Marc Webley murder: Gunman jailed for 26 years for Hogmanay murder of suspected Edinburgh gangster
Grant Hunter fatally shot Marc Webley outside the Anchor Inn in Granton
A gunman who carried out a gangland hit on a man outside a pub on Hogmanay has been sentenced to 26 years in prison.
Grant Hunter, 34, fatally shot Marc Webley, 38, outside the Anchor Inn in Granton, Edinburgh, just after 11.30pm on December 31, 2023.
Mr Webley, who was suspected by police of being involved in organised crime, had been warned his life was in danger, and he was wearing a stab vest when he was shot.
Hunter pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Webley and the attempted murder of another man when the case was called at the High Court in Edinburgh last month.
At the hearing in November, the court was told Hunter, 34, pulled up outside the busy pub in a stolen Hyundai SUV and wearing a balaclava, and he was approached by Mr Webley and his friend Stewart Pearson.
CCTV footage, which was shown in court, captured Mr Webley showing his mobile phone to Hunter, who then removed his mask and opened fire, hitting Mr Pearson, who was injured.
Mr 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.
At the court in November, Hunter’s girlfriend Emma McVie, 27, 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, 22, also admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Hunter was arrested and remanded in custody on January 4, 2024 at a flat with McVie, after police identified him from CCTV the day after the murder, the court heard.
Prosecutor Graeme Jessop KC said that hours after the murder, on January 1, Hunter “expressed frustration at having to wait to be paid”, and “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.
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 organised crime”.
He added: “Your cowardly actions will haunt you for the rest of your life.”
More to follow.