blooded murder of a Bermudian woman's daughter.

Tombs was found guilty of the first degree murder of her babysitter Latanya Lavallais who she shot six times in the head.

As soon as the jury returned its verdict the Denver District Court judge immediately sentenced the 16-year-old killer to life in prison.

Ms Lavallais' family stood, cheered and clapped as Tombs was led away in tears by Police and the victim's sister Noreen Wilson shouted "All right!''.

Last night Ms Lavallais' Bermuda grandfather Maurice Williams, of North Shore Road, said there was a sense of relief now the trial was over.

But he said: "I have been quite angry with myself because I felt my granddaughter should not have been chaperoning that girl.'' He added: "There is a sense of relief to some degree because we have been living in horrible suspense for a long time.

"There were times when the family hoped this girl would get her just desserts, but it is difficult to understand how these things can happen.'' He said his 23-year-old granddaughter was murdered just a few weeks before she planned to come to Bermuda to live.

"I last saw her about nine months ago and she was expecting to come back to live. I just cannot understand how these things come about,'' said Mr.

Williams.

Yesterday Judge Warren Martin immediately imposed a mandatory life sentence on Tombs after the jury returned its guilty verdict after almost a day of deliberations.

At first Tombs showed no reaction to the verdict, but then burst into tears as the verdict was read a second time.

Members of both families packed the courtroom throughout the week-long trial and for yesterday's verdict.

In reports filed for The Royal Gazette the Rocky Mountain News said the mothers of both victim and defendant left the court without comment.

But Tombs' grandmother Marie Tombs, who helped raise both girls, said: "It's heart-breaking. I'm here to support both families.'' Noreen Wilson added: "We didn't win. Two lives were lost for nothing.

`Two lives lost for nothing' "I hope Tombs gets the help she needs so no other woman will have to cry the way my mother has cried.'' Tombs' mother and Ms Lavallais's step-father were both pastors at the First Christian Assembly Church in Montbello, Denver, at the time of the killing.

Rev. Madlyn Tombs arranged for Ms Lavallais, who Tombs regarded as a cousin, to watch her daughter for the weekend in September last year while she attended a church retreat.

Tombs was on an electronic monitor for violating probation on juvenile charges of aggravated car theft when Lavallais was slain.

Prosecutors said Tombs shot her babysitter six times in the head because she refused to let her go out.

Tombs said that an unknown intruder killed Lavallais and she discovered the body in the morning when she got up to eat her breakfast.

However Tombs' ex-boyfriend, Joaquin Johnson, testified that he gave Tombs the gun used to kill Lavallais and said Tombs told him during a 4 a.m. telephone call that she had killed a woman who burst into her home.

In a videotaped statement to Police, Tombs admitted getting rid of the murder weapon and picking up shell casings.

After the case Deputy District Attorney Henry Cooper said: "It was the most cold blooded murder I've ever heard of in ten years as a prosecutor.

"She shoots her cousin six times in the head and then eats pizza with her friends.

"The Lavallais family is relieved more than anything to have this over and have some closure, knowing that the person responsible is going to pay the consequences.'' LATANYA LAVALLAIS -- Daughter of Bermudian woman shot six times in the head.