THE BRITISH police watchdog said yesterday it was “not even close” to establishing the timeline of events surrounding the death of gunman Raoul Moat after a report suggested he was “Tasered” after he shot himself.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it was still analysing the evidence and could not confirm the report that said the 37-year-old had shot himself and then was only later hit by Tasers fired by armed police at the end of a six-hour stand-off last month. The exact circumstances of how the gunman died have been the subject of intense speculation after the controversial use of Tasers when a national manhunt ended in Moat’s death.
Family members have paid for a second postmortem examination, claiming that the first found no evidence that Moat was hit by Tasers.
A source told Sky News that police negotiators felt they were making positive progress with him during the stand-off in the Northumberland town of Rothbury.
Moat discussed how life would be in prison, but then the tone changed and he got to his feet and moved his shotgun to the side of his head.
He said how he would miss his loved ones, and shortly afterwards shot himself, according to the report.
After the blast, officers fired Tasers twice, although neither round made proper contact with him, it was reported, lodging instead in his hooded top.
That would explain there being no marks on his body from the stun gun rounds. The IPCC took over the Moat inquiry immediately after his death on July 10th.
A spokesman yesterday said investigators still had much work to do, analysing audio of the run-up to the blast and checking the accounts of the armed officers and negotiators.
“We are not there yet,” the spokesman said. We are not even close to being there yet. I do not know who the source is, but this has not come from our investigation.
“It is not something that has been established by our investigation yet.”
The Moat family solicitor had no comment to make on the report, and neither did Northumbria Police.
Moat shot and wounded his ex- girlfriend Sam Stobbart in Birtley, Gateshead, last month, after killing her new boyfriend Chris Brown. The day after, he blinded unarmed policeman David Rathband by shooting him in the face on the outskirts of Newcastle.
He then declared war on police and went into hiding for a week before he was cornered at the River Coquet in Rothbury, the pretty tourist town where he was suspected of lying low. – (PA)