A drug dealer has been jailed for life for shooting dead his lover while her children slept upstairs after she attempted to end the relationship.

Jarvis Mayfield Johnson, (32), of Bilston, Wolverhampton, was ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years by a judge sitting at the city's Crown Court after his defence lawyer offered no mitigation.

The body of Hayley Davenport, aged 23, was found by her daughters - aged just two and three - on the morning after her death. She had been blasted once in the head from a range of about six feet at her home in Tansley View, All Saints, Wolverhampton, on May 19 last year.

Judge Michael Mott said Johnson, who denied murdering the young mother, had kept a gun at her house to sustain him in his role as a cocaine dealer in the city.

"In doing that, you used her for your convenience," he said.

"She clearly felt unhappy about it and when things turned sour between you and her, you killed her.

"We'll never know exactly what precipitated this but there's no doubt you went back uninvited and unwanted because you thought you had the right to do as you pleased."

Judge Mott said it would never be known whether Ms Davenport had threatened to reveal aspects of Johnson's life to the authorities.

He concluded: "There was something particularly brutal and callous about shooting this woman in her own home with her two children asleep upstairs.

"It's another reckless use of a gun by a criminal."

Ms Davenport worked as a prostitute and her husband was in Jamaica at the time of her death.

Her daughters were spotted standing on the doorstep of their home by neighbours the morning after her death.

It was only after one of them forced open the front door that her body was discovered in the hallway, lying face down in a pool of blood.

Her mobile phone was on the back of her legs and prosecution lawyers speculated it was left there by one of the girls as they walked past.

There was an explosion of emotion from the victim's family as the jury returned a ten-two majority verdict after less than three-and-a-half hours deliberation.

In a statement released after the hearing, Ms Davenport's family said they were pleased with the sentence.

It read: "Hayley was a loving mother who was trying to do her best for her two beautiful daughters.

"We all miss her terribly. At least now we can all take some small comfort in knowing that the jury saw straight through the lies of the drug dealing monster who murdered her. Hayley will be with us as we work to build a future for her daughters."