Raoul Moat told girlfriend ‘I’m going to go crazy’ in call that led to rampage

Inquest also told that police received a later call from Moat saying he was hunting down officers and ‘not coming in alive’ A recording of a phone call from Raoul Moat was played to an inquest jury in which he warned his girlfriend that he was “going to go crazy” after she told him she wanted him out of her life. The call between Samantha Stobbart and the 37-year-old bouncer was made when Moat was in prison and police said it was a catalyst for his murderous rampage, Newcastle crown court heard, on the first day of the inquest. Within days of his release from Durham prison, Moat shot and injured 22-year-old Stobbart, the mother of his child, and killed her new boyfriend, 29-year-old Chris Brown. The jury also heard a later call from Moat to police in which he said he was hunting down officers and was “not coming in alive”. That call, to an emergency call handler, came after he had attacked Stobbart and Brown in Birtley, Tyne and Wear, in July 2010, and shortly before he shot unarmed Pc David Rathband, blinding him, as he sat in his police car. He claimed he had taken two hostages and would kill them and any police officer who approached him. Moat expressed remorse for injuring his girlfriend, but added that he had been “stitched up” by the police for a number of years. Moat had thought, incorrectly, that Brown was a police officer; it was what Stobbart had told him in an attempt to keep him away from her. He told the call handler: “Now, my girlfriend has been having an affair behind my back with one of your officers. This gentleman that I shot last night, the karate instructor … You bastards have been on to me, right, for years. You have hassled us, harassed us, you just won’t leave us alone. “I went straight six years ago when I met her and I have tried my best to have a normal life and you just won’t let up. You won’t leave us alone for five minutes. I can’t drive down the street without the blue lights flashing.” The call continued: “But the fact of the matter is I’m not coming in alive … You wanted me to kill myself but I’m going to give you a chance because I’m hunting for officers now, right?” The call handler said: “No. Please don’t do that. We don’t want any more killing, all right?” Moat hung up. The earlier recording was made in June 2010, while Moat was serving an 18-week prison sentence for assault. Police retrieved three recorded calls from the prison during their investigation. In one of the calls, Moat asked Stobbart: “What’s wrong?” She replied: “It’s over.” “Over what?” he asked her. “I’ve had enough,” she said. “Of what?” Moat said. “Everything.” Moat said: “We had one argument the other day. Let’s not get all silly about it.” He complained that “everybody is getting on my case” and that he was getting “picked on”. The conversation ended with the phone being slammed down. In the second call, Moat told Stobbart: “You are the only person I have ever cared about. I can’t have you out of my life. I’m going to go crazy, man.” She told him she had met a new man who was “a lot younger than you”. Superintendent Jim Napier, of Northumbria police, said: “It is clear from the evidence that Moat’s breakup with Samantha Stobbart was the catalyst for his murderous acts.” Moat – who became the subject of a huge manhunt – died following a six-hour stand-off with police marksmen. He shot himself in the head after the stand-off at Rothbury, Northumberland, during which police twice fired XREP Tasers that had not been approved by the Home Office. The 11 members of the jury sworn in at Newcastle crown court will decide whether the Taser rounds contributed to the former nightclub doorman’s death. The coroner, David Mitford, told jurors that an inquest was needed because, “Mr Moat met his death when he was effectively detained [in the siege with police]“. He added: “It will not have escaped your attention that there were some weapons called Tasers used on the night in question. Those Tasers were supplied to Northumbria Police by a firm called Pro-Tec Limited.” He urged the jurors to do “the impossible” and forget what they had already heard about the Moat case. “There will be questions about the weapons used, how police managed the incident, how officers dealt with the deceased and how he acted”, the jury was told. The jury was also read six letters in which Moat indicated he might take his own life. They were addressed to his former girlfriend, to social services, his business partner Karl Ness and other friends. The letters outlined the problems in his life and told his friends what to do with his belongings. Superintendent Napier said the letters found in a search indicated Moat was “suicidal or had been suicidal in the past” and the letters appeared to be prepared by Moat and intimated he intended to take his own life. Napier said officers also found a noose in the property near the loft hatch, he told the jury. Officers found fishing weights and material that suggested they could be converted to ammunition. ” Napier said: “Following the shooting of Pc Rathband and Moat’s declaration he was hunting for officers, this search developed on to a scale we have never really experienced in Northumbria police and I understand seldom experienced before in the UK.” Moat left a note with a friend that said: “I’m a killer and a maniac but I ain’t a coward. I’m not on the run, I will keep killing police until I am dead. They’ve hunted me for years, now it’s my turn.” The inquest, which is expected to last four weeks, continues. Raoul Moat Crime Helen Carter guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 5, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.