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.

"His senseless killing by so-called friends who grew up with him has left it hard for me to understand the futility of snatching Leon's future whilst, in the same breath, destroying their own."

Grant, whose other clubs include Gillingham, Millwall and Wycombe Wanderers, was found guilty by jury on Friday.

"Gavin Grant thought he had got away with murder," detective inspector Steve Horsley said.

"He carried on his footballing career while, all along, he had blood on his hands."

Grant signed for Bradford in February on a non-contract basis, meaning he did not get paid for his time with the Bantams having been out of the game since leaving Wycombe in March 2009.

Eurosport