DETECTIVES are still hunting the killer of Bolton criminal Billy Webb two weeks after he was shot in a suspected gangland execution.

Webb, aged 42, described in the Dillon Hull murder trial as a "well known local criminal" was shot twice as he was sleeping in bed in the early hours of May 25.

His violent death at 3.10am came just months before he was due to appear at Liverpool Crown Court to face a charge of conspiring to supply drugs.

He had recently been released on bail, having been remanded in prison since his arrest in Scotland in 1999.

Webb, also known as William Craig, was Bolton born and bred. He was shot to death at his bail address, a first floor flat in Whiteledge Road, Bryn, Wigan.

Det Supt Peter Ellis, head of Wigan CID, told the BEN: "Whoever did this is a cold blooded killer. There are people out there in Bolton who know who did this."

A woman, confirmed by police chiefs as Webb's girlfriend, fled the scene dressed only in a G-string and with a gunshot injury to an arm. She later underwent surgery in hospital.

Police have confirmed that Webb was shot several times as he lay slumbering, after a night out at a Chinese restaurant.

At the 1998 trial in to the murder of five-year-old Dillon Hull -- the innocent victim of a Bolton drugs war -- the jury was told that Webb had met with the child's stepfather John Bates to talk about drug dealing.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the murder incident room at Wigan police station on 0161 856 7019 or contact the Crimestoppers hotline on 0800 555111.