get £100 but would have to get a charger for it first.

They then made further attempts to sell the laptop but without success that afternoon.
Mr Fuller then described how a decision was later made to obtain Jamie's bank card PIN by accompanying him to Tesco in Lodge Road and watching him as he withdrew cash.

He was joined by Chalk who was exchanging texts with Dwyer-Skeats in which she told him "Jamie knows" and discussed the need to get Jamie drunk before he was beaten up that night.

Chalk, 21 and Dwyer-Skeats, 26, both of Bevois Mews, Southampton, and Woodmansey of no fixed address, all deny murder.

Proceeding.