Inquest opens into Raoul Moat’s death
Tuesday 13th July 2010, 2:00PM BST.
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Two police officers fired taser guns at Raoul Moat before he shot himself, an inquest opening heard today.
Independent Police Complaints Authority senior investigator, Steve Reynolds, told the hearing in Newcastle that the officers discharged their tasers in an apparent attempt to prevent Moat from killing himself.
Newcastle coroner David Mitford said the cause of Moat’s death was a gunshot wound to the head.
Moat was cornered a week after shooting former girlfriend Samantha Stobbart and killing her new partner, Chris Brown, at a house County Durham.
After he killed Mr Brown and then shot Constable David Rathband, Moat fled, sparking one of the biggest manhunts in British history.
Sky News today reported that one police officer fired a shotgun taser at Moat during the stand-off.
The controversial weapon is more powerful than the standard hand-held taser, and does not have full Home Office approval. Earlier today police arrested three men for allegedly assisting an offender during the hunt for Moat. Today’s arrests bring the total to 10 made so far in the investigation.
It came as Britain’s most senior police officer, Sir Paul Stephenson, criticised the outburst of macabre hero worship for Moat. The Scotland Yard boss labelled ghoulish tributes as “extraordinarily disappointing”.
Sir Paul said: “People really do need to think about what precisely they are saying about our society and individuals in it.”
Almost 17,000 people have joined a Facebook gr-oup called RIP Raoul Moat You Legend. Flowers and cards have transformed the riverside in Rothbury where Moat died into a shrine.
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