Apsley man’s killers are handed long jail sentences

Two dealers who killed an addict after he ran off with just £10 worth of drugs received long jail sentences on Wednesday. Joseph Zulu, 23, who fatally stabbed Adam Watt received a lift sentence with a 25 year minimum term and Nicholas Grant, 18, who was at the scene with a knife received a total of 11 years. The 38-year-old victim knew the drug dealers were coming for him to exact revenge and waited, with a knife sharpener, outside his flat at Evans Wharf, Apsley Lock. He was fatally stabbed by Joseph Zulu, at ten past one in the morning, with such severe force that it cut through bone in his upper chest and penetrated his aorta. A jury at St Albans crown court found Zulu, of no fixed address, guilty of murdering the former chef at around ten past one in the morning on January 8 this year. Zulu was also convicted of conspiracy to supply class A Drugs. He was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years. Nicholas Grant, of Sunnyhill Road, Hemel was cleared of murder, but convicted of manslaughter. Grant admitted the charge of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and was sentenced to a total of 11 years. On Wednesday Judge Andrew Bright QC jailed the men saying: “Adam Watt’s life was cruelly ended by a fatal stab wound to the chest.” He said the jury concluded Zulu inflicted the stab wound and Grant had encouraged him to cause Adam Watt harm, which fell short of causing serious harm. The judge went on: “Adam Watt was a customer of yours. The motive was to punish him for running off. You could not be seen to allow a customer to run off with drugs without paying for them.” Zulu, who was born in Zimbabwe to a father from Lebanon and mother from the Congo, may now be deported. He came to the UK when he was aged 11.