Gazza: I was at my lowest ebb.. I thought I could save killer Moat
10 years on, troubled star recalls his ‘mad’ rescue bid
Killer points gun in stand-off with cops
PC Rathband took own life
PAUL Gascoigne has opened up about his “mad” mission to save suicidal killer Raoul Moat a decade ago.
Gunman Moat was in a field surrounded by armed police after wounding his ex, killing her boyfriend and shooting a police officer.
And Gazza, who says he was at his most vulnerable in his fight with addiction, thought he could rescue Britain’s most wanted man, who was on the run for a week.
“I just remember that I was in a taxi, I had a fishing rod, some chicken, four cans of lager and a fishing jacket,” he said.
“I thought that I could take Raoul Moat fishing.”
The England legend told the cabbie, ‘I can save him”, adding: “I’ve been through so much, I am the best therapist in the world.
“I think I genuinely believed that”, he explained to the Mirror in an exclusive interview near his Bournemouth home.
After arriving in Rothbury, Northumberland, Gazza headed to the field where Moat was cornered and asked police: “Where’s Moaty?”
He was unaware it made headline news, but later saw himself on the telly and thought: “Oh s***.”
The star, who had never met Moat, said he then returned to the house where he was staying, climbed a lamppost and fell off.
Next morning, after Moat had shot himself, Gazza woke up to hundreds of texts and missed calls.
“I remembered some of it, but was trying to forget,” he said. Moat, 37, had shot and wounded Samantha Stobbart and killed her new boyfriend, Chris Brown, 29, in a jealous rage in July 2010. He then shot PC David Rathband, blinding him in both eyes. PC Rathband took his own life in February, 2012. Last month, the Mirror told how Gazza had pellets sewn into his stomach to make him sick if he drinks. He admitted he can “never” say he has beaten the booze.
ON HOW HE HOPED TO END SIEGE PEACEFULLY