Bermu­da-A 36-year-old man was jailed for life yes­ter­day for the "ex­e­cu­tion-style" 2007 mur­der of na­tion­al team foot­baller Sha­ki Crock­well. Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said Derek Spald­ing, con­vict­ed last month by a Supreme Court ju­ry, must serve a min­i­mum of 38 years be­fore he can be con­sid­ered for pa­role. Crock­well, 25, was gunned down on the old rail­way trail in De­von­shire. Spald­ing shot him once in the back of the head as the foot­baller, who was wear­ing a bul­let-proof vest, re­lieved him­self. The court heard Spald­ing lured Crock­well, a fa­ther of two, to the spot to pick up a drug pack­age.

The mur­der was a re­sult of an un­paid drug debt. Sen­tenc­ing Spald­ing, Greaves said: "This was a mur­der, a pre­med­i­tat­ed mur­der car­ried out by a very ma­nip­u­la­tive, cold and cal­cu­lat­ing as­sas­sin in ex­e­cu­tion style. "His record in­di­cates that the like­li­hood of his re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion is sub­stan­tial­ly re­moved." The Bar­ba­di­an judge called Spald­ing "a leop­ard whose spots shall not be changed".

Crock­well, a strik­er for the na­tion­al foot­ball team, al­so played for club side Boule­vard Blaz­ers and for­mer pro­fes­sion­al out­fit the Bermu­da Hogges. He left two young sons, who were aged just eight years old and six months old at the time of his death.

Spald­ing's con­vic­tion came thanks to fresh ev­i­dence from key wit­ness­es who stepped for­ward in 2010 and 2011. Spald­ing's fa­ther, who was not named, told the court his son con­fessed to the killing the day af­ter the mur­der in Au­gust 2007. (CMC)