Raoul Moat shooting: Pc David Rathband played dead

Pc David Rathband had just 90 minutes left to the end of his shift. He was sitting in his traffic car at a roundabout in Newcastle, in the early hours of 4 July last year. A jury has heard the horrific details of what happened to him next, when he was shot in the face by Raoul Moat.

The traffic officer arrived at Newcastle Crown Court on Wednesday wearing his full police uniform. He was left blinded by the attack and walked in supported by his wife and son.

On the witness stand, he described in moving detail what happened to him when he had parked up in his patrol car at a roundabout. Raoul Moat had been out “hunting for officers” to shoot. He circled the roundabout twice with his alleged accomplices, Karl Ness and Qharam Awan. They pulled over out of sight, and Moat crept up to Pc Rathband’s car.

“I had that feeling you get when you feel someone is watching you. I looked out of the back passenger window and saw a guy crouching on the ground, walking towards me.”

The traffic officer said he realised who it was. “I realised pretty quickly that it was Raoul Moat. He had a shotgun – he raised it and pulled the trigger.”

There was silence, as we listened PC Rathband told the court what happened next. “I saw a bright, white light. I realised I’d been shot in the face. I knew my eyes had gone, I felt them. There was a noise, so loud that it hurt…. I thought of my children in my mind and I knew I didn’t want to die on that roundabout.”

Despite the injury and blood loss that resulted, the officer managed to open his driver’s door. He tried to activate an alarm, but Moat fired again. Pc Rathband realised that Moat intended to kill him and so kept still, pretending to be dead until the gunman ran away.

The evidence has been heard in the trial of two men accused of helping Raoul Moat during his week on the run.

It’s alleged that Karl Ness, 26, and Quaram Awan, 23, were with Moat and they’ve been charged with attempted with the officer’s attempted murder. Both men deny all the allegations against them.

The court also heard that just after the shooting, Moat called the police and taunted them, saying “This is Raoul, the Birtley Gunman. Are you taking us seriously now? I’ve just downed one of your officers at the roundabout in the West End of Newcastle. You’re going to have to kill me, I’m never going to stop.”

Pc Rathband made an emergency call using a button on his gear stick to tell the control room he had been shot, and was quickly located. It emerged later that PC Rathband, who had ten years experience as a traffic officer, had dealt with Moat previously, but there was no suggestion Moat had singled him out or even recognised him.

Evidence

Pc Rathband believed Moat was trying to execute him with the second shot, having already blasted him in the face.

I tried to stop myself breathing because I was making lots of rasping noises because of the amount of blood that was spraying out and going down my throat. Pc David Rathband

He had somehow raised his left arm to protect himself after the first shot badly damaged his right eye.

“He shot me in the middle of my eyes and the second shot was to finish me off,” he told the jury.

“So I tried to stop myself breathing because I was making lots of rasping noises because of the amount of blood that was spraying out and that was going down my throat.

“It felt like a lifetime but in reality it was probably a few seconds.”

Though badly injured, he managed to raise the alarm using a microphone on the gear stick of his patrol car.

“I said ‘I’ve been shot, I need urgent assistance’,” he recalled.

Robert Smith QC, prosecuting, asked the officer if his sight had not been restored despite undergoing a number of operations.

“It’s classed as being ‘black blind’,” he said.

Mr Smith asked if Pc Rathband, who served two years as a special officer before 11 years more in regular uniform, enjoyed his job.

“Yeah, I still do, bizarrely,” he replied. “I love my job.”