Cops are hunting a hitman feared to be behind 38 murders.
He is nicknamed Bits and Pieces because of the way he is said to slaughter victims.
The killer is said to inject them first with a blood-thickening chemical so they don’t bleed to death – to prolong the agony.
The man, who we are not identifying, is being sought by the National Crime Agency, Interpol and America’s Drug Enforcement Agency.
He is said to be a “go-to” contract killer in Spain, Holland and Dubai with links to UK armed forces and Irish terrorists.
Insiders believe he has escaped being collared as he may also be a high-ranking security services informant.
A source said: “He’s a key member of a crime syndicate and his name has been mentioned in connection with 38 murders both in the UK and abroad.
“He managed to evade justice. Either he must be providing knockout information on top-level targets or he’s a lucky man. I suspect the former.”
We can reveal the hitman was the prime suspect in a cold-case killing in 1988. Mechanic Laurence Winstanley’s mutilated and burned body was found wrapped in a curtain and weighed down with a pickaxe in Baitings Reservoir, near Ripponden, West Yorks. The 23-year-old had been shot in the head.
The killer is also linked to the murder of Bolton bouncer Graeme Boardman, 35, in Spain in the 1990s.
And the hitman did business with jailed Salford gangster Paul Doyle, 64, who said: “He was well-built, wearing an expensive lightweight suit. He exuded confidence, was friendly and witty.”
Doyle, who has written a memoir, claims the man uses maiming techniques perfected by Eastern European mafioso and sends grisly phone footage to rivals.
The National Crime Agency said: “The agency does not routinely confirm or deny the identities of subjects of interest.”
