The haunting images of two figures moving into Aldenham Country Park on the morning of February 24 will linger long in the mind of everyone who witnessed the murder trial of Julian Felisi.

It took just thirteen minutes and 30 seconds for the Watford bin man to inflict a series of brutal and lethal blows to the head of his colleague Gary Bennett.

CCTV cameras failed to capture the attack but a gap in the footage, before he is seen returning from the kiosk alone, leaves the horrifying details to the imagination.

The reason for the events that unfolded on that cold and wet Wednesday morning remain unclear – Felisi may never reveal why or how he lured Mr Bennett into the park.

But today a jury ruled it was the 38-year-old who inflicted at least 13 blows to Mr Bennett's head in a frenzied and sustained attack.

After the cold-blooded murder, Felisi sought to cover his involvement in the crime – calling his manager to say he would be late before calmly carrying out his day's work in front of colleagues oblivious to his activities that morning.

In a chilling twist of irony, Felisi borrowed a spare high-visibility jacket at work that morning, which, it later emerged, belonged to his victim – his own, the prosecution claimed, was covered in Gary Bennett's blood.

He continued to conceal his involvement in the murder from his girlfriend and the police in the following hours, days and weeks.

Felisi disposed of the boots and jacket he wore on the morning of the attack, concealed the weapon, which has never been recovered, and lied in two statements given to police.

After his arrest, on March 16, he gave no comment to investigating officers during hours of questioning, only providing his version of events after he saw the evidence against him.

He lied throughout the three-week trial, claiming it was two mystery Irishmen who killed Mr Bennett – two men whose threats left him “too scared” to tell police what happened.

Police never recovered Mr Bennett's phone, wallet or heavy gold chain that, forensic analysis concluded, was used as a ligature during the attack.

During the trial, friends and family described Mr Bennett as “a big loveable oaf”, “a gentle giant who wouldn't hurt a fly” and a man who was “everyone's friend”.

Colleagues described the 46-year-old as “a bit slow”, “shy” and “childish”, but someone who would always “have a laugh”.

Felisi himself claimed in his first statement he could “think of no reason why anyone would want to hurt Mr Bennett”.

However, as the trial went on, it became clear the father-of-three had few answers to questions posed by prosecution barrister Michael Speak who began scratching the surface of Felisi's story.

He could not explain how the victim's blood ended up on a ruck sack and plastic bag in his boot or why he couldn't hear anything said by the Irishmen he claimed he collected in his car.

Felisi appeared emotionless on the stand as he lied his way through questions and cross-examination by the prosecution counsel – the same lack of emotion shown as the jury gave their verdict this afternoon.

After exactly 14 hours of deliberation, they found him guilty of Mr Bennett's murder, leaving him facing 22 years behind bars.