Cornered and surrounded, he blew his own head off
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IT seemed like there was no stopping him.
On July 2, 2010, the prison contacted police to warn them that they thought just-released prisoner Raoul Moat might pose a danger to his ex, Samantha Stobbart. They weren’t wrong. In the early hours of Saturday, July 3, Ms Stobbart was shot at a house in Birtley, Gateshead, but luckily survived.
Chris Brown, her new boyfriend, who Moat wrongly thought was a police officer – the ultimate betrayal, in his eyes – was not so fortunate. He was also shot just outside the house and later died from his injuries.
Victim
The next night, PC David Rathband, a patrolling officer in uniform, was shot through the window of his car in the west end of Newcastle.
Horrifically injured and blinded, he still managed to call for help – but Moat, 37, had fled the scene.
PC Rathband, unable to cope with his disabilities and the split from his wife, hanged himself two years later – yet another victim of Moat’s insatiable wrath.
Detectives at Northumbria Police knew by then that they had a major incident on their hands.
And there was no greater confirmation than the letter Moat left with a friend, detailing his grudges.
“Last night I called 999 and declared war on Northumbria Police before shooting an officer,” he wrote.
“Rang again and told them they’re gonna pay for what they’ve done to me and Sam. I went straight but they couldn’t let it go.
“The public need not fear me but the police should – as I won’t stop till I’m dead.”
These were not words written by a man full of beer, bravado and bullshit, though.
Over the following days, Moat became Britain’s most wanted man.
Snare
Day after day, Moat avoided capture, while detectives desperately tried to work out how to snare him.
Along the way he was suspected of the armed robbery of a fish and chip shop in Seaton Delaval, near Blyth.
But by the middle of the week, all attention had turned to the small market town of Rothbury, on the edge of the Northumberland National Park.
On the Wednesday, four days after his release from prison, police revealed that they had found what they believed to be Moat’s makeshift camp.
By the remains of a fire was another letter left behind for Samantha.
A press conference was called and police pleaded with Moat to give himself up.
Det Ch Supt Neil Adamson told the suspect he was mistaken and that Sam wasn’t seeing a police officer, the misguided reason behind his jealous fury.
At the same time, some of the nation’s top police marksmen were flooding into the area to join the expanding hunt.
London’s Metropolitan
Police sent 40 of its elite firearms officers – the most highly experienced marksmen and women in the country, trained to confront suicide bombers and to take split-second decisions on when to pull the trigger.
Exclusion
Northern Ireland despatched 20 armoured cars on an evening ferry – vehicles designed to withstand an attack by
DEATH DELAY: David Rathband killed himself armed paramilitaries. Air and land exclusion zones were established over Rothbury as officers tried to narrow their search with the help of an RAF Tornado fitted with imaging equipment.
No stone was left unturned – even to the extent of secretly getting TV survival expert Ray Mears on the scene for advice on tracking people.
An “associate” of Moat’s was enlisted to help the police. His best friend Tony Laidler was escorted to the scene by authorities in an attempt to persuade him to surrender.
Moat’s uncle, Charlie Alexander, offered to do whatever he could to make the bouncer turn himself in.
By the Thursday, four people had been arrested in connection with the inquiry – and it emerged that Moat had made wider threats against the public as a whole.
At about 8pm on the Friday, eight days after Moat’s release from prison, police sealed off an area of Rothbury near the River Coquet. They’d cornered him.
Waiting
A witness revealed the man, surrounded by police, had quietly lain down and pressed the gun against his own neck.
Just hours before, Moat had been like a needle in a haystack. Now he was contained, separated from the public, with nowhere left to go. The waiting began.
Some local people were locked inside their homes inside the exclusion zone, including a wedding party of 100 unable to leave a hotel.
And the waiting went on.
Brit firearms officers are trained to do two things – react instantly if required but wait for ever if need be.
There was no chance that Moat could flee.
Officers armed with handguns, specialist MP5 sub-machine guns and electro-shock Taser weapons were just 20ft away.
At one bizarre stage, the troubled former England and Newcastle footballer Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne turned up with a bucket of fried chicken, a fishing rod and some beer for Moat, but was turned away.
Sterile
Otherwise, it was then a text-book situation – a controlled “sterile” area where the police have the upper hand, but the suspect has all the time in the world to think things through.
As the officers settled in for the night, lights were brought in by the fire service.
And then it was over to Raoul Moat.
Body builder, bouncer, thug, jilted lover – and murderer.
And, by now also Britain’s most wanted man, cornered after a manhunt that had gripped the nation.
The end seemed to be inevitable. And it was.
Moat brought the saga to a close in the early hours of July 10 – by turning his sawn-off shotgun on himself.