Moat victim’s brother will avoid seeing drama
A FORMER Staffordshire Police officer whose twin brother was shot in the face by fugitive gunman Raoul Moat has vowed not to watch a forthcoming ITV drama based on the hunt for the killer.
Darren Rathband’s twin David, a traffic police officer in the North East, was blinded by Moat after he went on the rampage in 2010.
The father of two never recovered from the trauma and took his own life two years later.
Darren Rathband, who grew up with his sibling in Staffordshire, said he will not be watching The Hunt for Raoul Moat, and has urged others to remember the names of the victims, not the killer.
ITV confirmed last week that filming had begun on the drama. The search for Moat became one of the biggest manhunts in British policing history. Mr Rathband, 54, said : “We as a family do not need any other reminders of what happened in 2010. David’s loss gives us a painful reminder every day. If it’s based on facts and not fiction, the story remains the same. I don’t watch them, don’t need to and never will. I sadly lived being involved in it.”
Moat’s deadly rampage began during the early hours of July 3, 2010, when the 37-year-old former doorman blasted his ex Samantha Stobbart with a gun before shooting and killing her new partner.
Less than 24 hours later, Moat crept up on PC Rathband as he sat in his patrol car and shot him twice in the face. The then 42-year-old survived the attack by playing dead.
PC Rathband even found the strength and courage to radio for help and pass on invaluable information to his force as it continued to hunt Moat. Scriptwriter Kevin Sampson said: “The hunt for Moat gripped me from the start, as it was the first such case to be covered ‘live’ by the new 24-hour news channels. Even then, it interested me that Moat was being portrayed by some as a ‘legend’ in spite of the brutality of his crimes. In 2022, violence against women remains rife and is all too often accompanied by a victim-blaming agenda. I hope this drama will go some way to condemning this narrative.”
Simon Heath and Jake Lushington, commenting on behalf of producers World Productions, added: “Kevin has written a compelling account of these shocking events which highlights the human tragedy behind the headlines. The drama is a timely reminder of how social media can create a dangerous myth, in this case that Raoul Moat was any kind of hero.”