The company behind the Tasers used by police in the stand-off with gunman Raoul Moat has had its licence revoked.
The Home Office said the powerful stun gun was a prototype which was still undergoing tests and had not been sanctioned for use.
Police used the prototype Tasers – which can be used at some distance – against gunman Raoul Moat during a six-hour stand-off with officers. Mr Moat died after turning his gun on himself. In the wake of his death, an investigation into Pro-Tect Systems was launched.
The Home Office said today that the company had breached its licence by supplying the X12 Tasers and XRep ammunition to two police forces, when they were still being tested by the Home Office.
Armed police fired two Tasers at Mr Moat in an “effort to stop him taking his own life” in Northumberland, an inquest was told.
Tasers can emit electric shocks of up to 20 seconds in bullet-like capsules. Home Secretary Theresa May has denied Pro-Tect Systems the right to import and sell Tasers following the investigation in the wake of Mr Moat’s death.
Crime Prevention Minister James Brokenshire said Ms May was “satisfied that the company supplied X12 Tasers and XRep ammunition to Northumbria Police and to another police force contrary to their authority”.
While Pro-Tect Systems has been granted short-term authority to dispose of its remaining stock of Tasers, the group may face charges, Mr Brokenshire said.
In a letter to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, he said that no blame should be attached to the officers involved in the stand-off with Mr Moat, stressing that police could use any weapon they saw fit as long as its use was “lawful, reasonable and proportionate”.
He added: “In considering what action to take, the Home Secretary has taken into account the representations made by the company’s solicitors on their behalf but in view of the serious nature of the breaches has decided not to renew the company’s current authorities.”
In July Mr Moat, a former nightclub doorman, shot his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart before killing her new boyfriend Chris Brown and blinding PC David Rathband, who was on patrol at the time.
However, the sequence of events leading to the use of Tasers and his subsequent firing at police has not been established and is currently under investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
Pro-Tech Systems said it was unable to comment on the ruling today while the IPCC investigation was ongoing.
Mr Moat’s brother Angus said that officers had used his brother as a “guinea pig”.
“They had not used them before, and that was not the time or the place to conduct an experiment,” he said. “They used Raoul as a guinea pig”. The family are still waiting for the results of a second post-mortem.