Police broke rules by using Taser shotguns in stand-off with Moat

The officer in charge of the police operation to capture Raoul Moat said the use of experimental Taser weapons offered the “one chance” to bring him in alive.

Police feared the gunman intended to end his rampage by attacking police marksmen and committing “suicide by cop”.

Northumbria Police assistant chief constable Steve Ashman was offered the use of the non-lethal X-Rep Taser shotguns on the day detectives discovered Moat intended to kill innocent members of the public for every “lie” printed about in the press.

The pump-action shotgun- style weapons would enable officers to shoot Moat from a greater distance than standard police-issue X-26 Taser pistols.

They also delivered an electric charge for longer than the X-26, the inquest at Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Mr Ashman said he had had to balance breaking the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) code of conduct, which forbade the use of non-approved weapons, with Moat’s right to life under Article 2 of the Human Rights Act.

He said the decision to use the guns meant “the buck stopped with him”.

The weapons were used during the stand-off on a riverbank in Rothbury, Northumberland, when Moat shot himself using a sawn-off shotgun.

Mr Ashman, who led Operation Bulwark, the mission to find and capture the fugitive, said he wanted to bring in Moat alive to face justice.

He said: “We had reached the stage where there did not appear to be many alternatives. I was constantly having to reassess and re-evaluate my position.

“Moat had to face justice for what he had done but I also had a duty to protect his life.

“An opportunity had been presented to me, one I had not thought of, but one which I was duty-bound to examine because it gave us possibly one chance and one chance only, a single chance to apprehend him without using lethal force, without shooting and killing him.”

Mr Ashman said anyone going within seven metres of a killer armed with a loaded shotgun would be “foolish”.

But he said that as well as being a breach of the Acpo code, he knew the use of the X-rep carried risks, one of which was that he had “no idea” of what the physiological impact would be.

He said: “This was a situation that was in extremis, at the far end of the scale in terms of the threat that he presented. There was nothing else.”

Mr Ashman said he was desperate not to be forced by Moat into a “death by cop” or “suicide by cop” situation where there would be no option but to shoot him.

Cross-examining for the Moat family, Andrew Straw asked whether Mr Ashman was aware Pro-Tect, the company which supplied the Taser and cartridges, was in breach of its Home Office licence. He replied: “No.”

The inquest continues.