Cornered killer Raoul Moat’s death was suicide, decides jury at inquest

A JURY at the inquest of killer Raoul Moat, who blasted himself in the head with a sawn-off shotgun, has returned a unanimous verdict of suicide.

Police fired shotgun Tasers to incapacitate him as he prepared to kill himself in Rothbury, Northumberland, in July last year, but the round had no effect on him, the three-week inquest at Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The 37-year-old ex-doorman was surrounded by police marksmen, and negotiators tried for six hours to get him to surrender, but he was determined not to go back to prison.

Moat was on the run after shooting his ex-girlfriend Sam Stobbart, executing her new boyfriend Chris Brown, and then blinding Pc David Rathband after he declared war on the police.

Officers were offered and accepted Taser X12 shotguns which were only licensed for testing in the UK. It was the first time that firearms officers had seen the weapons.

The shotguns were used because they fired XRep cartridges over a longer range than conventional handheld Tasers.

Two were fired – one round hit his forearm, the other missed – and moments later he shot himself.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has cleared officers involved in Moat’s death of any wrongdoing.

His murderous rampage was sparked by two phone calls he made to Ms Stobbart from Durham Prison, where he was serving a sentence for assaulting a child. She told him their relationship was over and that she had found a younger man who could knock him out.

She lied, saying her new lover was a police officer, and Moat warned her he would “go crazy”.He kept his word, tracking the new couple down and waiting outside her neighbour’s home in Birtley, Gateshead, before killing Mr Brown with three shots and badly injuring Ms Stobbart.

When police raided his home in Newcastle, they found a noose in his attic and six suicide notes for friends. In one note to his ex, he expressed his love for her, adding: “Knowing you hate me is tearing me apart.”

Moat fled, and the next night maimed Pc Rathband as he drove around Newcastle with two accomplices, Karl Ness and Qhuram Awan.

After the pair were arrested near Rothbury, police discovered the campsite where they hid and found hours of recordings by Moat. In them was a chilling threat to the wider public, which caused police to swamp the area with armed police.

In a written explanation of the events, the jury said: “Questions have been raised about the suitability of XRep Tasers and the information officers were given on deployment.

“All officers involved were shotgun and X26 Taser-trained and had no qualms in using XRep shotgun Taser.”

Concerns were also raised by the Moat family that his half-brother Angus and his best friend Anthony Wright were not called as third-party intermediaries during negotiations while the killer was cornered.

The jury found: “At no point did Mr Moat ask to talk to any family member or friend.”