BOLTON criminal Billy Webb was shot through the chest as he slept in his bed, the BEN reveals today (May 31).

Webb, aged 42, died of gunshot wounds in the first floor flat where he was living in Bryn, near Wigan, as he awaited trial on a charge of conspiring to supply drugs.

And today the police chief leading the hunt for Webb's killers confirmed he was shot by a cold-blooded killer as he was asleep in his bed after a night out with friends.

Det Supt Peter Ellis, Head of Wigan CID, said: "Whoever did this is a cold blooded killer."

A woman, confirmed today as Webb's girlfriend, who was also staying at the flat, ran screaming in terror to an elderly neighbour's house, with blood pouring from a gunshot wound to her arm. She is still being treated in hospital but is said to be in a comfortable condition.

Webb was shot twice but it was confirmed that the fatal shot had been one to his chest as he lay in bed last Friday morning. But Det Supt Ellis admitted that arguments between drug dealers could be one motive behind the killing.

He said: "One of the lines of inquiry being pursued is that it was a dispute over drugs."

He confirmed detectives would reinterview witnesses connected with the Dillon Hull murder trial.

Webb had been referred to in the 1998 murder trial as a "well-known criminal" who had had a meeting with the five-year-old boy's stepfather John Bates.

It is believed the dead man left an address in Hindley at 1am on Friday, driving his girlfriend back through Hindley along the A58 through Platt Bridge to Whiteledge Road, Bryn.

He and his 22-year-old girlfriend were in a dark blue P-registered Ford Mondeo.

Det Supt Ellis said: "There are people out there in Bolton who know who did this.

"They may be afraid to ring. If they know who's responsible for this, they can speak to me in the strictest confidence.

"There will have been a lot of comings and goings from that flat and Billy will have had a lot of visitors to the flat since May 18.

"We are anxious to speak to anyone who may have seen the car being driven back to the flat or any car that may have been following it."

The murder has been described as a "well planned" killing but detectives have refused to be drawn on the possibility it was a gangland execution.

Forensic scientists are still conducting a fingertip search of the first floor flat where Webb was killed and the scene remains sealed off.

It is believed an inquest could be opened in the next few weeks and a post mortem examination has established that Webb's cause of death was gunshot wounds.

Anyone with information can call the Murder Incident Room on 0161 856 7019 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.