As a new ITV drama tells the story of the hunt for the infamous killer, the M.E.N looks back at his appalling crimes and awful legacy
Armed with a sawn-off shotgun, Raoul Moat arrived at a house where his ex-girlfriend Sam Stobbart was staying in the early hours of Saturday, July 3, 2010. Seven days later after shooting three people, including Stobbart, and going on the run, the bodybuilder took his own life following a six-hour stand-off with police.
Read more: The most notorious prisoners ever to serve time at Strangeways revealed as prison's future in question Moat had been out of Durham Prison for just two days when he embarked on his shooting spree. The 37-year-old former bouncer and tree surgeon had served an 18-week sentence for assaulting a nine-year-old relative.
He posted threats to police and made further detailed warnings in subsequent phone calls and letters. Just after 1am on July 1, Moat arrived at the house in Birtley where Stobbart was staying with her new partner, karate instructor Chris Brown. Rathband was rushed to hospital in critical condition, having sustained head and upper body injuries. The shooting left him permanently blind.
Road blocks and a two mile exclusion zone were set up around the town, while local schools received armed guards as police scoured campsites and potential hiding places. Samantha Stobbart's father Paul issued a video appeal asking Moat to hand himself in, while Northumbria Police offered a £10,000 reward to the public if they helped track him down.
The Daily Star reported how, during his ‘Evening with Paul Gascoigne’ talk at Newcastle's Tyne Theatre in 2015, the star described how he came to be at the scene, saying: “You've got to realise I'm half cut anyway, sitting in the living room, I've got about six lines [of cocaine] lined up. “I've got 250 missed calls, I was like — what have I done? I've got a chicken by my side, fishing rods, a Barbour, I'm like f*** me I must have done something.At around 1.10am on July 10 a single shot was heard. Moat was rushed to hospital but pronounced dead on arrival. Police released a statement saying he appeared to have shot himself and no shots were fired by officers.
They both also received seven years for robbery and Ness also got five years for a firearm offence, as he had helped Moat get the guns he shot Brown and Stobbart with. Speaking after the sentencing, Pc Rathband said: "Both Ness and Awan will be very old people before they are released, or considered for release, and long may they stay there.
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