A former IRA killer is believed to have pulled the trigger on his one time boss Gerard 'Jock' Davison, shot dead in the Markets area of Belfast earlier this month.
Once a high ranking republican, he was jailed for the attempted murder of a soldier during the Troubles.
Aged in his early 50s, he was kneecapped by the Provisionals more than a decade ago, and is thought to have agreed to shoot Davison on behalf of criminals.
The gunman fell from favour after an incident in the Short Strand area of Belfast in the early 2000s. He had an altercation with Davison and was shot in both legs in a paramilitary style attack and expelled from the IRA.
Since then he would have close association with a number of criminal families from south and east Belfast.
The fact that Davison was shot a number of times in the face while on the ground by a killer who then walked calmly away from the scene has led to the belief that the man had killed before.
The gunman had local knowledge of the area and escaped into an entry before disappearing .. There was no getaway car and no sightings of the killer leaving the Markets despite a team of 50 officers scouring CCTV from the surrounding city centre area.
The nearby primary school was closed for a teacher training day at the time of the shooting, meaning the usually busy Welsh Street where the killing took place was all but deserted, again indicating local knowledge.
It is believed the gunman, assisted by a well known criminal, entered a nearby house after the shooting to dispose of the murder weapon and change his clothes.
A criminal who provided the gun has links to the drugs trade and is the close relative of a man shot dead by the IRA in the early 1990s, he has since fled Belfast.
Detectives investigating the murder have arrested three people all of who were later released without charge. The murder weapon has not been recovered and there is little in the way of forensic evidence.
Last week the Irish News revealed that in the wake of the killing senior republicans including Eddie Copeland and Shankill bomber Sean Kelly had received death threats from 'criminal elements'. The 12-year-old son of a republican from north Belfast was also warned he was under threat.
