Call tipped Raoul Moat over the edge
RAOUL Moat was on the verge of hanging himself after being ditched by his girlfriend in a phone call but went on a deadly shooting rampage after a last-minute change of heart, an inquest heard yesterday.
The 37-year-old had prepared a noose from his loft hatch and penned six suicide notes after hairdresser Samantha Stobbart, 22, told him she had a new boyfriend, a heavyweight karate instructor.
But instead Moat triggered one of the biggest manhunts in British criminal history after deciding to execute love rival Chris Brown, 29, and shoot Miss Stobbart before turning on the police.
In a chilling 999 call, played to the Newcastle inquest, Moat boasted that he wouldn’t be taken alive and warned: “Youse wanted me to kill myself but I’m gonna give youse a chance cos I’m hunting for officers now, right?”
Two minutes later he encountered unsuspecting traffic officer David Rathband and shot him twice in the face. The father-of-two survived by pretending he was dead but has been left blinded.
The killing spree ended with Moat shooting himself after being cornered in the Northumberland market town of Rothbury by police last summer. He fired a sawn-off shotgun into his head after a six-hour stand-off with police armed with Taser stun guns.
Youse wanted me to kill myself but I’m gonna give youse a chance cos I’m hunting for officers now, right?
North Northumberland coroner David Mitford told the jury the purpose of the inquest was not to apportion blame but to find out how and why Moat died on July 10 last year.
The inquest heard how the former bouncer was serving an 18-week jail term for assaulting a child when Miss Stobbart told him in a phone call that their six-year relationship was over.
The calls were routinely monitored, and tapes were played to the jurors.
In one call Moat threatened Mr Brown by saying: “I will end up going for him.” Then Miss Stobbart warned him he would be in for a shock: “To be honest Raoul, he’s a handy f****** bloke and he’s a lot younger than you. He will knock you on your a***”.
In another call Moat begs: “You are the only person I have ever cared about. I can’t have you out of my life. I’m going to go crazy, man.”
Shortly after being freed on July 1, Moat rigged up a makeshift noose from a roof rafter in the loft of his home in Fenham, Newcastle.
The jury was shown a photograph of the noose in position and then shown the rope loop in the court.
Moat, who had five children with four women, also penned six suicide notes to Miss Stobbart, friends and to social services asking that they look after his children. He said he could not go on living without Miss Stobbart, who had told him she had found someone younger and tougher. She also lied that her new boyfriend was a policeman, hoping it would deter Moat from taking revenge.
But at the last minute Moat decided not to hang himself, an instead to take out his anger on Miss Stobbart and Mr Brown, arming himself with a shotgun and ambushing them as they left a friend’s house in Birtley, Tyne and Wear, on July 3.
The following night, he crept up on PC Rathband, 43, as he sat alone in his patrol car overlooking the A1.
Supt Jim Napier, the policeman in charge of the investigation, told the inquest: “It is clear from the evidence that Moat’s break-up with Miss Stobbart was the catalyst for his murderous acts.”
After the first shooting Moat took refuge in a friend’s house and laughed as he told them: “I’ve shot Sam, I’ve shot Sam. I’m full of beans. I feel like a huge cloud has been lifted from my shoulders.”
The inquest heard Moat was also laughing as he ran to his getaway car after shooting PC Rathband.
Supt Napier, of Northumbria CID, said the suicide notes and noose were found at Moat’s home.
The letter addressed to Miss Stobbart, the mother of one of his children, read: “I love you, always have and always will. I cannot go on without you – knowing you hate me is tearing me apart.
“I tried so hard for you but got nowhere.
“I’ve never cheated, and never would. We were so much in love and we have a beautiful daughter. I love you both so much.” He added he had nothing to look forward to now that she hated him, ending the letter with three kisses and “PS please take good care of our daughter”.
The inquest, expected to last four weeks, is being attended by Moat’s brother Angus, a 40-year-old tax inspector, his father Peter Blake, 68, and uncle Charlie Alexander, 74.
The family is legally represented, as is Northumbria Police, West Yorkshire Police, whose officers were armed with Tasers, and Pro-Tect, the Taser manufacturer.
