Raoul Moat telephone threats heard at inquest
Recordings of telephone threats made by the Northumbrian gunman Raoul Moat have been played at the inquest into his death, as North of England Correspondent Morland Sanders reports.
Warning: Some viewers may find the detail in the accompanying report distressing.
Raoul Moat died after a six-hour stand-off with police after he shot and killed one man and left two other people seriously injured in July 2010. He shot himself in the head and was fired at twice by police officers during the stand-off.
He was on the run for a week before he was finally surrounded by police on the banks of the River Coquet in Rothbury, Northumberland.
Moat killed his love rival Chris Brown, 29, in Birtley, Gateshead, then fired at his ex-lover Samantha Stobbart, 22, leaving her in a critical condition.
Superintendent Jim Napier told the hearing: “It is clear from the evidence that Moat’s break-up with Samantha Stobbart was the catalyst for his murderous acts.”
The next night he shot and blinded unarmed Pc David Rathband, who was sitting in a patrol car outside Newcastle. Shortly beforehand he called Northumbria Police to say he was hunting for officers.
He told a call handler he had two hostages who would be killed if he were approached.
Mr Napier explained to the jury the hostages were in fact Ness and Qhuram Awan, who have received life sentences for helping Moat.
Moat told the operator: “I’m not on the run, I’m coming to get you.”
Moat crept up on Pc Rathband as he sat in his marked patrol car above the A1, the inquest heard.
He shot the officer in the face and body and Pc Rathband survived by pretending to be dead, Mr Napier said.
A recording of Moat calling police after the shooting was played, with him saying: “Are you taking us serious now?
“I have just downed your officer.”
He finished: “You are going to kill me because I’m never going to stop.”
Moat left a note with a friend which said: “I’m a killer and a maniac but I ain’t a coward.
“I’m not on the run, I will keep killing police until I am dead.
“They’ve hunted me for years, now it’s my turn.”
The inquest is expected to hear from an expert on electrical injury as well as police officers. It will investigate whether Moat could have suffered “neuromuscular incapacitation”, causing him to shoot himself involuntarily.
The jury will be given a virtual reality tour of the spot near the riverbank site where Moat died.
The inquest is due to run for four weeks.