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Life jail for footballer
Written by Duncan Tuesday, 27 July 2010
ShareFormer Gillingham, Millwall, Wycombe and Bradford
striker Gavin Grant has been jailed for life for murdering a man on a
London estate.
The 26-year-old was told after being sentenced at the Old Bailey he would have to serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars.
Grant thought he had got away with the murder of Leon Labastide in Harlesden in 2004.
He
had been cleared in August 2007 of shooting and killing Jahmall Moore
two years earlier. But when new witnesses came forward in the Labastide
case, he was charged with that murder.
Gareth Downie, 25,
and Damian Williams, 32, were also handed life sentences with a minimum
of 25 years - Downie for murdering Mr Labastide and Williams for
conspiracy to murder.
As Grant was sentenced uproar broke out in the gallery, with a woman shouting: ”It‘s all fixed” and ”You are coming out”.
The
Recorder of London, Judge Peter Beaumont, said Mr Labastide‘s murder
had been in revenge for a series of ”tit-for-tat” shootings. He said,
”He was executed by shooting.”
Mr Labastide‘s mother,
Diane Havill, said in a statement, ”Leon was a keen footballer who
shared his passion for the game with all who knew him. He loved life.”
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