Raoul Moat accomplices found guilty

Qhuram Awan and Karl Ness face life sentences after being convicted of aiding Raoul Moat’s gun rampage last summer Two accomplices who helped the fugitive killer gunman Raoul Moat stay on the run for almost a week are facing life sentences after being convicted of a number of serious offences, including conspiracy to murder, by a jury. Qhuram Awan, 23, and Karl Ness, 26, claimed they had been held hostage by Moat during his rampage through Northumberland last summer. But the jury at Newcastle crown court rejected their version of events and found they conspired with their friend before, during and after Moat shot three people, killing one and seriously injuring the others. They were convicted of a series of charges and can expect life sentences. Ness was convicted of murder and both were found guilty of conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and robbery of a chip shop. Ness was convicted of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life but Awan was cleared of the same charge. The first victim was Chris Brown, 29, a karate expert who was shot dead. He was dating Moat’s former partner Samantha Stobbart, 22, whom Moat shot and seriously injured at a house in Birtley, Gateshead. Brown’s mother, Sally, wept as the verdicts were delivered. Moat then declared war on Northumberland police and shot and blinded unarmed traffic officer Pc David Rathband. Relatives of victims cried “Yes” when the unanimous verdicts were read out. One male jury member appeared overcome by the emotion in the courtroom and had his head in his hands. Pc Rathband hugged his wife, Kath, and sobbed in the public gallery as the verdicts were announced. Mr Justice McCombe said: “A lot of people have been seriously affected by this case.” Moat had a grudge against police after he wrongly believed that Stobbart was dating a police officer. Moat died in July after a six-hour standoff with police in Rothbury, Northumberland, when he shot himself, despite hostage negotiators trying to persuade him to put the gun down. He was also shot by a police Taser that had not undergone proper testing. The hunt for Moat led to a Tornado fighter jet, normally used on covert missions in Afghanistan, being brought in to scour the countryside at dusk as hundreds of officers searched the countryside and woodland in Rothbury. Survival expert Ray Mears was brought in to advise officers after an abandoned campsite was discovered on the edge of the village. The search, costing £1.4m, was one of the biggest ever police operations in the UK. The fugitive’s ability to keep one step ahead of the police for a week fuelled further interest in the investigation, putting pressure on detectives who knew just how dangerous Moat could be. Moat, a former bouncer, had a history of violence and was involved in at least two road rage incidents. He regularly beat his girlfriend and was jailed for assaulting a child. From prison, he ordered Ness to spy on Stobbart, asking him to go through her bins, check her Facebook account and sit outside her house to catch her with another man. During the trial, Awan said he felt he was trapped in a cross between a Bourne Identity film and the Grand Theft Auto game. In notes he made entitled “Diary of a hostage” he wrote: “I know it sounds horrible but it is a game about a man on a mission. You’re going round shooting people and stealing cars.” For a time, the police ordered a news blackout as they thought they were dealing with a hostage situation while Moat was on the run. However, Ness and Awan were willing participants. Awan admitted driving Moat and Ness in his black Lexus from the roundabout where the gunman shot and blinded unarmed officer Rathband. The trial heard that Moat had laughed in the moments after he seriously injured Rathband. Awan claimed he had played along with Moat because he was too afraid to turn him over to the police and said he thought he was only going to “scare” Rathband, not shoot him. Awan said he feared for his life after Moat made threats against his family, and told him: “You’re with me now.” The part-time mechanic, of Blyth, Northumberland, waved to a police helicopter moments before he and Ness were caught by armed officers. He told the court of his relief upon being arrested, and his belief that he would be released to see his family immediately after being interviewed. Detective superintendent Jim Napier said: “Ness was a very close associate of Moat’s – you could probably refer to him as Moat’s right-hand man. He did a lot of running about for Moat, a lot of his dirty work. “Ness was a long-term friend of Moat’s. Moat was the dominant, bullying, assertive, bodybuilding individual. Ness would look after his house, his dogs, his car, run errands for him. “He was under the influence of Raoul Moat and would do whatever Moat demanded, willingly, and always.” Ness’s mother, Maureen, said her son was scared of Moat, his only friend. She said: “I felt on the one hand Karl admired Raoul, but on the other hand he also feared him. If Karl mentioned Raoul I would say, ‘Don’t go, you don’t have anything to do with him’, because I didn’t think he was any good. “Karl took no notice, he just said, ‘It’s OK, mam’.” Much of the evidence used against Awan and Ness came from CCTV cameras that “paranoid” Moat had installed outside his home in Fenham, Newcastle. Napier said the three men were in cahoots and he said “neither has taken responsibility for his actions or shown any remorse. For me, that sums up their cowardliness. They are beneath contempt.” Sentencing was adjourned by the judge until Tuesday. Raoul Moat Gun crime Crime Helen Carter guardian.co.uk

Posted by on March 11, 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.