A man has been jailed for life for murdering a businessman in a contract killing.

Colin Meek, 35, was accused of carrying out the cold-blooded murder with 37-year-old Jason Bradley.

But while Meek was convicted by a jury at Lewes Crown Court yesterday, Bradley walked free after being acquitted.

The two men were accused of killing Ken Harvey, 44, who was gunned down at point-blank range as he sat at the wheel of his Mercedes at a crossroads in the hamlet of Cripps Corner, near Battle.

The father-of-four, who lived in a £300,000 home in Broad Oak, near Hastings, was on his way to work on the morning of August 18, 2003, when he was confronted by his killers on a motorbike with the false number plate VILON.

Mr Harvey, who ran a courier firm in Wadhurst, was shot five times through the car window and died two days later at the Conquest Hospital in Hastings.

The court heard the motive for the shooting was a drugs deal involving cocaine worth £500,000.

Mr Harvey was on bail at the time of his death accused of importing 20kg of the drug into the UK and had £36,000 in cash in the boot of his car.

At the time his business, TK Couriers, was based at a depot in Kent run by George Taylor, who was charged with Mr Harvey with importing the cocaine.

The pair blamed each other for the drugs. Detectives believe the consequence of Mr Harvey's murder was to give Taylor the opportunity to say the dead man was responsible.

Taylor, who has a previous conviction for drug offences, was last year sentenced to 20 years behind bars.

The court heard after the drugs were discovered, Mr Harvey, who was released on bail, quickly tried to distance himself from Taylor and moved his business from Kent to Wadhurst.

Mr Harvey, who had no previous convictions, was revealed in court as a man with a flawed character.

He was described as unpopular, arrogant and abrasive.

His widow told the court her husband could be described as rough and ready and overbearing. She told how he kept a cosh in his office and had once locked his ex-wife's boyfriend in the boot of his car as a warning.

Mr Harvey had told his wife he had been receiving death threats and feared he was being followed.

After the shooting, Sussex Police offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to arrest and conviction.

The inquiry stretched from Sussex to Kent and London before the police felt they had gathered enough circumstantial evidence to charge Meek and Bradley 18 months after Mr Harvey died.

Meek, from Leyton, east London, and Bradley, from Croydon, denied murder. But after a four-week trial, the jury took less than a day to convict Meek of the brutal shooting and acquit Bradley.

Family and friends of the dead man reacted with relief. Mr Harvey's widow, Tania, 34, who sat through each day of the trial, wept silently.

Ms Harvey, who has been married to her husband for five years, earlier described how she saw him minutes before his death.

She said: "I pulled the blinds open and we were waving goodbye. It was just an ordinary day."

Bradley, a mechanic, showed no emotion as he was cleared but Meek shook his head when told the jury had unanimously found him guilty.

Judge Richard Brown told Meek, who has a previous conviction for armed robbery, he will serve 20 years before being considered for release.

The judge said: "This was a professional killing carried out by you purely for monetary gain and for such offences there is only one sentence - life imprisonment."