GAVIN Grant went on trial accused of a second murder, the Bucks Free Press can reveal.

The former Wycombe Wanderers player was charged jointly with other defendants with killing Jahmall Moore in January 2005 – seven months after Grant gunned down Leon Labastide outside his London home.

Grant, 26, was acquitted of that charge and signed for the Blues some months later.

But following that trial new evidence came to light which led to the striker, who was signed from Stevenage Borough, being charged with the murder of Mr Labastide in 2004.

He was arrested and remanded into custody while still a Wanderers player. At the time of his arrest the club issued a statement saying Grant was not being considered for first-team selection for “personal reasons”.

Police re-investigating Mr Labastide's murder in 2008 contacted a 16-year-old girl “out of the blue” - and she agreed to give evidence in court.

Stephen Batten QC, who led the prosecution case at the Old Bailey, told jurors the Stonebridge Estate – where Grant and his co-defendants lived alongside Mr Labastide – was “one of those areas in London where there's more than the average number of shootings. There is no tradition at all of assisting the police.”

The-then 16-year-old girl, who gave evidence under the assumed name Susan Norwich, had been present when a friend's flat was raided and when the plot to kill Mr Labastide was hatched.

The case originally came to trial last year, but jurors were unable to agree verdicts against Grant and his co-accused, 26-year-old Gareth Downie and 33-year-old Damian Williams.

They were all given bail in the lead-up to this month's re-trial, with Grant joining League Two side Bradford City on a short-term deal after being signed by Peter Taylor – the man who first brought him to Adams Park.

During his first trial, Grant said he had “no idea” who had killed Mr Labastide.

This led to him being charged with two counts of perjury. One of those was subsequently dropped, with Mr Batten announcing today the second charge was not being proceeded with.

The previous court hearings could not be reported until now due to a court order banning their publication.