Half-centuries from Brendan Nash and Denesh Ramdin only served to prolong the inevitable as England took a giant step towards retrieving the Wisden Trophy they surrendered in the Caribbean last month.
Resuming the day at 39 for two, West Indies were dismissed for 256, setting the hosts a target of 32 which they reached with ease late in the evening.
Nash and vice-captain Ramdin had given West Indies a faint glimmer of hope with a positive 143-run stand for the sixth wicket, which lifted the tourists from an unstable position of 80 for five at lunch.
According to West Indies captain Christopher Gayle, the pair spared the West Indies total humiliation.
disgrace
"They took the disgrace out of it," Gayle said. "We have to try and put it behind us and show the self-belief to get the job done in Durham (at the second Test)."
The left-handed Nash stroked an enterprising 81 while Ramdin hammered 61 in similar fashion, as they frustrated England's bowlers and erased the Windies deficit, ensuring the hosts would have to bat again after enforcing the follow-on. But when Ramdin fell to seamer Stuart Broad (3-64) minutes before tea with Windies on 222 for six, it sparked a terminal decline as the visitors lost their last five wickets for 34 runs to surrender meekly in North London.
West Indies desperately needed Nash and Ramdin after they lost three wickets for 10 runs in the space of 11 balls just before lunch, to hasten their stagger towards defeat.
Seamer Graham Onions (2-64) and off-spinner Graeme Swann (3-39) combined to rip out Lendl Simmons, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Devon Smith in the last 20 minutes before the break, after West Indies seemed poised to get through the first session unscathed.
Following an hour-long delay at the start because of rain, England were held up by Smith (41) and Simmons (21), who added 48 for the third wicket. The slide began when Simmons, who had struck four fours from 54 balls, glanced Onions to square leg where Alastair Cook held on to a smart catch.
England's captain Andrew Strauss, said: "It's just good to get over the finish line. We said beforehand that we wanted to hit the ground running and we did it pretty well today. You can't underestimate how important it is to win cricket matches. It lifts everyone's spirits, it makes everyone feel special and the more you do it, the more you feel you can win when the chips are down."
Commenting specifically on the man of the match, Strauss added: "Graeme Swann is obviously an excellent bowler, at left handers in particular. Because he had some time out of Test cricket, he had time to think of some variations for how to get people out and to out-think them."
West Indies will travel to Chester-le-Street for the second and final Test starting next Thursday.