Gunman Raoul Moat was a police informer

[Jan Klimkowski]

ecruity:

Police fired Tasers at Raoul Moat to try to prevent suicide, inquest told

• IPCC investigator says two officers discharged weapons
• Cause of death was gunshot wound to head, says coroner

The inquest into the death of gunman Raoul Moat, who died after a six-hour standoff with police, today heard that he was shot by two officers with Taser guns.

Steve Reynolds, senior investigator at the Independent Police Complaints Commission, told the hearing in Newcastle upon Tyne that the officers, from West Yorkshire police, discharged their Tasers in an apparent attempt to prevent Moat from killing himself.

The coroner, David Mitford, said the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. He adjourned the inquest until a later date.

Shortly before the hearing, police confirmed that three men were arrested today for allegedly assisting an offender.

The men were held during raids at two addresses in Newcastle and Gateshead, Northumbria police said.

A spokesman said: "At this stage the investigation is still ongoing and further arrests can't be ruled out."

It brings the number of arrests so far to 10.

Two men were remanded in custody by Newcastle magistrates until 22 July when they will appear at the city's crown court on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and possession of a firearm.

Two other men, arrested in the Northumberland village of Rothbury last Wednesday, have been released on police bail. A man and a woman arrested in Blyth, Northumberland, on Thursday, also allegedly on suspicion of assisting an offender, have also been bailed. A further arrest was made at the weekend after the standoff.

Moat, a 37-year-old former nightclub bouncer, had been hunted by police concerning three shootings.

He died during a stand-off early on Saturday in Rothbury.

The hunt began after he was suspected of killing his former girlfriend Samantha Stobbart's new boyfriend, Chris Brown, and injuring her, in Birtley, Gateshead on 3 July. Within 24 hours, he declared "war" on police and shot PC David Rathband, 42, a married father of two, who was sitting in his patrol car in East Denton, Newcastle. It is feared the officer's sight may be irreparably damaged but he has said that he bears no grudge against Moat and is determined to return to work.

The storm drain in Rothbury, where Moat was suspected of hiding, was searched but an examination showed no signs of disturbance.

Moat's brother Angus, a 39-year-old tax inspector from Gateshead, has said he died in a "public execution" after officers from West Yorkshire fired two Tasers at him moments before he shot himself.

It was not clear whether the Tasers were fired before or after Moat turned his gun on himself, Reynolds told the inquest.

It could be up to a year before the IPCC publishes the findings of its report as it has to wait for any criminal proceedings and the inquest to be concluded.

An IPCC spokesman said part of the investigation was into whether police could have done warned Stobbart about the danger she was in. The other element was events leading to Moat's death. The IPCC was not looking at how the hunt was conducted.

The watchdog is interviewing senior officers in charge of the operation, firearms officers and the negotiators involved in the standoff. They will also speak with members of the public who witnessed events.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/13...ed-inquest