Standoff

On Friday 9th July, seven days after maiming the mother of his child and killing her lover, Moat emerged from the woods surrounding the town of Rothbury holding his sawn off shotgun. Police surrounded him. By this time, a search of Moat’s house had revealed he’d written six suicide notes to friends, associates and social services. One of the notes was to Samantha. It read: “Sam, I can’t go on without you. I love you so much and miss you very, very much...maybe now you’ll see just how much.” There was even a noose in the loft.

The police were determined to stop him ending his life by making one of their officers shoot, a technique known as 'suicide by cop'. An experimental non-approved Taser shotgun, the X12, was authorised for use. It was hoped that it would disable Moat before he could either shoot himself or others.

When police challenged him on the riverside, Moat dropped to the ground and began alternating between holding the gun to his throat and head. He believed it was the end, that that moment was almost inevitable and that most are indifferent to his demise. Moat had never known his father. But in those final hours, his real father made himself known to the police. Peter Blake, 68, said he would talk, for the first time, to his son. But in the following six hours, after making a careful risk assessment, the police decided not to bring him forward. They feared Moat would not believe Peter to be his real father, but someone sent to talk him down. Moat asked to see Samantha Stobbart. This similarly was considered too risky.

In another bizarre element to the story, former international football star and recovering alcoholic Paul Gascoigne came  forward to try and talk to Moat: “I’ve brought him a fishing rod, some chicken and a six-pack and got in the back of a taxi with it all...I guarantee Moaty won’t shoot me. I am good friends with him.” At 10:22pm, police stopped Gascoigne at the cordon. He later said he was unaware of the severity of Moat’s crimes and that he wasn't sure if he did know Moat after all.

At 11:30pm food and water were brought to the killer. Just after 1am, rain started to fall. For the armed officers, there was respite as exhausted police were replaced by a fresh rotation. For Moat, there was no such relief. His statements to police become increasingly fatalistic: “It ends in this field tonight.”

On Saturday, after a six-hour standoff, at about 1.15am, Moat raised his shotgun from under his chin to the right side of his head. Police interpreted this as an attempt to commit suicide. They fired two of the experimental Taser guns. One hit him on the arm but the other missed. Moat was not incapacitated and repositioned the gun to the side of his head.

“He heard a long bang and saw a red cloud exit the side of Raoul Moat’s head. He saw him fall backwards into the long grass.” PC Worgan witness statement to Independent Police Complaints Commission