2010 Northumbria Police manhunt
Encyclopedia
Birtley shootings
Moat was released from Durham prison on 1 July, and allegedly arrived in the early hours of 3 July 2010 at a house in BirtleyBirtley, Tyne and Wear
Birtley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is situated to the south of Gateshead town and is physically linked to Chester-le-Street across the County boundary in County Durham. Until 1974, Birtley and the adjoining areas of Barley Mow, Vigo and...
where Stobbart and her new partner – 29-year-old karate instructor, Chris Brown – were visiting. Brown had moved to the area from Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, around six months previously. According to Moat, he crouched under the open window of the living room for an hour and a half, listening to Stobbart and Brown mocking him. At 2:40 a.m., Brown left the house to confront Moat but was shot at close range with a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
, and killed. Moat was reported to have then fired through the living room window while Stobbart's mother was on the phone to the police. Stobbart was hit in the arm and abdomen, and was taken to hospital to undergo a liver operation and put under armed guard.
Denton shooting
At 12:45 a.m. on 4 July, Police Constable David Rathband was shot while sitting in his patrol car on the roundabout of the A1 and A69A69 road
The A69 is a major road in northern England, running east-west across the Pennines, through the counties of Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Cumbria. Originally the road started in Blaydon, but since the creation of the A1 Western Bypass around Newcastle upon Tyne, it now starts at Denton Burn a...
roads near East Denton
East Denton
East Denton is an area in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne in the English county of Tyne and Wear....
. Rathband was taken to Newcastle General Hospital
Newcastle General Hospital
Newcastle General Hospital was for many years the main hospital for the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and is managed by Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust...
in a critical condition with injuries to his head and upper body. The Guardian reported that Moat had called police 12 minutes before shooting PC Rathband to taunt them and tell them what he was about to do. He did so again some 50 minutes after the shooting, during which he showed little remorse and complained the police are "not taking me seriously enough".
During a press conference at 2 p.m., police addressed comments directly to Moat, responding they were taking him seriously and that Brown had no connection to the police force. They urged him to hand himself in for the sake of his three children.
Letter, sightings and appeals
On 5 July, fearful of more shootings by Moat, police mounted a raid with armed officers, dogs and a helicopter on a house in North KentonNorth Kenton
North Kenton is a suburban housing estate in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, in Tyne and Wear, England, located north west of the city centre and to the east of Kingston Park. The area includes a refurbished park, and a sports centre...
, and also detained a man from Sunderland, although neither action found Moat.
Northumbria Police
Northumbria Police
Northumbria Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the areas of Northumberland and Tyne and Wear in North East England. The service is the sixth largest police force in England and Wales. The current Chief Constable is Sue Sim who was appointed by Northumbria Police...
confirmed they had received a 49-page letter, originally given by Moat to a friend late on 3 July, warning that they were "gonna pay for what they've done". The letter also stated that "The public need not fear me but the police should as I won't stop till I'm dead." In the letter, he stated that his children, freedom, house, then his ex-partner and their daughter, had all been taken from him. He admitted that he had issues and was running out of options; he said he was never violent towards his children.
The police relayed a message to Moat from Stobbart through the media which urged him not to continue if he still loved her and their child. Stobbart then admitted she had lied to him about seeing a police officer, because she was frightened. Sam Stobbart's half-sister, Kelly Stobbart, 27, reported that he had updated his Facebook status with a "hitlist" which included her and other family members. "He's said he will take out any police that get in his way."
At a press conference on the evening of 5 July, police revealed that they believed Moat had kidnapped two men at the time of the shootings. They also requested this information be subject to a media blackout
Media blackout
Media blackout refers to the censorship of news related to a certain topic, particularly in mass media, for any reason. A media blackout may be voluntary, or may in some countries be enforced by the government or state. The latter case is controversial in peacetime, as some regard it as a human...
. Around 10:50 p.m., a fish and chip
Fish and chips
Fish and chips is a popular take-away food in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada...
shop at Seaton Delaval
Seaton Delaval
Seaton Delaval is a village in Northumberland, England, with a population of 4,371. It is the largest of the five villages in Seaton Valley and is the site of Seaton Delaval Hall, the masterpiece completed by Sir John Vanbrugh in 1727....
was the scene of an armed robbery by a man resembling Moat. In a press conference on the morning of 6 July, the police said they believed they had been dealing with a "complex, fast-moving hostage situation".
Cordon of Rothbury
On the morning of 6 July, a house in WrekentonWrekenton
Wrekenton is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, in Tyne and Wear, England, that was formerly a separate village.Wrekenton is probably best known to passers by as the location of a large branch of the Co-op supermarket...
was raided by police and a man was detained.
Following an appeal for sightings of a black Lexus
Lexus
is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. First introduced in 1989 in the United States, Lexus is now sold globally and has become Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. The Lexus marque is marketed in over 70 countries and territories worldwide, and has...
believed to have been used by Moat, the car was found near Rothbury
Rothbury
Rothbury is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is located on the River Coquet, northwest of Morpeth and north-northwest of Newcastle upon Tyne...
. A 5 miles (8 km), 5,000 feet air exclusion zone and a 2 miles (3.2 km) ground exclusion zone was set up by police, and two men were found walking along a road and were initially thought to be the hostages, but were later arrested.
Police also said that officers from six forces had been called into the area, a large number of armed response officers were in their ranks. Armed officers and dogs stormed buildings on a disused farm called Pike House after a tip off from the landowners, who said that one of the boards on the windows of the derelict building had been removed, but no suspect was found. The police repeated an appeal to Moat to give himself up, and urged him not to leave his children with distressing memories of their father.
Armed officers were deployed to schools across the area and pupils were kept under temporary lockdown for fear that Moat might be close by; children were eventually allowed home yet all were under armed guard. The cordon around Rothbury was lifted at approximately 9 p.m. while armed patrols continued throughout the village, and vehicles were subjected to road checks whilst entering and leaving.
Further appeals, reward
In another press conference on the morning of 7 July, the police said they believed that Moat was still at large mostly likely hiding in the surrounding countryside in the Rothbury area. Within a tent thought to have been used by Moat at a secluded spot in CartingtonCartington
Cartington is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is about south west of Alnwick, and about north west of Rothbury, and has a population of 97....
, an eight-page letter to Sam Stobbart from Moat was found. In it, Moat continued to assert that Brown was connected to the police, again denied by Detective Chief Superinendent Adamson. The police called in TV survival expert Ray Mears
Ray Mears
Raymond Paul "Ray" Mears is an English woodsman, instructor, author and TV presenter. His TV appearances cover bushcraft and survival techniques, and he is best known for the TV series Ray Mears' Bushcraft, Ray Mears' World of Survival, Extreme Survival, Survival with Ray Mears, Wild Britain with...
to help track Moat's movements.
At the later press conference, the police confirmed the 5 July chip-shop robbery was a positive sighting of Moat. Northumbria Police offered a £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
10,000 reward for information that would lead to Moat's arrest. During the day, Paul Stobbart, the father of Samantha, released a video appealing to Moat to turn himself in.
The police announced on 8 July that two more men were arrested in Rothbury the previous day. Detective Chief Superinendent Neil Adamson of Northumbria Police said they considered Moat a wider threat to the public than previously thought, but would not comment further. It had been previously reported that Moat was targeting only the police, and not the public, after his initial note stating that he would not stop killing police until he was dead. Following Moat's death, it was revealed that police asked the media to dampen the reporting on aspects of Moat's private life, as he had threatened to kill a member of the public every time there was an inaccurate report.
In the afternoon, police arrested a man and a woman in the Blyth
Blyth, Northumberland
Blyth is a town and civil parish in southeast Northumberland, England. It lies on the coast, to the south of the River Blyth and is approximately 21 kilometres northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne...
area, revealed by police on 9 July.
Stand-off with police and death
On 9 July, a cordon was set up around the National Trust's CragsideCragside
Cragside is a country house in the civil parish of Cartington in Northumberland, England. It was the first house in the world to be lit using hydroelectric power...
estate in the parish of Cartington
Cartington
Cartington is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is about south west of Alnwick, and about north west of Rothbury, and has a population of 97....
. Northumbria Police reported they had recovered three mobile phones used by Moat in recent days.
In the early evening of 9 July, residents of Rothbury were told to stay indoors because a major security operation was taking place. News agencies reported that an individual resembling Moat had been surrounded by police, and was holding a gun to his head. With a 100 metres (328.1 ft) cordon established on the north bank of the River Coquet
River Coquet
The River Coquet runs through the county of Northumberland, England, discharging into the North Sea on the east coast of England at Amble. Warkworth Castle is built in a loop of the Coquet....
, close to a rainwater culvert which runs under the village, police negotiated with the suspect, who was holding a sawn-off shotgun to his neck. Food and water were reportedly brought to Moat during the confrontation, and his best friend Tony Laidler was escorted to the scene by authorities in an attempt to persuade him to surrender. At one stage, former England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
footballer Paul Gascoigne
Paul Gascoigne
Paul John Gascoigne , commonly referred to as Gazza, is a retired English professional footballer.Playing in the position of midfield, Gascoigne's career included spells at Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers, Middlesbrough, Everton and Gansu Tianma, where he scored at least a goal...
arrived at the crime scene claiming to know Moat, although he was denied access to the fugitive.
At approximately 1:15 a.m. on 10 July, news agencies reported that at least one shot had been fired in the vicinity of the stand-off. At 1:34 a.m., a police spokesman stated that "a shot or shots" had been fired and the suspect had a gunshot wound. It was reported by multiple sources that police jumped on the suspect, and that police and an ambulance were seen moving toward the site. A statement from Northumbria Police said that no shots were fired by police officers and that the suspect had shot himself; no officers were injured in the stand-off. After the shooting, Moat was transferred to an ambulance and taken to Newcastle General Hospital
Newcastle General Hospital
Newcastle General Hospital was for many years the main hospital for the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and is managed by Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust...
, where he was pronounced dead at 2:20 a.m., shortly after arrival.
Arrests
A number of arrests were made both during the hunt for Moat, and after his death.The man from Sunderland arrested in North Kenton
North Kenton
North Kenton is a suburban housing estate in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, in Tyne and Wear, England, located north west of the city centre and to the east of Kingston Park. The area includes a refurbished park, and a sports centre...
on 5 July was later released without charge, as was the man arrested on 6 July in Wrekenton
Wrekenton
Wrekenton is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, in Tyne and Wear, England, that was formerly a separate village.Wrekenton is probably best known to passers by as the location of a large branch of the Co-op supermarket...
.
On 6 July, the two men found walking along a road in Rothbury, initially believed by police to have been Moat's hostages, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder and possession of a firearm with intent. DCS Neil Adamson reported that police had initially believed there had been a "significant threat to the lives of the two men". They were later released on bail pending further enquiries. On 8 July, the two men were named as bodybuilder Karl Ness, aged 26, from Dudley
North Tyneside
The Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England and is part of the Tyneside conurbation. Its seat is Wallsend Town Hall....
, and Qhuram 'Sean' Awan, aged 23, from Blyth
Blyth, Northumberland
Blyth is a town and civil parish in southeast Northumberland, England. It lies on the coast, to the south of the River Blyth and is approximately 21 kilometres northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne...
, when they appeared at Newcastle Magistrates' Court charged with conspiracy to commit murder and possession of a firearm with intent. Both were remanded into custody until 22 July pending further hearings. It was alleged that the men had supplied the gun to Moat and were both with him when he shot PC Rathband on 4 July, and that Ness had accompanied Moat during the initial shooting of Stobbart and Brown. Prosecution counsel Paul Simpson further alleged the two men had actively helped Moat look for policemen to shoot on 4 July.
At around 6 p.m. on 7 July, police arrested two further suspects in the case, "in the vicinity of Rothbury on suspicion of assisting an offender". Police said the following day, "Both men are currently in custody and we are pursuing a range of inquiries in relation to this matter." They were later released on bail.
On the afternoon of 8 July, police arrested a man and a woman in the Blyth
Blyth, Northumberland
Blyth is a town and civil parish in southeast Northumberland, England. It lies on the coast, to the south of the River Blyth and is approximately 21 kilometres northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne...
area on suspicion of assisting an offender.
Following Moat's death, three more people were arrested on 13 July for allegedly assisting him, with three men detained at two addresses in Newcastle upon Tyne and one in Gateshead. This brought the number of arrests in relation to the manhunt to ten, with police unable to rule out further arrests in future.
On 14 July, another three men were arrested during the day on suspicion of helping Moat; it brought the number of arrests to 13. The following day, police arrested two men aged 28 and 36 in the Newcastle area on suspicion of assisting Moat, later releasing them on bail. This brought the total number of arrests to 15, with two charged, and eight released on bail. Another four were arrested on 20 July, bringing the total to 20.
Other
After the final confrontation, a search of a storm drain in Rothbury where it had been earlier speculated that Moat had evaded searchers by hiding within it, had revealed that it showed no signs of disturbance other than a discarded pink shirt.IPCC investigation and inquest
Certain aspects of the operation are to be investigated by the Independent Police Complaints CommissionIndependent Police Complaints Commission
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is a non-departmental public body in England and Wales responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales.-Role:...
(IPCC), the independent body for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales. The findings of the IPCC investigation are to also form part of the official inquest
Inquest
Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden and unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove"...
convened by the coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
to determine Moat's cause of death. The official IPCC report will not be published until the conclusion of any criminal proceedings resulting from the operation, and the conclusion of the inquest.
During the course of the manhunt, Northumbria Police had announced on 5 July that they had been warned by Durham Prison in the afternoon of Friday, 2 July, that Moat intended to seriously harm his girlfriend, with the Birtley shootings occurring in the early hours of Saturday, the next day. As a result, Temporary Chief Constable Sue Sim announced Northumbria Police would be voluntarily referring the case to the IPCC for investigation. Following Moat's death in Rothbury, it was announced that the IPCC investigation would be expanded to focus on two parts of the Northumbria Police operation - whether police could have warned Stobbart she was in danger, and the handling of the events leading to Moat's death including the discharge of two Tasers by police. The IPPC stated it would not be investigating how the manhunt itself was conducted.
On 13 July an inquest was opened and adjourned into Moat's death in Newcastle upon Tyne. The coroner declared the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. The senior IPCC investigator told the inquest that during the final confrontation, Moat had been shot by two officers from West Yorkshire Police with Taser guns in an apparent attempt to prevent Moat from killing himself, although at that time, it was still not clear whether the Tasers were fired before or after Moat turned his gun on himself. The IPCC stated to the inquest that the type of Taser used was a long range XREP Taser, which operates without wires. A Home Office spokesman said the XREP Tasers were "currently subject to testing by the Home Office Scientific Development Branch". In September 2010, it was found that Pro-Tect Systems, the company that had supplied the Tasers, had breached its licence by supplying the "experimental" weapons directly to the police. Home Secretary Theresa May subsequently revoked the firm's licence after confirming that the Tasers were never officially approved for use. On 1 October 2010, former policeman Peter Boatman
Peter Boatman
Peter Boatman was a former British police officer who worked as a consultant to, amongst others, the Youth Justice Board. He was found dead, in a suspected suicide, in his home on 1 October 2010....
, a director of Pro-Tect systems was found dead at his home. The incident was treated as a presumed suicide by police, who referred the matter to the coroner. A colleague of Mr Boatman was reported as saying that he was a 'proud man' who had felt 'ashamed' at the recent developments.
The inquest into the stand-off and death will resume in September 2011.
Resources
On 8 July, the manhunt was described as one of the largest in recent years, with the 160 armed officers deployed representing approximately 10 per cent of those available in England and Wales at any one time. (Of the 6,780 authorised firearms officers in England and Wales, a quarter are available for duty at any one time due to shift patterns.)The 100 armed officers of Northumbria Police were reinforced by 40 from London's Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
, and another 20 from West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing West Yorkshire in England. It is the fourth largest force in England and Wales by number of officers, with 5671 officers....
, South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire Police
South Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing South Yorkshire in England.The police force covers an area of approximately 1,554 square kilometres which is made up of the county's three boroughs , along with the City of Sheffield. The resident population is 1.2...
, Humberside
Humberside Police
Humberside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing an area covering the East Riding of Yorkshire, the city of Kingston upon Hull, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire...
, Cleveland
Cleveland Police
Cleveland Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the area of former county of Cleveland in north east England. The Cleveland Police area covers approximately and has a population of over 554,000....
, Strathclyde
Strathclyde Police
Strathclyde Police is the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council areas of Argyll and Bute, City of Glasgow, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and West...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Police is the police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England...
and Cumbria
Cumbria Constabulary
Cumbria Constabulary is the territorial police force in England covering Cumbria. It is currently the fifth-largest force in England and Wales in terms of geographic area but one of the smallest in terms of officer numbers. Given the force area's size and population of just under 500,000, it is...
combined. Under mutual aid arrangements, Northumbria Police is able to call on reinforcements from other forces by paying the donor force for the assistance given.
The Metropolitan Police sent eight of its Armed Response Vehicle
Armed Response Vehicle
An armed response vehicle is a type of police car operated by the British police. ARVs are crewed by Authorised Firearms Officers to respond to emergency telephone calls believed to involve firearms or other high-risk situations...
s to the region, as well as sniper teams. On 7 July, at least ten armoured anti-terrorist 4x4 vehicles were transported by ferry from Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
to assist in the operation.
The extra manpower drafted in could be reportedly sustained for several weeks without affecting armed response operations elsewhere in the country.
The Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
confirmed a Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
fighter jet had been used to help in the search. A Tornado GR4
Panavia Tornado
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing combat aircraft, which was jointly developed and manufactured by the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy...
, fitted with a RAPTOR
RAPTOR
RAPTOR is a reconnaissance pod used by the Royal Air Force on its fleet of Tornado GR.4A and GR.4 aircraft. RAPTOR is manufactured by the Goodrich Corporation....
reconnaissance pod, was deployed overnight to search the area with an infrared camera. It flew over Rothbury a second time later the next day and compared the images between its two visits.
Cumbria shootings and copycat concerns
The Northumbria shootings occurred exactly one month after the Cumbria shootingsCumbria shootings
The Cumbria shootings was a killing spree that occurred on 2 June 2010 when a lone gunman, Derrick Bird, killed 12 people and injured 11 others before killing himself in Cumbria, England....
, in which taxi driver Derrick Bird killed 12 people and injured 11 others in a wide ranging area in the neighbouring county of Cumbria, before killing himself the same day.
On 8 July Johann Hari
Johann Hari
Johann Hari is an award winning British journalist who has been a columnist at The Independent, the The Huffington Post, and contributed to several other publications. In 2011, Hari was accused of plagiarism; he subsequently was suspended from The Independent and surrendered his 2008 Orwell Prize...
, commenting in The Independent on the possible cause of the shootings, suggested under the header Did the media help to pull the trigger? that the similar "saturation-level news coverage" of the Cumbria shootings may have triggered Moat's shootings, which seemed "strikingly punctual" given the findings of research by American forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz which demonstrated that, in a country the size of the United States, such coverage causes, on average, one more mass murder in the next two weeks". He argued that "flashier front pages and extra revenue in a slow summer [are] more important to us than saving innocent lives." The theory that mass-media coverage prompted copycat offences and caused gunmen to thrive on their infamy was also supported by Kate Painter, a criminology
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
expert at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
Criticism of saturation and sensationalist coverage
Johann Hari was also generally critical of the media's glamorising of Moat, with their descriptions of him "having a hulking physique" and being "a notorious hard man", while they provided noticeably less coverage to the victims of the shootings. The Guardian'sThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
media commentator, "Media Monkey", drew attention to the way in which Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
had used police-issue body armour
Personal armor
Personal armor is the whole of protecting clothing, designed to absorb and/or deflect slashing, bludgeoning, and penetrating attacks. They were historically used to protect soldiers, whereas today, they are also used to protect police forces, private citizens and private security guards or...
and Heckler & Koch
Heckler & Koch
Heckler & Koch GmbH is a German defense manufacturing company that produces various small arms. Some of their products include the SA80, MP5 submachine gun, G3 automatic rifle, the G36 assault rifle, the HK 416, the MP7 personal defense weapon, the USP series of handguns, and the high-precision...
semiautomatic carbine
Carbine
A carbine , from French carabine, is a longarm similar to but shorter than a rifle or musket. Many carbines are shortened versions of full rifles, firing the same ammunition at a lower velocity due to a shorter barrel length....
s as studio props. Belfast Telegraph
The Belfast Telegraph
The Belfast Telegraph is a daily evening newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland by Independent News & Media.It was first published as the Belfast Evening Telegraph on 1 September 1870 by brothers William and George Baird...
observed that by 8 July the manhunt was continuing to receive "saturation coverage on radio and television". The Guardian also wrote that, to the news media, Moat had become "a valuable commodity, his actions tracked by millions".
Following Moat's death, his estranged older brother Angus described the media coverage as "the whipping up to what could be a public execution in modern Britain."
In The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, Theodore Dalrymple wrote "The late Mr Moat was a brutal sentimentalist. He used the extremity of his behaviour to persuade himself that he felt something—supposedly love—very deeply, and that this was the motive and justification of his behaviour. Surely, if he was prepared to kill not only his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart, but also her new lover and anyone who looked like him, he must have loved her very much? He also persuaded himself that he was the victim of this terrible episode. 'They took it all from me,' he said, 'kids, freedom, house, then Sam and Chanel [his daughter]. Where could I go from there?' It was only natural that he, an innocent, or at least a man not seriously at fault ('I've never punched her but have slapped her'), should have taken a gun and killed one and injured two: any man treated in this way would have done the same. What is alarming is that substantial numbers of people take this self-serving sentimental nonsense seriously, at least if the thousands of postings on the Raoul Moat Facebook tribute page, which was deleted on Thursday, were anything to go by. The logic seems to be as follows: Mr Moat called himself a victim; victims are heroes; therefore Mr Moat was a hero".
Press blackout request
On 8 July the police requested a news blackout, under the terms of a voluntary agreement between the Association of Chief Police OfficersAssociation of Chief Police Officers
The Association of Chief Police Officers , established in 1948, is a private limited company that leads the development of policing practice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.ACPO provides a forum for chief police officers to share ideas and coordinates the strategic...
and the media, about Moat's personal life as they believed such coverage would provoke him to kill more people. This followed the discovery of a dictaphone
Dictaphone
Dictaphone was an American company, a producer of dictation machines—sound recording devices most commonly used to record speech for later playback or to be typed into print. The name "Dictaphone" is a trademark, but in some places it has also become a common way to refer to all such devices, and...
in Moat's tent near Wagtail Farm, which contained a four-hour-long message to the police. In it Moat revealed that he had been following the media coverage in newspapers and had been "upset" by some of the negative articles written about him. Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Adamson told reporters: "We recovered a Dictaphone with four hours of ramblings from somebody. We don't think it is a decoy, but we're not absolutely sure. We are sure it has been made within one or two days of the shootings and the print coverage has really made him upset. There is talk of people who are being spoken to not being right and it's winding him up." The police revealed that Moat had threatened to kill a member of the public for every piece of inaccurate information published about him, and journalists were thought to be among his targets. Police also asked for articles already published about Moat's personal life to be removed from news websites, although this was said by The Guardian to be impossible due to the rolling nature and vast amount of coverage the manhunt had generated.
Social media
The Belfast Telegraph wrote on 8 July that "Outside interest in the case continued to grow...there are now more than 20 FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
sites dedicated to the hunt and "Raoul Moat" was yesterday the No 1 trending topic
Trending topic
A trending topic is a word, phrase or topic that is posted multiple times on the social networking and microblogging service Twitter. Trending topics become popular either through a concerted effort by users or because of an event that prompts people to talk about one specific topic...
on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
." On 10 July The Guardian referred to Twitter to reflect on the mass media coverage of the manhunt, writing "As one poster on Twitter put it: "I see Raoul Moat has got his own TV show. The News.""
After Moat's death, responding to a question at Prime Minister's Question Time
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime minister's questions is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom that takes place every Wednesday during which the prime minister spends half an hour answering questions from members of parliament...
on 14 July regarding a particular Raoul Moat memorial page established on Facebook, which had attracted more than 36,500 members, Prime Minister David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
condemned the site. He told the House of Commons; "It is absolutely clear that Raoul Moat was a callous murderer, full stop, end of story. [...] I cannot understand any wave, however small, of public sympathy for this man. [...] There should be sympathy for his victims and the havoc he wreaked in that community. [...] There should be no sympathy for him." Facebook later responded by saying that it would not remove the site because it encourages public debate about issues in the media. "Facebook is a place where people can express their views and discuss things in an open way as they can and do in many other places. And as such we sometimes find people discussing topics others may find distasteful, however, that is not a reason in itself to stop a debate from happening. We believe that enabling people to have these different opinions and debate about a topic can help bring together lots of different views for a healthy discussion." Cameron later said he would be making an official complaint to Facebook. The page was deleted by its creator on 15 July.
In reference to the police request for a news blackout following the discovery of Moat's dictaphone recording, The Guardian wrote that the rolling coverage resembled "a real-life Truman Show
The Truman Show
The Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The cast includes Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, as well as Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone...
with every development tracked around the world in blogs, on websites and mobile networking sites like Twitter."
AOL parody error
The AOLAOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
News Surge Desk was unable to differentiate between satirical items about the manhunt and genuine news reports, and reposted a spoof
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
article which stated: "As officers and dogs move in, citizens from around the isle are anticipating a swift and gruesome conclusion to the national drama. Some are even clamouring for it, calling it the best live entertainment they’ve seen in some time ... Families have been collecting children from schools and nurseries throughout the day so they could watch together, as expectations reached fever pitch that a violent firearms confrontation was imminent. Over 800 schools have closed across the country as a result." The original author of the spoof article, Robin Brown, commented: "Maybe it's just a sign that, in these information-saturated days, even the news is beyond satire?"
Raoul Moat's accomplices
Karl Ness, 26, was given three concurrent life sentences totaling a minimum tariff of 40 years for the murder of Christopher Brown, conspiracy to murder and the attempted murder of PC David Rathband. His friend Qhurum Awan got two concurrent life sentences for conspiracy to murder and the attempted murder of PC David Rathband and will serve at least 20 years in jail. Both men were also sentenced to seven years for robbery and Ness was given five years for a firearms offence. Ness, from Dudley in North Tyneside, was with Moat on the night he shot his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart and killed her new boyfriend Chris Brown - who he believed was a policeman.Similar operations
In covering the Moat investigation, the BBC compared and contrasted the operational tactics of modern manhunts with the previous notable British manhunts for Percy ToplisPercy Toplis
Francis Percy Toplis was a British criminal and imposter active during the First World War. He is sometimes claimed to have taken a major part in the Étaples Mutiny, as "The Monocled Mutineer", during the war, although there is some dispute as to whether he was actually present.Toplis was born in...
, Barry Prudom
Barry Prudom
Barry Peter Prudom was an English electrician and multiple murderer who became the subject of a police manhunt and what was at the time the largest armed police operation Great Britain had ever seen, involving 12 police forces. Prudom became a fugitive after killing Police Constable David Haigh on...
, Arthur Hutchinson and Malcolm Fairley.
See also
- Harry RobertsHarry Roberts (murderer)Harry Maurice Roberts is a career criminal who instigated the Shepherd's Bush Murders in which three police officers were shot dead in 1966. The killings happened after the plain-clothed officers approached the van which Roberts and two other men were sitting in, in Braybrook Street, near Wormwood...
- Spoilt Rotten: The Toxic Cult of SentimentalitySpoilt Rotten: The Toxic Cult of SentimentalitySpoilt Rotten: The Toxic Cult of Sentimentality is a book by the British writer and retired doctor and psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple, originally published in 2010. Polemical in nature, the book contends that sentimentality has become culturally entrenched in British society, with harmful...