Raoul Moat inquest jury hears phone call that sparked rampage

Tape records anger of fugitive who went on to kill after girlfriend told him their relationship was over A tape recording of the conversation between Raoul Moat and his girlfriend that prompted his murderous rampage following his release from prison was played to an inquest jury on Monday. In the recording, Moat reacted angrily when Samantha Stobbart told him their relationship was over. 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. Moat asked Stobbart: “What’s wrong?” “It’s over”, she replies. “Over what?” he asks her. “I’ve had enough” she says. “Of what?” Moat says. “Everything” she replies. Moat says: “We had one argument the other day. Let’s not get all silly about it.” He complains that “everybody is getting on my case” and that he is getting “picked on”. The conversation ends with the phone being slammed down. In a second call, Moat tells 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 tells him she has met a new man who is “a lot younger than you”. Superintendent Jim Napier, of Northumbria police, said: “It is clear from the evidence that Moat’s break-up with Samantha Stobbart was the catalyst for his murderous acts.” Moat, 37, died following a six-hour stand-off with police marksmen in July 2010 after a rampage during which he shot and blinded PC David Rathband, an unarmed officer, as he sat in his police car. Moat 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. Moat had been serving an 18-week prison sentence for assault when the call was made in June 2010. Police retrieved three recorded calls from the prison during their investigation. The coroner, David Mitford, told jurors that an inquest was needed because “Mr Moat met his death when he was effectively detained”. 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 asked the jurors to try to do “the impossible” and forget what they had already heard about the Moat case. “There have been lots of theories and conclusions drawn, some of which may have been accurate, some of which may not,” he said. The inquest will focus on the events in Rothbury on 9 and 10 July, he added. 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. But it will first hear why so many officers were involved in the “manhunt”, the coroner said. Barristers for the Moat family, the chief constable of Northumbria, West Yorkshire police and Pro-Tec were in court, Mitford said. Moat’s brother, Angus, and his uncle and biological father were also in court. The inquest is expected to last four weeks. Raoul Moat Crime Police Tasers 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.