THE Brit kneecapped and given a Chelsea smile in a sickening attack in Marbella is an ex-con who was jailed over a jewellery heist that left an innocent mum dead.
Local police and the Foreign Office have confirmed Craig Moran was stabbed, shot and tortured before being dumped in a ditch at the Costa del Sol roadside.
It has been revealed he was released from jail around one year ago after serving 12 years in connection to the the armed raid in Nottingham.
A family member has confirmed the injured Brit is the same Moran sentenced in connection to the crime that saw Marian Bates, 64, shot dead in 2003, as she shielded her daughter from armed raiders in her Arnold shop.
Police are understood to be hunting a gang of three to four other Brits who are believed responsible for torturing Moran, which included cutting the tendons in his right hand, slashing him from ear to ear, and shooting him in both legs.
The horror attack is believed to be linked to a drug deal.
Moran reportedly has links to notorious crime lord Colin Gunn, and sources say last Saturday's brutal hit was carried out by a rival Manchester gang in a row over a missing batch of cocaine and the glassing of a gangster's daughter.
Gunn, 51, is serving life for ordering the murder of a rival's parents and is linked to dozens of non-fatal shootings.
He is said to have continued running his multi-million pound drugs and extortion empire from behind bars.
A source told The Sun: "Moran came out of prison about a year ago and has been living in Gunn's house with his girlfriend.
"He fled from Nottingham because of all this trouble with a gang from Manchester but they caught up with him in Spain.
"One of their daughter's got glassed in Nottingham and there's about 6kg of cocaine gone missing."
The Marian Bates murder
Marian Bates was shot dead on September 30, 2003, when two gunmen robbed the Time Centre shop in Arnold.
In 2005, Peter Williams, 19, was jailed for the murder.
Another suspect, James Brodie, 20, has never been caught, and has not made any contact with friends or family since.
Bates was shot after the intruders aimed a pistol at her daughter, Xanthe.
In 2013 police searched a farm in East Heckington, Lincolnshire, in connection to Brodie's disappearance.
Bates said he was told by police a fortnight after the murder they suspected Brod, who is suspected of pulling the trigger, was dead.
Craig Moran, of Bestwood, Nottingham, was convicted in connection to the crime in 2005.
He was accused of keeping watch on the shop 24 hours before the murder and was found in the getaway car used.
A fourth man, Dean Betton, was also sentenced in connection to the crime.
A Foreign Office spokesperson confirmed the name of the victim, but were not able to confirm he was the same man convinced for the heist.
They said: “Our staff provided advice and support to the family of a British man following his hospitalisation in Spain, and are in contact with the Spanish authorities."
The kidnappers reportedly dumped Moran in a Costa del Sol roadside ditch, it emerged today, where he was found on Saturday night by passing motorists.
He was also beaten repeatedly around the head before being dumped at an undisclosed destination near Marbella.
Spanish media reports suggest Moran may have been discharged from hospital already.
He had only been in the resort for two hours before being tricked into meeting his attackers.
He reached the area by train and taxi.
No arrests have yet been made.
The Unit against Drugs and Organised Crime (Udyco) has taken over the case, given it has every appearance of being a settling of accounts.
Investigators are working on the theory he was tortured as part of a warning by members of a crime gang.
Moran, who was rushed to the Costa del Sol Hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning for an emergency operation, has reportedly offered investigators few clues about the men responsible.
MOST READ IN NEWS
On Monday convicted armed robber Sean Hercules, 39, from Leeds, was shot dead by police at an apart-hotel near the Costa del Sol resort of Estepona.
Officers said they reacted after he opened fire on them when they went to arrest him for fleeing a car accident with a gun in his hand.
The torture probe and Hercules’ death are not being linked.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKynZpOke7a3jqecsKtfbH92gZVqb2ilkaevprjLmmSpp5yesKZ5x66lrWWXlruov9Oeqaxlo528tXnMmqVmm5iaubSxwGaqpqGcmnqlvtSgqmaclZa5cA%3D%3D