DOZENS OF heavily armed police sharpshooters have been deployed in forests in Northumbria in northeast England as the five-day hunt for fugitive murder suspect Raoul Moat continues with the help of armoured jeeps sent by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
So far, police still believe that Moat, who is suspected of killing one man and injuring his former girlfriend and a police officer, is living rough on the fells surrounding Rothbury village, 40 miles north of Newcastle. A tent used by him was discovered by a farmer’s daughter yesterday afternoon when she noticed smoke coming from a campfire. Despite the risk, she went to the campsite, but Moat had disappeared.
The fire was still burning when she arrived, fuelled by fencing and timber from a disused farmhouse. Police were immediately called and they found an eight-page letter from Moat – the second from him since Saturday last. In the latest letter, Moat said he believed that the man he is alleged to have killed, Chris Brown – his former girlfriend’s new partner – had been a policeman. He was not.
Anthony Wright, a friend of Moat who spoke to him after the first shootings on Saturday, said the nightclub bouncer, who was released from Durham jail last Thursday after a nine-week sentence for assault, had told him then that he had two shotgun cartridges left after he attacked his ex-girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart and her partner.
“When I heard the policeman [Constable David Rathband] had been shot twice I realised he’d used those final two bullets in that attack,” he said. “It would explain why he’s gone quiet over the last few days,” Mr Wright said yesterday.
However, heavily armed police on the ground, including snipers sent by London’s Metropolitan Police, are still operating in the belief that he is armed.
Meanwhile, Northumbrian police have tried to make contact with Moat, sending a letter last evening to his friends: “Early on Sunday morning you contacted us on two occasions by dialling 999 and told us about what you had done and why you did these things. You told us how angry you were and you also told us that you were sorry that Sam had been so seriously hurt.
“We understand how personal and important these things are to you. We want you to contact us again as soon as you are able so we can discuss these things with you and provide you with a full update on how Sam is. Please call us on 999 and you will be through to us immediately,” the letter from Det Chief Supt Neil Adamson said.
Police have offered a £10,000 reward for information that leads to Moat’s capture. Supt Adamson said he still had a gut feeling that the 37-year-old fugitive was still in, or around Rothbury – where he used to come with a previous girlfriend, a local woman. However, some police officers admitted he may have fled the area.
Two men arrested on Tuesday are still being questioned by police. For three days detectives had believed Moat had kidnapped them. Supt Adamson said police had received hundreds of reported sightings in Rothbury and elsewhere, but he feared some people were still giving him help.
Police are still patrolling Rothbury, but the restrictions imposed on Monday and Tuesday have been lifted, although cars travelling into and out of the area are still being searched. The heightened security will remain in place until the hunt ends, local police say, though some village residents are becoming distressed over the length of time it is taking.