Police hunting the attacker of a wealthy Russian banker gunned down in a suspected assassination attempt appealed today for a taxi driver to come forward.
The cabbie took German Gorbuntsov to his home shortly before he was shot and it is thought he may still have been in the area when the crime took place.
Gorbuntsov remains "critical but stable" under armed guard in hospital after he was shot several times as he entered his multimillion-pound executive apartment near Canary Wharf, east London.
Scotland Yard has said it is "too early to speculate" on Russian reports the attack could be a gangland hit linked to a murder attempt on another banker, Alexander Antonov, in Moscow.
The force's Trident command - which investigates gang shootings - is understood to have liaised with overseas counterparts in the hunt for the gunman behind the attack on Tuesday evening.
A Yard spokesman said today that detectives were seeking the driver of a taxi which took Mr Gorbuntsov to Byng Street shortly before the attack.
It is believed the taxi, a Hackney carriage, picked up the victim in the area of Bishopsgate, in the City of London, at around 7pm before dropping him off in Byng Street shortly before 7.30pm.
The spokesman added: "Officers are now keen to speak with the driver as they may have been in the area when the shooting took place. Police were called at approximately 7.30 to reports of the shooting."
Gorbuntsov was shot a number of times as he entered a block of flats by a suspect who is described as white, 6ft tall and of slim build.
He was wearing a dark hooded top and seen running from Byng Street away from Westferry Road, towards Marsh Wall.
Detectives, who are treating the shooting as attempted murder, are keen to speak to anyone who was in the area at the time or may have information about the incident.
The victim, in his 40s, previously owned banks in Russia and Moldova, according to Russian media.
Police would not confirm Russian reports that the attacker had used a sub-machine gun and officers would not say where Gorbuntsov is being treated.
Russia's Kommersant newspaper quoted Gorbuntsov's lawyer, Vadim Vedenin, who said his client had submitted evidence to police investigating the attack on Antonov in 2009.
Three Chechen men were convicted of attempted murder in the case and given long jail sentences in 2010.
The apparent attempted assassination will prompt comparisons with the murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in November 2006.
British prosecutors have named fellow ex-KGB agent Andrei Lugovoy as the main suspect in his poisoning with radioactive polonium-210, but the Russian authorities have repeatedly refused to send him to face trial in the UK.
Any witnesses or anyone with information was asked to call the incident room on 020 8733 4212, or if they wished to remain anonymous, Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.