A convicted gangland gunman walked free from court over a double murder bid which saw him accused of trying to ram a car off the road.
Marc Webley was cleared of two attempted murders after prosecutors withdrew the charges against him during his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday.
Webley, 36, denied repeatedly slamming his car into another vehicle carrying driver Richard Hughes and passenger Lyndsay McLaughlin while travelling at speeds of up to 65mph.
Lyndsay gave evidence at Webley’s trial but said she was unable to identify their attacker.
Afterwards advocate depute Mark Mohammed said the Crown was no longer proceeding with the six charges in light of her testimony.
Judge Lord Fairley told Webley “I accordingly acquit you”, adding: “You are free to leave the dock.”
Webley had been held on remand at the capital’s Saughton Prison ahead of the trial.
In 2006 he was convicted of being the gunman in a gangland-style ambush on a Kawasaki motorbike and jailed for eleven years.
Webley, then 19, along with co-accused James Tant, then 21, were sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow after pleading guilty to attempted murder.
Their victim, Peter Simpson, was shot in the back in the Granton area of Edinburgh in January the previous year near his home.
Simpson was sprayed with five bullets from a handgun by Webley, who was wearing a balaclava, but only one round hit him.
Tant threatened Simpson with a sawn-off shotgun but the weapon was never fired.
The pair sped off on the motorbike and bleeding Simpson was able to make his way to hospital.
Doctors found that if the .25 slug had gone an inch further it would’ve hit Simpson’s aorta and likely killed him.
At the time, police told how teenage Webley had been involved in organised crime feuds and wanted to exert his control over the local area.
Earlier violence linked by cops to the shooting included petrol bombs being hurled at Simpson’s flat and the shooting of one of his associates, gangland hitman Frank Doris.
On Tuesday the jury at Webley’s trial began to hear evidence over the alleged attempted murders on Edinburgh’s Telford Road and Ferry Road on March 30 last year.
Webley was accused of repeatedly ramming his car into a vehicle driven by Hughes at high speed, causing the other driver to go onto the opposing carriageway into oncoming traffic in an effort to escape.
Prosecutors alleged he deliberately collided with Hughes’ vehicle in an attempt to cause him to crash and attempted to murder him and his passenger.
Webley was charged with removing the registration plates from the car in the city’s Granton some time between March 30 and April 12 last year in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.
Webley was further accused of twice assaulting Shafqat Syed at a garage in the city’s Leith area on April 12 and 14 last year by punching him on the head.
On both occasions, Webley was accused of threatening or abusive behaviour by making threats against the victim.
