Timeshare fraudster John Palmer, nicknamed Goldfinger, was killed by a professional hitman, police have said.
The notorious criminal was found shot in the garden of his woodland home in South Weald, Essex, on 24 June last year.
A hitman is believed to have climbed over the fence and shot him with a handgun at close range in one of the few areas of the house and garden not covered by his own CCTV system.
Police initially thought he had died of natural causes linked to a recent surgery but later decided he was murdered in a carefully-planned operation.
The scene of the crime was "professionally" stripped of evidence that police say would have pointed them towards the suspicious cause of death earlier.
Police are investigating the 65-year-old's links to criminal groups and specific crimes in the UK, including the £14m Hatton Garden raid.
These links, along with the clean and professional nature of the murder, have left detectives with the possibility that Palmer was killed by a hired gunman.
Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Jennings said: "Due to John's significant criminal history there are people or groups of people who may have wished to do him harm.
"Therefore our search is not just for the gunman but for a person or group of people who may have commissioned the killing."
A "possible suspect or witness" - described as white, slim, in his early 20s, with short blond hair and wearing blue jeans and a light-coloured baggy top - was seen near the house at 5.50pm on 24 June, 20 minutes after Palmer was found dead.
Detectives also want to find two or three men spotted digging a hole in the forest around Palmer's home the previous morning.
The police would not comment on whether Palmer was a police informant at the time he was targeted.
Palmer had been due to appear in a Spanish court on charges of fraud, possession of a firearm and money laundering, following his arrest in Tenerife in 2007, raising the possibility that he may have been killed to stop him giving evidence.
Palmer gained his notoriety after he was cleared of handling proceeds from the £26m Brink's-Mat bullion raid at Heathrow in 1983.
In 2001, he was jailed for timeshare fraud, after his business conned thousands of Britons with promises of holiday homes in the sun.
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