THE mother of the man murdered by former Wycombe Wanderers footballer Gavin Grant said his “so-called friends” had deprived her of “seeing my son grow into a man”.

Leon Labastide's mother Diane Havill said she had had to move after he was gunned down on her doorstep by Grant and Gareth Downie.

Both men were today jailed for life and must serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars.

Ms Havill said she liked living on the Stonebridge Estate in north-west London, were Mr Labastide was shot dead, but the house where she lived was “filled with memories of that evening”.

In a statement read to the Old Bailey as 26-year-old Grant and Downie were jailed alongside accomplice Damian Williams, 33, Ms Havill said: “As a family, all of Leon's relatives feel an amazing sense of loss. The impact of his death has left me feeling part of me is missing.

“Every day when I wake up, I am forced to return to the reality of the night when Leon was taken from us.

“He loved life and had ambitions, and the senseless killing by so-called friends has left it hard for me to understand snatching Leon's future while in the same breath destroying their own.”

She said the killers had “deprived me of seeing my son grow into a man” and had “robbed” his siblings of a brother.

Ms Havill said she made “no claims he was an angel and never did any wrong”.

But she said: “I have sat through almost every day of this trial and heard the stories the defendants told and the accusations they made against my son. He is no longer here to defend himself, yet they feel free to tarnish his character.”

She said the thought of having to bury her son “never goes away”. His shooting “left the family in turmoil” as they “relive the smile and laughter Leon brought into our lives”.

The conviction came after new evidence came to light in 2007, after Mr Labastide's murder in May 2004.

The shooting was investigated by officers from the Metropolitan Police's Operation Trident squad, which looks into black-on-black crimes.

Detective Inspector Steve Horsley of Trident said: “The murder was the result of a feud between people who were once close friends. The family of Leon have been left devastated by their loss.

“This conviction is the result of six years of hard work and determination by Trident officers to get justice for his family, and to make it clear to the community that, by working together, we can put a stop to this unacceptable violence.”