Moat begged police officer to shoot him then apologised for behaviour

The officer said Moat expressed his hatred of police but ended up apologising when he realised the firearms expert was from West Yorkshire and not the Northumbria force he detested.

Moat shot himself after police fired two rounds from an experimental Taser device at him following a six-hour stand-off in Rothbury, Northumberland, in July last year.

He had already shot his former partner Samantha Stobbarta and killed her new boyfriend Chris Brown and blinded Pc David Rathband, the inquest at Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The officer, who gave evidence anonymously behind a screen, said he stood 30ft from Moat, without a ballistics shield, knowing Moat had declared war on police.

He and his colleague arrived to find a man in a baseball cap facing away from them, carrying gun.

The officer shouted: “Armed police – drop your weapon.” He said Moat replied: “Shoot me, f****** shoot me.”

He calmed down when he realised the officers were from West Yorkshire, the witness said.

“The tone of voice changed and I seem to recall he actually apologised and recognised we had different accents,” he told coroner David Mitford.

The officers talked to Moat for about 25 minutes until trained negotiators took over. The armed response team carried a G36 Carbine rifle, a Glock 17 pistol and a standard X26 Taser.

The officer stayed at the scene from around 7:15pm until shortly before 1am. Moat killed himself at around 1:15am.

Mr Mitford asked if the witness felt threatened by Moat. He replied: “Yes sir. The threat I was faced with at the time was very high.”

Moat took up the offer of a sandwich and a bottle of water, while keeping his gun pointing at his head, the officer said.

Hugh Davies, representing the two West Yorkshire Police officers, asked: “Did he indicate he had any positive reason to live?”

“Not to my knowledge,” the witness replied.

Later, residents of Rothbury, where police confronted Moat on the banks of the River Coquet, told the inquest that a climate of “acute fear” swept the community.

Peter Avison told the inquest he could see the gunman from the back garden of his home.

“From the perspective of someone who lived in the village and had two small children, we were extremely concerned,” said Mr Avison.

“We would not let the children outside. We were acutely sensitive to any activity in the vicinity.”

Mr Avison was live on BBC Radio 5Live when he heard the sound of a shotgun. He told the radio station: “He’s just shot himself.”

He told the inquest the first bang was a loud, deep thud, like the sound of the shotguns he had heard grouse shooters using in the Cheviot Hills.

The second was “substantially quieter” and was in his judgment the echo of the first..