Raoul Moat could have escaped across Scots border

• Marksmen overlook the hills and moors near Rothbury. Picture: Getty Images

As the hunt for the 37-year-old enters its sixth day, authorities said "progress" had been made, and believe Britain's most wanted man is sleeping rough in the Northumbria countryside.

The police operation escalated yesterday, with police offering a 10,000 reward for information that will lead to Moat's capture. Scores of specialist firearms officers and armoured off-road vehicles were also drafted in to the region from forces around Britain.

However, Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Adamson, the officer leading the search, said that while he had a "gut feeling" Moat was still in the village of Rothbury, he admitted the former nightclub bouncer may have "fled the area".

Detectives revealed they had found Moat's moorland hide-out, along with a letter written to his ex-girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart, near to Rothbury.

Her father, Paul Stobbart, pleaded with Moat to turn himself in yesterday for the sake of his three-year-old daughter.

He said: "Raoul, son, please this has to stop. We don't want anyone else hurt. What sort of legacy is this for your daughter? You know I won't lie if she asks about her dad, how good a dad you have been and how bad it has turned out."

He added: "I want no-one else hurt, this has gone too far. I am a family man and my heart is in bits. Please hand yourself in."

Moat went on the run after karate instructor Chris Brown, 29, was gunned down in the Scafell area of Birtley, Gateshead, in the early hours of Saturday.

The fatal shooting, in which 22-year-old Ms Stobbart suffered critical injuries, sparked a huge manhunt as Moat declared war on police.

Pc David Rathband, 42, was shot early on Sunday in an "unprovoked attack" while sitting in a patrol car in East Denton, Newcastle.

Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the "horrendous spree" and said the "whole country" was thinking of Moat's victims.

At a press conference yesterday, Mr Adamson made another appeal to Moat, saying: "I've said it before and I will say it again, we want to apprehend you safely. Please give yourself up."

He said the 10,000 reward is on offer for information leading to Moat's arrest as police investigate hundreds of tip-offs from the public.

Scotland Yard yesterday sent 40 specialist firearms officers armed with Heckler and Koch G36 assault rifles to help the search, while the Police Service of Northern Ireland delivered 20 armoured cars.

They will join specialist firearms officers, including snipers armed with high-velocity weapons with telescopic sights.

Ten separate police forces - all of them English - are now involved in the hunt.

Mr Adamson said investigators believe others have helped Moat evade police "indirectly or otherwise" as the gunman travelled around Northumbria.

He added that two men - named in reports as 26-year-old Karl Ness and Qhuram Awan, 23, - arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder had helped police with inquiries.

Police also believe Moat was responsible for a robbery at a chip shop in Blyth on Monday night.

Mr Adamson said: "We believe Mr Moat to be a measured individual who appears to carefully plan his actions and is comfortable in an outdoor environment. While the search is now focusing on the Rothbury area, I am mindful of the potential for Mr Moat to have fled the area."

With the Scotland-England border just 14 miles away from Rothbury, Perry McGee, a survival expert, suggested Moat may have already fled north. He said: "If you go through the army training grounds nearby and continue in that direction, you can get to Scotland. Hadrian's Wall's not far from here. There's a possibility he's escaped."

Criminologist Roger Graef said that despite being on the run for several days, it is unlikely Moat will be exhausted. "He is fleeing and fighting, which is a very heightened state," he said. "He may be tired, but the adrenaline will be kicking in."

The manhunt continues to focus on countryside around Rothbury, which one former girlfriend said was Moat's "favourite place in the world."

Police are investigating several potential sightings of Moat and released new details of his appearance and clothing.

They recovered a tent and other items, including the latest letter, from a "secluded spot" on the outskirts of Rothbury.

Mr Adamson said the content of the letter is "very much personal between the two" but police have not yet passed it to Ms Stobbart.

He said: "In it, Mr Moat reasserts his belief that Samantha's partner was a police officer. I repeat this is not the case."

Senior officers are desperate to capture Moat without further injury or loss of life but he has threatened to kill police.

Moat used his first letter, handed to the press, to warn: "The public need not fear me but the police should as I won't stop till I'm dead."

Although police believe Moat remains in or around Rothbury, plans are in place to intercept him anywhere in Northumbria.

"In a wider sense, the net is closing. In terms of the overall investigation, we are making steady and significant progress," said Mr Adamson.

"I am concerned, as I'm sure everyone in the country is, that we apprehend Mr Moat very soon."

Moat, who has blue eyes and is of heavy build, is believed to be wearing a grey or light blue hoodie, a red T-shirt, dark-coloured jeans and white trainers.

Investigators emphasised his imposing size and appearance, saying he is 6ft 3in tall and approximately 17-and-a-half stone with cropped blond hair.

Temporary Chief Constable Sue Sim said the arrest of the two men yesterday was a "key breakthrough".

Meanwhile, a former chief constable of Northumbria Police said the force should not face blame over their handling of the Moat affair.

Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington was speaking after security minister Baroness Neville-Jones had told peers that police did not conduct "a multi-agency risk assessment conference" after they were informed by Durham prison that Moat had threatened to seriously harm Ms Stobbart.

Anyone with information about Moat is asked to call 03456 043043 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

• A NEIGHBOUR who went to school with one of the men arrested in the Raoul Moat manhunt said he must have been "in the wrong place at the wrong time".

Qhuram Awan, 23, from Blyth, Northumberland, was a "good lad" and "always happy", according to Chris Brown.

"If someone said he had been arrested in connection with all this I wouldn't believe it," he said.

The 23-year-old said that Awan, known as Shaun, drove a black Lexus. He did not believe Mr Awan moved in the same circles as Moat.

Awan was held along with Karl Ness, 26. Police had treated the men as hostages but when they were found walking in Rothbury, near where the Lexus was dumped, they were arrested as possible accomplices.

In a letter written by Moat, the runaway claims Ness drove him to the house where he shot his ex-girlfriend Sam Stobbart and killed her new boyfriend Chris Brown. "I told her then I wanted a fight or I'd shoot him. I forced Karl Ness to drive me over and to wait till I shot him."

Muscle-bound Ness, a friend of Moat's on the social networking website Facebook, is pictured posing bare-chested showing a tattoo on his left arm.

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