‘One chance’ to capture Moat alive

Police were worried the gunman intended to attack police marksmen, in a “suicide by cop” strategy.

North Police Assistant Chief Constable Steve Ashman was offered the use of the non-fatal X-Rep Taser shotguns on the day detectives realised Moat intended to kill innocent members of the public for every “lie” published about him in the press.

The pump action shotgun style weapons would let police officers shoot Moat from further away than typical police issue X-26 Taser pistols.

They also delivered an electric charge for longer than the X-26; the inquest at Newcastle Crown Court was told.

Mr Ashman said he had had to balance breaking the Association of Chief Police Officers code of practice, which banned the use of non authorized weapons, with Moat’s right to life under Article 2 of the Human Rights Act.

He said the choice to use the guns meant “the buck stopped with him”.

The guns were used during the stand-off on the riverbank in Rothbury, Northumberland, when Moat shot himself using a sawn off shotgun.

Mr Ashman, who was in charge of Operation Bulwark, the operation to hunt and apprehend Moat, said he wanted to bring the fugitive alive to face the law.

He said: “We had reached the stage where there did not appear to be many alternatives.

“I was constantly having to reassess and re-evaluate my position; to stop us from sliding into a plan which had only one outcome.

“Moat had to face justice for what he had done but I also had a duty to protect his life.

“An opportunity had been presented to me, one I had not thought of but one which I was duty bound to examine because it gave us possibly the only chance, possibly one chance and one chance only, a single chance to apprehend him without using lethal force, without shooting and killing him.”

X-Rep Tasers fire a cartridge for 30 metres, whereas typical police tasers have a range of just seven metres.

Mr Ashman said anyone going within seven metres of a killer armed with a loaded shotgun would be “foolish”.

But he said that as well as breaking the ACPO code, he knew the use of the X-rep was risky, and he had “no idea” of what the physiological impact would be.

He said: “This was a situation that was in extremis, at the far end of the scale in terms of the threat that he presented and with that I was duty bound to consider all the options available to me to achieve the objective.

“There was nothing else.”

The inquest continues.