Mystery of shot producer

This is 21-year-old music producer Leon Forbes. And when the picture was taken he had much to smile about. He was the proud father of a beautiful daughter and was looking forward to the birth of his second child.

His career was going from strength to strength after his band reached the finals of the prestigious Mobo Unsung awards.

But it seems that Mr Forbes' success earned him dangerous enemies. He was gunned down on the steps of his family home in Clapham, and his mother believes he was killed by local youths jealous of his achievements.

Michelle Forbes, 46, a probation officer, today described how she tried to revive her son after he was shot in the back of the head. Speaking for the first time about the killing she said: "I had never heard gun shots before that night. And until the day I die I will never forget his friend running into the house shouting: 'Michelle, Leon's been shot'.

"It was so surreal. Having to resuscitate my own son, and then to sit with him for nine-and-a-half hours holding his hand in hospital before his heartbeat stopped - I wouldn't wish that on any parent. The people who did this ... why couldn't they have just beaten him up and left him for me to put back together. Why did they have to kill him?"

Mr Forbes died in December, but his murderer has not been caught. "I don't understand the depth of hatred or indifference of his killers," said Mrs Forbes. "And I can't understand the wall of silence preventing them from being caught. Someone knows something about this. They are local people, I'm sure. It had to be someone who knew Leon. As a family we feel it's connected to the music. It was a callous crime committed by cowardly, evil people.

"It could have been someone he knew years back, who has been to my home and who knows me. My focus at the moment is to grieve for my son but also to ensure that I and the rest of the family do what we can to get his killer or killers jailed."

Mr Forbes leaves two daughters - Zahara, aged three and Kymarah, three months. Kymarah was born after her father's death. "Leon has been denied a relationship with his children," said Mrs Forbes. "I have been denied the experience of growing older with him and the music industry has been denied a very talented young man." Since Mr Forbes's band Ghostt reached the finals of last year's Mobo Unsung awards, which celebrates talented, unsigned black artists, he had formed his own record label. Mrs Forbes added: "Prior to his death, Leon said people were jealous of him - 'player-haters' who couldn't bear to see people making a success of their lives. I told him not to be silly, but he said 'Trust me'.

"Maybe they thought my son was too full of himself. He was a very confident young man.

"He said he was going to make it by the time he was 30. He spent every waking moment trying to achieve it."

From an early age Mr Forbes had a deep love of music, creating a makeshift studio in his bedroom where he would spend hours workingon tracks and plotting his rise to the top. His mother added: "Leon was a passionate man who cared about his family, his music and his daughter. He wanted to do something with his life. He would always say, 'You'll see, Mum'.

"He said he was going to buy me a house in Barbados. I was so proud of him. I don't want vengeance. I want justice."

Operation Trident, which investigates black-on-black gun crime, is leading the hunt for the killer. Detective Chief Inspector Peter Valentine said: "This shooting seems without motive - Leon was a talented man with a bright future ahead of him."