A neighbour and friend of murdered BREAKING: Trainspotting 2 star DEAD after Edinburgh shooting attack has claimed he saw a man who fits the killer’s description in the Trainspotting 2 star’s street less than three weeks ago.
Former football casual turned actor and charity worker Welsh was gunned down outside his £500,000 basement flat home in Chester Street in Edinburgh’s New Town at 8pm on Wednesday.
The neighbour, who asked not to be named, believes a man he saw loitering in the street was similar to the police’s description of a suspect he saw between two and three weeks ago.
He said: “He was a young man standing there on his own looking up and down the street very intently as if he was checking something out.
“When he saw me looking at him, he just walked off. I did not think anything of it at the time but I wonder now if he was casing Bradley’s house, watching people arriving and leaving.
“I did not see him again. He was a young man in his 20s.
“It is incredibly sad. Bradley was a tremendous character.”
Police said the suspect is age 20 to 30, 5ft 10in to 6ft tall, slim and with a tanned complexion.
Bradley Welsh's heartbroken nephew pays emotional tribute to murdered Trainspotting star
The neighbour said he arrived home around 7.45pm on Friday and heard the sound of a gunshot 15 minutes later.
He added: “I waited to hear a second shot but it did not come.
“About 30 minutes later, I was inundated with texts from friends who asked if they knew there had been a shooting in the street.
“Then I learned that Bradley was the victim. It came as a tremendous shock.”
Welsh, who ran a boxing gym in the city, played the part of a sleazy sauna owner called Doyle alongside Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle in Trainspotting 2 in 2017.
He admitted in an interview that his criminal past was always with him.
In the 80s, he was involved in the Hibs football hooligan gang Capital Service Crew.
He was jailed in 1990 for menacing an estate agent but turned to boxing after his release and in 1993 was crowned British ABA lightweight boxing champ.
His neighbour said he first got to know Welsh 11 years ago when he was asked to take part in a work related charity boxing match in London.
He added: “I trained for 15 weeks and Bradley taught me how to box. He even came down to London with his partner Emma at his own expense to be in my corner during the fight.
“After that, we always chatted in the street when we saw each other and enjoyed a bit of football banter as I support Hearts and he supports Hibs.”
BREAKING: Trainspotting 2 star DEAD after Edinburgh shooting attack
Another resident of Chester Street also paid tribute to Welsh.
Restaurant owner Franco Martone, 59, who lives above the dead man’s home, said: “Though we didn’t see much of each other he was always very pleasant and spoke when we passed each other in the street.”
Police have said that the murder of Welsh was targeted and did not rule out the possibility it may be linked to organised crime.
One theory is that Welsh was shot because of his links to Edinburgh cocaine dealer Mark Richardson and his father, Mark senior.
There are also fears that a crack cocaine gang with links to Somalia may have been involved in the shooting as part of a battle for control of Edinburgh’s drugs market.
Hibs fans are expected to pay tribute to 48-year-old Welsh with a minute’s applause in the 48th minute of their team’s game at Easter Road against Celtic this afternoon.
