A man has been jailed 16 years after Gravesend man Leonard Naylor was fatally shot four times by a masked gunman in his driveway.

Mr Naylor was 46 when he died from gun shot wounds on the driveway of his home in Bracondale Avenue,in the village of Istead Rise, near Gravesend in April 2001.

Cold case investigators reopened the case earlier this year and presented evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service against four men.

Terence Barry, 44, of no fixed address, who fled to Spain following the shooting, has been jailed for 18 years for conspiracy to commit murder following a trial at Blackfriars Crown Court which ended yesterday, October 25.

He was sentenced on October 26. 

Police believe Barry was recruited to help carry out the murder. They say two vehicles bought at the time under false names were driven into Kent in the five days leading up to the murder, which were believed to be dry runs or missed opportunities.

On April 18, a masked man approached Mr Naylor in his driveway from a small van. Mr Naylor was shot four times at close range.

The killer abandoned the van which was driven away by an accomplice and found burnt-out nearby.

Barry, who was known as Terrence Richardson at the time, fled to Spain after the killing before returning in 2013. He was arrested with the other suspects on March 7, 2017.

Robert Blackwell, 52, from Plaistow, London, and David Carvell, 52, from Colchester in Essex, were both found not guilty by the jury while the case against a fourth suspect was dismissed at an earlier hearing.

Senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Ivan Beasley said: "This has been a very difficult and complex investigation and I am pleased that the long hours and hard work put in by the cold case team has paid off with the conviction of Terence Barry.

"I am pleased for the family of Mr Naylor that Barry will now spend a considerable length of time in prison, having spent the last 16 years not knowing if anyone would ever be held responsible.

"I hope this conviction sends a strong message that no case is ever truly closed and that there is ultimately no hiding place from the law. Kent Police does not tolerate people who come into the county to commit crime of any type, let alone an offence as serious as this."

Barry’s sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Holding back tears whilst speaking to News Shopper in 2002, Mr Taylor's wife Eileen, then 44, said: "I hope one day the police will knock on my door and say they have found the hitman. It will not bring Lenny back but it will make us all feel so much better. I still miss him every single day and I will never get over this."

Describing the moments her husband was murdered, she said: "I ran out of the door and heard a screech. I didn't even see Lenny until the lady opposite shouted your husband' and then I saw him on the ground. I will never get over what happened."