POLICE hunting for the killer of Billy Webb have combed a railway embankment in the search for clues.

Nearly a dozen officers painstakingly hacked away at long grass by the side of Bryn train station, just yards from where Billy Webb was gunned down.

The team was hunting for anything which could help them to pin down the gunman and were not ruling out the wasteland as a possible escape route.

Webb's first floor flat, on Whiteledge Road, in Wigan, was next to the railway embankment.

As exclusively reported in Friday's Bolton Evening News, Webb was shot in the head at point-blank range in a gangland execution.

The 42-year-old was due in court to face charges of conspiring to supply drugs in just five moths time along with nine other men at Liverpool Crown Court.

The death of Webb, whose real name was William Craig, is being treated as suspicious."

A woman was also shot in the arm in the incident at 3am yesterday.

She rushed to the home of her 79-year-old neighbour Anne Silman who telephoned police.

The flat in Wigan was sealed off as forensic experts searched the building and land outside.

Detectives are appealing for anyone with any information to contact a special police hot-line on 0161 856 7150. All calls will be treated in the strictest confidence.