A nail-biting cat-and-mouse game between a fugitive gunman and the police in a quiet English market town that dominated headlines and had Britons glued to their television screens for a week ended on Saturday with the man killing himself as the police eventually appeared to close in on him.
Raoul Moat (37), who had kept the police and the residents of the normally uneventful Rothbury town in Northumberland, on tenterhooks with his threats to shoot anyone in sight finally shot himself after a six-hour face off with armed police officers early on Saturday .
Police denied initial reports that he was shot by the police and said "no shots were fired by police officers".
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An eyewitness told the BBC: “From what I can see, he shot himself. He lay down and shot himself. I think there were two, but there was certainly one shot.”
Moat, a former nightclub bouncer, had been on the run after allegedly shooting his ex-girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart, and killing her new partner, Chris Brown, on July 3. He was also reported to have shot a policeman as he sat in his car and, in a 49-page rambling letter to the police, threatened to keep shooting police officers.
Moat, who was released from prison on July 1, was believed to have been angry that his former girlfriend had a new partner and feared losing the custody and well-being of his three children.
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For days, the small picturesque town of Rothbury was virtually shut down as police cordoned off large areas and ordered people to remain indoors. Moat’s family repeatedly appealed to him to give himself up as the police launched what is regarded as one of the biggest manhunts in recent memory.
The incident prompted wall-to-wall television coverage with major networks such as BBC and Sky TV sending some of their most high-profile anchors to report the story.
On Saturday, relief swept through Rothbury as the news of Moat’s death spread. Northumbria Police Temporary Chief Constable Sue Sim said: “While the incident has been brought to a close we must be mindful of the impact it has had on many lives. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of those affected.”
DPA reports:
The dramatic conclusion to one of the biggest police operations Britain had ever seen came after police in the northern county of Northumberland closed in on Raoul Moat, a 37-year-old former nightclub bouncer and ex-prisoner.
Local reports said the weather turning cold after an extremely dry spell early Saturday may have added to the pressure on Moat, who had eluded police by hiding in the rugged rural terrain of the remote region which was his home.
He had been at been at the centre of a massive manhunt ever since he was freed from prison on July 2, where he served a sentence for assault.
Just hours after being freed from Durham prison, he shot his former girlfriend, 22—year—old Samantha Stobbart, and killed her new boyfriend, in an attack in a village near Newcastle.
In the ensuing police hunt, he shot a police officer in the face.
He threatened to kill police officers in his pursuit and, earlier this week, widened the threat to attacking the general public, police said.
In a message on his Facebook page, he said: “Just got out of jail, I’ve lost everything, my business, my property and to top it all off, my lass of six years had gone off with a copper that sent me down.
I’m not 21, and I can’t rebuild my life. Watch and see what happens.”