2010 Northumbria Police manhunt

2010 Northumbria Police manhunt
Rothbury
Location	Tyne and Wear and Northumberland, England, United Kingdom
Date	3–9 July 2010
Attack type	Shootings, manhunt
Weapons	Sawn-off shotgun
Deaths	2 (including the perpetrator)
Non-fatal injuries	2
Perpetrator	Raoul Thomas Moat

Raoul Moat
Police image of Raoul Moat
Born	Raoul Thomas Moat 17 June 1973 Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom
Died	10 July 2010(2010-07-10) (aged 37) Rothbury, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom
Cause of death	Self-inflicted gunshot wound
Occupation	Panel beater Bouncer Tree surgeon
Children	Three

A major police operation took place in the summer of 2010 in Tyne and Wear and Northumberland, England, during which armed police officers under the command of the Northumbria Police force were deployed to apprehend Raoul Moat, a 37-year-old man from Newcastle upon Tyne who was on the run after shooting three people in two days. His victims were ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart, her new partner Chris Brown, and police officer David Rathband. Stobbart was hospitalised and Brown was killed, while Rathband remained in hospital for nearly three weeks and was permanently blinded. Moat, who had recently been released from Durham Prison, shot the three with a sawn-off shotgun, two days after his release. After six days on the run, Moat was recognised by police and contained in the open, leading to a standoff. After nearly six hours of negotiation, Moat shot himself in the early hours of the following morning, and was later pronounced dead at Newcastle General Hospital. The operation took place across the entire Northumbria Police area, which covers both the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear and the county of Northumberland.

The manhunt began after the shootings of Stobbart and Brown in the early hours of 3 July 2010 in Birtley. Nearly 22 hours later, the shooting of traffic police officer Rathband, parked in East Denton, was linked to Moat. Moat was believed to have a grudge against the police after Stobbart had lied to Moat about being in a relationship with a police officer. Shortly after his release from prison, Moat posted threats to police and others on his Facebook profile. Moat apparently targeted Rathband randomly, simply for being a police officer, although on an earlier occasion Rathband had confiscated Moat's van on the suspicion that it was not insured. Moat also made threats, in two letters and several phone calls, that he would kill any officer who attempted to stop him. Both the police and some of Moat's relatives made several appeals for Moat to give himself up for the sake of his children. After a sighting on the night of 5 July in an armed robbery at Seaton Delaval, on 6 July it was announced that Moat was believed to be in Rothbury. The police manhunt remained focused there with several further suspected sightings, until the final confrontation at Riverside, Rothbury.