The police have re-opened a dormant investigation into a 2014 murder, believed to be a gangland vendetta, on the back of cooperation from self-confessed hitman Vincent Muscat.

Sources say investigators have identified a main suspect in the murder of Jonathan Pace, 31, of Żejtun, known as the operator of Tyson Butcher.

The breakthrough is understood to have come after Muscat, known as il-Koħħu, started cooperating with the police on a string of cold cases spanning several years.

The sources said the killing is being treated as a revenge crime for an attempted murder on Muscat a few months earlier.

Pace had been hit by five of 15 to 20 shots fired at him from an SUV. He was standing on the balcony of his house on a quiet residential street in Fgura when someone shot him with a fully-automatic assault rifle.

He died from his wounds and, although the police had some promising leads at the time, the crime remains unsolved nearly seven years later.

Bullets were sprayed all around the balcony where Jonathan Pace was killed. 11 can be seen in this picture.

Police sources told Times of Malta the case file, which has not been opened for several years, was active again and that investigators are said to have made “positive progress”.

At the time of his death, Pace was facing charges of shooting Muscat three times in the neck and hand on the evening of April 8, 2014, in Triq Bordin, Msida, when he was still in his car.

After being shot, Muscat drove himself to the Msida police station with blood gushing from his head and other wounds and was then rushed to hospital, where he was certified to be suffering from life-threatening injuries.

Muscat lost sight in his right eye as a result of the shooting and still has a bullet lodged in his head

Muscat lost sight in his right eye as a result of the shooting and still has a bullet partially in his head.

He later said in court he had identified Pace as being the man who shot him.

“Someone got out of the passenger’s side of the car and started shooting,” Muscat testified.

“He was holding a large pistol in his right hand and, as soon as he alighted, he rolled back his hood and wore his mask with his left hand. At this point, I recognised the shooter as being Jonathan Pace.”

He said that only two days before the attempted murder, he and Pace had been at home drinking coffee together.

The scene of the shooting in Msida. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier.

As the owner of Tyson Butcher, Pace had been declared bankrupt by a court the previous year, in December 2013, after being ordered to pay over €90,000 in debts and for advertising on the  national television station PBS.

This is one of a string of cases Muscat has told the police he has inside knowledge of.

At the time of the 2014 Pace killing, Muscat was a co-accused in connection with a major heist on the HSBC headquarters in 2010. He had been granted bail despite facing charges of having fired over 30 shots at the police during the attempted robbery.

The HSBC headquarters sealed off by police after the failed heist in 2010. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli. Inset: Vince Muscat.

Muscat last week pleaded guilty to his material role in the 2017 assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and was handed a reduced 15-year sentence as part of a deal reached with prosecutors.

He has also been granted a presidential pardon for his role in the 2015 murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop.

On the back of Muscat’s collaboration, the police have arrested and charged three men, brothers Robert and Adrian Agius, known as Tal-Maksar, and their associate Jamie Vella, in connection with both murders.