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News blackout lifted after Raoul Moat death

By Channel 4 News

Updated on 10 July 2010

Gunman Raoul Moat has killed himself following a six hour stand-off at Rothbury in Northumberland during which a Taser gun was fired by officers. As Channel 4 News reporter Darshna Soni explains, his death means we can now report details of a news blackout, imposed by the police to protect the public.

Armed police surround Raoul Moat before he killed himself.

It has been revealed police fired a Taser stun gun during the last stand by gunman Raoul Moat.

After a week-long manhunt the 37-year-old shot himself in the head in the early hours of Saturday after being surrounded by armed police.

Northumbria Police Temporary Chief Constable Sue Sim told reporters officers had been trying to persuade Moat to give himself up peacefully.

She added: "During this time officers discharged Taser. However this did not prevent his death."

The tense stand-off was sparked when he was spotted on the riverbank in Rothbury, Northumbria.


A single gunshot was heard at around 1.15am before the fugitive was taken by ambulance to Newcastle General Hospital. He was then seen being taken from the ambulance on a stretcher with a blanket covering his head. It is believed he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Details are also beginning to emerge about how Moat moved about, while evading police. It is believed he travelled through a network of Victorian drains which have now been sealed off by police.

Channel 4 News reporter in Rothbury Darshna Soni has spoken to local people who saw the police finally corner Moat.

She explained: Eyewitnesses say the situation on the riverbank in Rothbury was very, very calm. A man had been seen sitting down with his back to a tree, surrounded by around 16 armed officers. The man, who police said 'matched the description of Raoul Moat' was pointing a gun at his head."

(A storm drain which it is believed Raoul Moat used to evade police - Getty)

Moat's death brings to an end a huge manhunt involving police officers from 15 forces, Scotland Yard sharpshooters and armoured 4x4 cars. An RAF Tornado was also used in a bid to find the gunman.

Moat, 37, from Newcastle, was released from Durham prison on 1 July. on Saturday 3 July his ex-girlfriend was injured and her partner Chris Brown shot dead in the Birtley area of Gateshead.

On Sunday 4 July a police officer, Pc David Rathband, 42, was shot in an "unprovoked attack" at a roundabout at East Denton, Newcastle. He is recovering in hospital.

More from Channel 4 News on Raoul Moat case
- Raoul Moat dead after shots fired
- Moat declares war on police in letter
- Police were warned about Raoul Moat attack
- Raoul Moat threat to wider public
- Desperate Moat raided sheds for food

Blackout lifted
Police were so worried about the potential danger Raoul Moat posed to the public that they demanded a news blackout about his private life, it can be now be reported.

Northumbria Police wrote to news organisations, including Channel 4 News. They said that Moat's threats, which were previously aimed at the police, had widened and the public might now be in danger.

Channel 4 News reporter Darshna Soni writes:
Over the last few days, Northumbria Police had asked the media to agree to a voluntary blackout on some aspects of their hunt for Raoul Moat. We all agreed, because of the seriousness of the developments. We can now report the extraordinary details.
 
Moat had been deliberately leaving a series of messages behind for those hunting him. The most worrying was contained in a message recorded on a dictaphone, which he left in his tent. It was four hours long, and for the most part, Moat spoke of his personal life and his perceived grudge against the police. But he also left a deadly threat.
 
Moat said that he was unhappy with some of the coverage about him, in particular reports about his private life. We don't know how he was getting access to these reports. Was he listening to a radio, reading the papers, perhaps being told by friends? 
 
Something had upset Moat and he said in his message: "For every piece of inaccurate information published I will select a member of the public and kill them." He said he would ring the police and give them prior warning.
 
That's why officers were telling the public on Thursday that there was now a "general threat to the public."  This caused a lot of confusion and at a public meeting I went to in Rothbury that evening, the police were asked several times why they couldn't elaborate. But detectives had to tread a very careful line. They didn't want to risk upsetting Moat any further.
 
All the more astonishing then, when a police officer read out a message of support from a young boy who referred to Moat as a "nutter." She issued a swift apology.
 
Journalists had been told this information in a very unusual off-the-record briefing, just before a press conference, but we were asked not to reveal any of it. The senior investigating officer told us that he could not legally force us to comply, but said it was "a matter or life and death." We were not even allowed to report that there was a blackout, although this fact did appear on the internet.
 
It's always tricky when journalists are asked not to report things and some of you will have strong views about media blackouts. News editors had to consider the request very carefully. However, given the very serious nature of the threats, all agreed to comply. 
 

In his recorded message Moat said he was not going to be like Cumbrian gunman Derrick Bird and shoot "old ladies". Instead it was implied he would target police and journalists.

Police also asked for stories already published about Moat's personal life to be removed from news websites.
Comments made by Moat's mother Josephine Healey, who had little contact with Moat during the past 18 years, that her son "would be better off dead" are thought to have been among the remarks which had upset him.

Northumbria Police issued an apology after neighbourhood inspector Sue Peart read out a card from two children which described Moat as "a nutter".

Map of area

View The hunt for Raoul Moat in a larger map


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