A man has been jailed for life for murdering a soldier who was shot dead hours after arriving back in the UK to celebrate his 21st birthday.

Narel Sharpe, who had served in Kosovo and Iraq, was shot in a street in Smethwick after he fought back when Levi Walker tried to steal his gold chain in September 2004.

Walker (26), of Edgbaston, was ordered to serve a minimum of 30 years before being considered for parole.

Sentencing Walker, who had a record dating back to when he was just 14, Mr Justice Mackay said: "This was a callous murder for a cheap piece of jewellery. It is a crime that almost defies belief."

During the three-week trial, the jury heard Mr Sharpe was returning to his Smethwick home for a joint celebration of his 21st and his mother's 40th birthday.

He was driving back from his base in Germany, where he served with the Queen's Royal Hussars, when he stopped to use a phone box in Oldbury Road, Smethwick during the early hours of September 4, 2004.

Walker shot Mr Sharpe in the arm. The bullet also penetrated his body and he was pronounced dead at hospital.

After the verdict Gail S harpe, Mr Sharpe's mother, said the death of her son would forever haunt her.

"I will never forgive him (Walker) for what he has done but he is now off the streets of Birmingham.

"The last 15 months has been a nightmare for me.

"The fact that I will never get to see my son again will always hurt me," she said.

Major Will Strickland, from the Queen's Royal Hussars, paid tribute to Mr Sharpe, saying he had a promising career ahead of him.

"He was a committed and capable soldier, he would have done well.

"It is a tragedy that he had been in Kosovo and Iraq on dangerous opera-tions and been killed in his home town," he added.

He said his colleagues in his regiment would take comfort that justice had been done.

Det Sgt Stuart Kidd, from West Midlands Police Major Investigation Unit, said Mr Sharpe had a completely different life to Walker despite them growing up just a few miles apart.

"Narel worked hard at school and carried on working hard in the Army.

"He had a dream of becoming the first black colonel and was doing well in the Army.

"Levi Walker has been found guilty of a despicable crime. This sends out a clear message: people who carry guns will be sentenced to a long time in prison. It does not pay," he said.

Walker's two co-accused Chervaun Whitehouse (21), of Smethwick, and a 16-year-old who cannot be identified for legal reasons, were both convicted of perverting the course of justice.

The teenager was also convicted of possession of a firearm.

Sentencing of the two was adjourned to Birmingham Crown Court at the end of April.

They were all granted bail.