Viewers have been reliving the horrific shooting spree of Raoul Moat as part of a controversial new true crime drama on ITV.
The first episode of the three-part series The Hunt for Raoul Moat aired last night, portraying the seven-day search for gunman Moat in July 2010, which was the biggest manhunt in modern British history.
After killing one person and wounding two others in a two-day shooting spree, Moat, 37, managed to evade the police for days by camping out in the Northumbrian countryside.
Before his days on the run, he had been released from Durham Prison on July 1, having served an 18-week sentence for assaulting a child.
Here, FEMAIL is recapping the nightmare in Northumberland – and telling the story of those caught up in the deadly drama….
Raoul Moat
After killing one person and wounding two others in a two-day shooting spree, Raoul Moat (pictured), 37, managed to evade the police for days by camping out in the Northumbrian countryside
A three-part series called The Hunt for Raoul Moat is airing on ITV this week. The first episode aired on Sunday. Pictured: Matt Stokoe as Moat
Moat became Britain’s most wanted fugitive after he went on the run for seven days before taking his own life in a stand-off with armed police in July 2010.
He had murdered Christopher Brown, 29, who was dating Moat’s ex-partner Samantha Stobbart, who he also shot and wounded in the street in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
The former nightclub bouncer then shot and blinded PC David Rathband, who tragically took his own life two years later aged 44.
Moat, 37, threatened to target more police officers after launching into his murderous rampage following his release from prison.
He was released from Durham Prison on July 1, having served an 18-week sentence for assaulting a child.
While in prison, his girlfriend Samantha, 15 years his junior and mother to his daughter Chanel, told him that she had a new partner, karate instructor Chris.
Knowing Moat has a violent temper, Samantha tried to protect them by saying Brown was a policeman.
Moat wrote on Facebook: ‘Gonna lose my home and lost my Mrs of nearly 6 years to a copper. Like they haven’t f****d my life enough over the years. I’ve lost everything… watch and see what happens.’
On July 3, after a night out, Samantha and Chris were at a friend’s house in Birtley on the outskirts of Newcastle. Moat was crouched down outside an open window armed with a sawn-off shotgun listening to the conversations inside.
His daughter Chanel was asleep upstairs. Samantha kissed Chris Brown goodbye as he left the house. Suddenly Moat appeared and shot Chris twice at close range, then reloaded and fired a fatal shot to his head.
Samantha ran inside and Moat fired at her through a window, hitting her in the arm and stomach. He watched Samantha crawl out of the room then ran to his car.
Police then announced they were trying to trace Raoul Moat in connection with the shootings and warned the public not to approach him.
Less than 24 hours after shooting Samantha and Chris, the gunman crept up on unarmed PC David Rathband as he sat in his patrol car by a roundabout in Newcastle.
The 37-year-old former doorman shot the father-of-two twice in the face. In March 2009 PC Rathband had interviewed Moat under caution in the back of his police car for driving a van that was uninsured to carry scrap metal.
After the shooting spree, Moat went on the run for a week, assisted by two accomplices. Northumbria Police organised a mass manhunt which included 160 armed officers.
Moat was later located by a riverbank but after a six-hour standoff with the police, he shot himself. He was rushed to Newcastle General Hospital and was pronounced dead by doctors.
Samantha Stobbart
Ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart (pictured), then 22, was hospitalised in the shooting
Ms Stobbart (pictured) was left critically injured after she was shot in the stomach by Moat and only survived because her arm had partially blocked the shot
Ms Stobbart, pictured in March 2011, told a court of the horrifying moment Moat blasted her boyfriend before turning his shotgun on her and shooting her
Samantha Stobbart had spent six years with Moat before he tried to murder her with a shotgun.
She reportedly met Moat when she was 16. At the time of Moat’s shooting spree, they had a four-year-old girl, Chanel, together.
Ms Stobbart, then a 22-year-old trainee hairdresser, had started dating karate instructor Chris Brown while Moat was jailed.
In an interview with the Daily Star in 2011, her sister Claire Burdis said Samantha was ‘terrified of Raoul’ and wanted him to stay away from her. The ‘vengeful’ killer had become obsessed by the fact she was in a new relationship.
On July 3, just days after being released from jail, Moat shot her through the window of a friend’s house moments after ‘calmly’ executing her boyfriend with a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun.
Describing the horror in court in 2011, Ms Stobbart said: ‘It all happened so quickly. Chris walked in front of me. Raoul then shot him. Chris went down on to the grass. Raoul was shouting. He then went to point the gun at my legs.
‘I ran back to the house. I couldn’t see anybody. I was panicking because my daughter was upstairs. I couldn’t find the keys (to lock the door).
‘Jackie was hiding in the kitchen, Karl was hiding in the bathroom and my mum was upstairs.
‘She had the children and was getting them in the loft. I looked out of the window and it was done.
‘I just remember Chris slouch down on to his knees and then from what I remember I got shot. I didn’t fall to the ground straight away. It took 20 seconds and then I just collapsed. I remember blood pumping out of my arm and my chest.’
The shotgun cartridge penetrated her left arm and entered her abdomen. Samantha was rushed to the nearby Queen Elizabeth hospital in Gateshead, where she was left fighting for her life.
On July 5, 2010, she was declared to no longer be in a critical condition following the attack, and left hospital on July 17.
On the same day, she issued a direct appeal to Moat, who was in hiding having gone on the run. She said: ‘Please give yourself up. If you still loved me and our baby you would not be doing this.’
Later that year, she told The News of the World how there had been ‘nothing’ she could do ‘against a madman with a gun’.
Christopher Brown
Chris Brown (pictured) was gunned down and killed by Raoul Moat on July 3, 2010
Karate instructor Chris Brown was murdered by Raoul Moat in the early hours of July 3, 2010.
The 29-year-old had been in a relationship with Moat’s ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart – who had lied to her former lover, telling him she was dating a police officer.
Mr Brown had moved from Windsor, Berkshire, to Tyneside six months before being gunned down and was living in a flat in Gateshead when he met Samantha while promoting his martial arts classes.
On the night of his murder, the heroic martial artist confronted gunman Moat as Ms Stobbart cowered in the home of friends Jackie and Karl Wilkinson.
Moat – released from prison just 36 hours earlier – had been crouching below the living room window of the Wilkinsons’ home listening to his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend.
When Ms Stobbart and Mr Brown left shortly after 2.30am he ‘jumped up’, a court was told.
Ms Stobbart said at an inquest that Mr Brown had deliberately stepped in front of Moat to protect her as she ran back inside the Wilkinsons’ home.
Former doorman Moat shot the karate instructor in the neck and chest before putting a third shot in his head at close range, Newcastle Crown Court heard in 2011.
Hundreds of mourners gathered on August 6, 2010, to mark Mr Brown’s funeral at Slough Crematorium, Berkshire.
Mr Brown’s family previously criticised Ms Stobbart for lying about her new boyfriend being a police officer, knowing Moat hated police.
They have also blamed police officers for not warning Mr Brown that his life could be in danger following Moat’s release from prison.
Christopher Brown’s mother
In April, Christopher’s mother Sally Brown, 72, hit out at TV bosses for ignoring the distress of families in their pursuit of ratings.
Grandmother Sally, who lives in Slough, with daughter Beckie, slammed The Hunt for Raoul Moat.
Sally Brown, 72, pictured in 2020
Mrs Brown told MailOnline: ‘When they make these programmes no one ever thinks about the mothers. We want to know why they are doing this now?
‘It just opens up old wounds for us just so that they can attract viewers and make millions out of it. They should allow my son to rest in peace.
‘My daughter and I have both suffered with our health because of all this. It’s going to have a ripple effect.
‘My 19-year-old granddaughter heard about it when it was announced they had began filming and she asked me ‘What is this programme they are making about Christopher?’ She said don’t get involved in it, it’s just going to make you ill again.’
Sally – who keeps her son’s ashes at home so ‘he can be with me’ – added: ‘They should leave it alone and let Christopher and David rest in peace. Just leave them be.’
PC David Rathband
During his time on the run, Moat declared war on the police after shooting PC David Rathband (pictured) in the face whilst he was parked up in a patrol car on a roundabout in Newcastle
PC David Rathband (left) with his twin brother Darren, after being shot in the face twice by Raoul Moat. He was left blinded by the attack
PC Rathband took his life on February 29, 2012, after his 20-year marriage ended the year before. Pictured, his funeral in Stafford
During his time on the run, Moat declared war on the police after shooting PC David Rathband in the face whilst he was parked up in a patrol car on a roundabout in Newcastle.
In March 2009 PC David had interviewed Moat under caution in the back of his police car for driving a van that was uninsured to carry scrap metal.
PC David Rathband recalled: ‘I looked into his eyes, a focus of ice-cold white, from which any warmth had long since passed. There was a white flash of light from the barrel and that was the last thing I saw.’
Kath Rathband
In 2017, Kath Rathband – the widow of hero policeman David Rathband – was faced with new heartache after splitting from her second husband.
She is reported to have discovered messages to a former sweetheart on husband John McGee’s Facebook.
It is believed that Mr McGee began exchanging messages with the woman after she made contact initially.
‘She’s devastated. She thought this was her new beginning. Now here life is shattered again’, a close friend told the Sunday Mirror.
Kath Rathband is pictured left on her wedding day with her second husband John McGee
The woman, who Mr McGee is believed to know form his schooldays, is thought to have reached out when she heard about his marriage to Kath Rathband in October last year.
The messages continued for a number of months and they are believed to have grown close again.
It is thought that Mrs Rathband kicked Mr McGee out their home after discovering messages to the woman on his phone.
Mrs Rathband was still recovering from her husband’s death when she met John McGee – 10 months later, they moved in together.
At the time of their wedding, she said: ‘I’m happier now than I ever have been – and I’m absolutely sure David would be happy for me.’
Moat shot him right between the eyes and he slumped into the footwell. The killer waited to see if he was dead.
PC Rathband could hear his blood splashing on the dashboard and then the sound of the gun reloading, so instinctively put his left arm up to protect himself.
Moat fired once more but, still conscious, Rathband decided to play dead, knowing that if he moved his attacker would finish him off. Moat walked away.
PC David Rathband was blinded for life. He received many tributes for his bravery including one from a then Prince Charles who wrote: ‘The United Kingdom owes a huge debt of gratitude to policemen like yourself.’
Almost 18 months after the shooting, David was found hanged at his home in Blyth. A coroner ruled that he could not cope with his disability and the subsequent breakdown of his marriage.
The officer had moved out of the marital home in August 2011 after his wife found out he was having an affair with 7/7 London bombing survivor Lisa French.
He became a national hero and used his profile to set up the Blue Lamp Foundation to support 999 staff injured at work. However, the inquest heard Mr Rathband had made threats to kill himself and told Miss French he had attempted to hang himself but could not go through with it.
On the night Mr Rathband took his own life, his estranged wife Kath visited him for the last time. She said she thought he looked ‘awful’ and decided he needed support. But she felt she was not the right person to be with him and contacted his sister Debbie Essery and his welfare officer.
Concluding that Rathband took his own life, Coroner Eric Armstrong said: ‘The circumstances of his injuries [inflicted by Moat] are well known. It is difficult, if not impossible, not to view the infliction of those injuries as the first step in a series which culminated in his death.
‘Many people may look back, police officers and others, and with the benefit of hindsight, form the view that they wish they could have done something else. Could I implore them not to carry that out? Decisions were taken which at the time seemed appropriate and were justified at the time.’
In a statement read after the hearing by lawyer Philip Davison, Kath thanked family and friends for their ‘unwavering’ support. She said: ‘David fought so hard to come to terms with the devastating injuries that resulted from the shooting and the effect it had on us all as a family.
‘Whilst I have lost David, he has left me with two amazing children and he would be immensely proud of them and what they have achieved, as I am.’
Ms Stobbart said: ‘That’s another life that Raoul’s taken away. Even when he’s dead he is still hurting people.’
Raoul Moat’s children
Caroline Dodd, 43, and her daughter Katelaine Fitzpatrick (pictured), 24, were taken into hiding while the crazed bodybuilder went on his rampage
The mother of Raoul Moat’s oldest child shared her fears over the weekend that ITV’s drama The Hunt for Raoul Moat will only ‘glorify his crimes’.
Caroline Dodd, 43, suggested the killer would have loved being back in the spotlight. She and her daughter Katelaine Fitzpatrick, 24, were taken into hiding while the crazed bodybuilder went on his rampage.
She said: ‘This series will throw Raoul Moat back into the limelight and glorify his crime. He would have loved it.
‘He doesn’t deserve that, or the admiration that comes with it. He was referred to as a ‘hero’ at the time and this will bring that back.’
Earlier this week former detective chief superintendent Neil Adamson, the ex-head of Northumbria CID, said the gunman was ‘a controlling and deranged misogynistic bully’.
He condemned the support he received from some 30,000 people who liked a Facebook page named ‘RIP Raoul Moat You Legend’.
Mrs Dodd added to the Sun: ‘He should never be seen as a role model. He was a narcissist and a bully. He has always been violent, scary and aggressive. He was abusive to me and many other partners.’
It’s thought Moat had a total of six children from different women, according to The Mirror. It’s unclear what has happened to his other children.
Raoul Moat’s mother
In 2020, Moat’s mother broke her silence almost 10 years after his shooting spree that sparked a huge manhunt – revealing that she has disowned her son.
Moat’s mother, Josephine Healey, then aged 73, told the Mirror: ‘He is not my son.’
She added that the ordeal is still causing ‘a lot of trouble for me’, revealing she was still receiving abusive messages posted through her letterbox.
At the time of Moat’s standoff with officers, when he threatened to kill any policeman who crossed his path, Mrs Healey spoke at length about her son’s dramatic change.
She said her gentle son disappeared at the age of 19, replaced by a snarling man who hated everything – and everyone.
He returned to her home after a lengthy absence in 2007 and, standing on the doorstep, made a gun gesture with his fingers before threatening to kill her.
‘Why would he do that?’ she asked on the penultimate day of Moat’s standoff. ‘It was like he was not my real son. He now has a totally different character, attitude and manner. Every last detail.’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk