Man "tortured to death for cash"

A Southampton gang tortured to death a vulnerable man with broken bottles and

knives before setting his body alight - all to steal his computer and cash so

they could go out, a court has heard.

Jamie Dack, 22, endured a prolonged attack in a squat over the Easter weekend

which led to his badly charred body being dumped in an industrial bin in

Southampton.

Ryan Woodmansey, 31, Andrew Dwyer-Skeats, 26, Lee Matthew Nicholls, 28, and

Donna Louise Chalk, 21, either went to a rave in Bournemouth or met up with

friends after the vicious killing on April 6 this year, the court heard.

Nicholls also boasted to friends about what he had done, prosecutors at

Winchester Crown Court claimed.

The next day the gang "regrouped" and allegedly wheeled Mr Dack and a

blood-soaked carpet through the streets in wheelie bins before finding the metal

bin on an industrial estate, dousing his body in petrol and setting it alight.It was done to "systematically" try to hide what they had done, Christopher

Parker QC, prosecuting, told the jury.

A post-mortem examination found Mr Dack had been stabbed in the neck, shoulder,

chest, abdomen and leg.

All four defendants, who are from Southampton, deny the murder of Mr Dack.

Chalk also denies perverting the course of justice by disposing of the body and

setting it alight.

The jury was told that the three men have pleaded guilty to the perverting the

course of justice charge.

The trial is expected to last seven weeks.