Raoul Moat: Rampage then six days of cat and mouse with hundreds of officers

LAST night's drama brought to an end a manhunt that began when Moat opened fire on his former girlfriend and her lover.

The 37-year-old was released from Durham Prison on Thursday, 1 July after being sentenced to 18 weeks for assault. He had only one previous conviction, for assault, but had been arrested 12 times and charged with seven separate offences.

The prison warned police that Moat may intend to cause serious harm to his former partner, Samantha Stobbart. Ms Stobbart, 22, was shot and injured last Saturday in Birtley, Gateshead. Her boyfriend, Chris Brown, 29, was shot and killed.

The next day, PC David Rathband, 42, was shot in an "unprovoked attack" at a roundabout in East Denton, Newcastle. The father of two was rushed to Newcastle General Hospital with injuries to his head and body. A picture was later released of his bloody face as he recovered in hospital from gunshot wounds.

Police later revealed Moat called 999 about 12 minutes before the attack, threatening to shoot an officer, and rang back 50 minutes after the shooting.

It then emerged that Moat had written a 49-page confession letter headed "Raoul Moat Murder Statement 4/7/10", detailing the shootings and vowing to keep killing police until he was dead. By Monday, Northumbria Police had confirmed that firearms officers from other forces had been drafted in to help with the manhunt. That night, an armed robbery took place at the Delaval Fish Bar in Seaton Delaval, near Blyth. A man of a similar description to Moat brandished a gun and made off with cash.

As pressure grew on officers to catch Moat, police gave details of a car they believed he had been using – a black Lexus. Soon after, farmer Graham Noble revealed the car had been parked in the village of Rothbury all day, but residents did not know the significance until the police appeal. The next morning, police set up a two-mile exclusion zone on the ground around Rothbury and a five-mile zone in the air. Residents were warned to stay indoors.

Another local farmer, Jessica Taylor, then revealed she went to Rothbury police station at 9:30am that day after noticing smoke, suspecting Moat had camped on her family's land overnight. Police searched Wagtail Farm, but did not find Moat.

On Wednesday, two men who had been arrested and held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder were named as Karl Ness, 26, and Qhuram Awan, 23.

By 11am, police revealed another letter from Moat had been found in a tent in a secluded spot near Rothbury. A 10,000 reward was put up for information leading to Moat's arrest.

On Thursday, alleged accomplices Ness, from Dudley in North Tyneside, and Awan, from Blyth in Northumberland, appeared at Newcastle Magistrates' Court. Both men were remanded in custody.

By the afternoon, police had arrested another man and a woman in Blyth on suspicion of assisting an offender.

Yesterday lunchtime, police revealed they had found three of Moat's mobile phones and said an RAF Tornado with imaging equipment was being used in the manhunt.

His capture was just hours away.z