Gangland assassin who shot man outside pub on Hogmanay jailed for 26 years

A gun for hire who admitted murdering a man in a gangland shooting outside a pub on Hogmanay has been jailed for 26 years.

Marc Webley, 38, was killed outside the Anchor Inn in Granton, Edinburgh, just after 11.30pm on December 31, 2023.

The father-of-two, who was suspected by police to be involved in organized crime, had been warned his life was in danger and was wearing a stab vest.

Grant Hunter, 34, pulled up outside the busy pub in a stolen Hyundai SUV and wearing a balaclava, when he was approached by Webley and his friend Stewart Pearson, the court heard.

CCTV footage, which was shown in court, captured Webley showing his mobile phone to Hunter, who then removed his mask and opened fire, hitting Mr Pearson, who was injured.

Webley, who could be seen on CCTV holding a knife, ran for his life but was shot in the back.

Despite attempts by pub staff and customers to give him CPR, he was pronounced dead in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in the early hours of January 1, 2024.

Hunter previously pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder and was jailed today for 26 years.

Sentencing Hunter at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday, judge Lord Mulholland told him he had committed the murder for financial gain and for the ‘furtherance of serious organized crime’.

He added: ‘Your cowardly actions will haunt you for the rest of your life.’

Hunter’s girlfriend Emma McVie admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice by cleaning the inside of the stolen Hyundai after the shooting and cleaning their clothes.

Co-accused Gary Robertson also admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice, for paying Hunter on behalf of ‘others unknown’.

Prosecutor Graeme Jessop KC said that hours after the murder, on January 1, Hunter ‘expressed frustration at having to wait to be paid’.

He ‘suggested he expected to be paid a substantial amount of money for the shooting’, as well as making jokes about Mr Webley’s death.

At the hearing in November, Judge Frank Mulholland said ‘the streets of Edinburgh and Scotland are not war zones, this is not Chicago in 1930s’.

He branded the killer ‘callous and arrogant’ and said the ‘paid assassin’ may never be released.

Lord Mulholland previously told him: ‘Grant Hunter, you pleaded guilty to a crime of the utmost gravity. You were a paid assassin.

‘You assassinated a man in a public street in Edinburgh and were paid a substantial amount.

‘Your callousness and arrogance was breath-taking, removing your mask so the victim would see who was taking his life, discharging four shots, and wounding another man who would have come to aid of the victim.’

The court heard the gun is still on the streets, and a post-mortem examination showed the bullet bounced off Webley’s stab vest and re-entered.

Detective Superintendent Graham Grant said: ‘The violence involved, which resulted in the death of a young man, is absolutely senseless.

‘Our thoughts are with the family of Marc Webley. Although this was a targeted attack, there was absolutely no regard for the safety of the community by discharging a firearm outside a busy pub on New Year’s Eve.

‘One man lost his life and another was seriously injured, but this incident could also have left other people seriously injured – or worse.’

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