Paid assassin to be sentenced for Hogmanay murder of suspected gangster

A paid assassin who admitted murdering a man outside a pub on Hogmanay in a gangland shooting is due to be sentenced.

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

Grant Hunter pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Webley and the attempted murder of another man when the case called at the High Court in Edinburgh last month.

The court heard Mr Webley, who was suspected by police to be involved in organised crime, had been warned his life was in danger and he was wearing a stab vest when he was shot.

Floral tributes left close to the scene near the Anchor Inn in Granton, Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA) PA Media

Hunter is due to be sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday along with two co-accused who admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.

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.

Lord Mulholland 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.”