Gunman Raoul Moat was a police informer

[Jan Klimkowski]

Killer Raoul Moat 'worked as police informer'

Jul 12 2010 Evening Chronicle

FUGITIVE killer Raoul Moat worked as a police informer for years before he was finally put behind bars, it has been claimed.

Friends and former criminal associates told yesterday how Moat had evaded justice for 10 years despite serious criminal charges against him.

As far back as 2000 he faced a case of conspiracy to commit murder but was not charged.

He was later found with a knuckle duster and admitted possessing an offensive weapon when he appeared before the courts – but received the lightest possible sentence, an absolute discharge.

He was eventually locked up for assault on a minor.

Moat’s former associate Brian Moulding, 29, claimed he discovered his friend was a police informer when he provided evidence to police for a prosecution against him.

He said: “Look at his record. See how many times he was arrested on serious charges, and escaped with a slap on the wrist. He was getting preferential treatment from the courts because he was useful to the police.”

The former bouncer, who killed himself after more than a week on the run as Britain’s most wanted man, was jailed for 18 weeks earlier this year for assault on a minor. He refused to deal with his probation officers and ended up in Durham jail.

Northumbria Police declined to comment on Moat’s past due to the ongoing Independent Police Complaints Commission probe into the case.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-eas...-26835118/

[Jan Klimkowski]

Raoul Moat was police informer - exclusive

Gun madman Raoul Moat was a secret police informant for years, it emerged last night.

During his week-long manhunt the crazed killer, 37, blasted innocent PC David Rathband and vowed to murder other officers after boasting he had “declared war” on police.

But in truth he had spent years grassing up underworld figures to cops – which let him avoid jail despite a 10-YEAR association with violence that saw him arrested up to 12 times, including for conspiracy to murder.

He eventually received an 18-week prison term this year for assaulting a minor – a sentence that sparked his hatred of the force.

An officer admitted at the weekend: “Sometimes we’re able to make things go away if they don’t involve violence but there are no guarantees. Sometimes we have to say, ‘Sorry, tough luck’.”

One of Moat’s old pals, Brian Moulding, learnt the ex-bouncer was feeding information to the law when he gave evidence to help police prosecute him.

Mr Moulding, 29, of Newcastle, said: “I have evidence that proves he was a police informer. I learnt he was an informant because it was referred to in the legal papers in my case.

“I often wondered why he constantly seemed to escape justice whenever he ended up before the courts and that’s when I realised. Given his history and his constantly saying he hated police, you would not believe his past. But it was a front to cover what he was in front of his criminal associates.”

A source who knew of Moat’s history added: “You would expect a man capable of shooting and killing to have a series of convictions. Moat was detained on many occasions yet was barely touched by the courts. He had a charmed life.”

Another source close to the case said: “He was arrogant whenever court officials dealt with him. He thought he was above the law.”

Mr Moulding said that in his case Moat had shown officers where some stolen number plates were hidden.

He added: “He gave them information and had done for years on a regular basis. That was in the papers. Look at his record. See how many times he was arrested on serious charges and escaped with a slap on the wrist. He was getting preferential treatment from courts because he was useful to the police.”

Mr Moulding even claimed Moat once used his connections to get him off the hook. He said: “He had an officer whom he dealt with all the time.

“He was based in Cowgate, Newcastle, and he would go to see him when he needed a favour.

“An officer put cuffs on me once for a suspected hit-and-run and Moat went over. They were arresting me but Moat said, ‘I’ll bring him to the station and sort it out’. He took me to the station and I got off with another slap on the wrist.” Moat’s brushes with the law go back as far as 2000, when he was held for conspiracy to murder. He was freed without charge.

In 2005 he was charged over poss*ess*ing a knuckle-duster and a samurai sword. He told the court: “The point of a knuckle-duster is as much to protect your knuckles as it is to damage the other kid.” He also claimed the weapon would not “fit on to his hand” and was merely an ornament.

Despite admitting having an offensive weapon he walked away with the lightest sentence possible, an absolute dis**charge – usually reserved for defendants who get a tougher sentence at the same time for another crime. Moat was also involved in minor scams such as driving away from petrol stations without paying for fuel.

The gun maniac exploded in violence nine days ago when he shot and wounded his ex-Samantha Stobbart, 22, and murdered her new love. He evaded police until they cornered him in a field in Rothbury, Northumberland. After a six-hour stand-off he killed himself.

Police have faced questions over the length of time it took to find him. They faced fresh embarrassment yesterday after a newspaper photographer found two T-shirts thought to have been his near his Rothbury camp hideout.

One was the orange top the mohican-haired gunman was spotted wearing on CCTV in B&Q just before his rampage.

The shirt was just 300yds from where the police set up their temporary HQ.

However, Mr Moulding said Moat had already been capable of violence.

He said after they fell out the killer took revenge by smashing windows at his home and firebombing his relatives’ property. Mr Moulding said: “I knew him for seven years but when things started to go wrong, it was really, really bad.

“My girlfriend had just had a baby. I did not want anything more to do with him. He ruined my life. I want to put the record straight about Moat. He’s not some sort of hard-man hero.”

Northumbria Police paid informants nearly £192,000 in 2008-09, the seventh highest in the country. A source said: “We know Moat had a grudge against us. The assumption was that he hated us because he was locked up. We could not comment on our use of informers.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories...z0ta6Qljtt

[Jan Klimkowski]

Photos at url:

Raoul Moat revealed: Ex partner Marissa tells of her years with a monster - exclusive

Impressed by his rippling muscles and *deceptively sweet nature when they first met, smitten teenager Marissa Reid thought she had found her Mr Right in Raoul Moat.

But within a year the twisted bodybuilder made her life hell with a string of beatings that almost killed her, a vicious rape and mental torture during jealous rages fuelled by a cocktail of steroid drugs.

And the 32-year-old mother of two of his children told how the brute would dress up in her clothes and make-up, even parading around in a mini-skirt.

Marissa said during their nine-year relationship, Moat, 37, throttled her until she passed out, smashed a baseball bat into her spine, whipped her with a belt before raping her while she was tied to a bed, kneed her in the face and punched her repeatedly.

She also told how he was a serial cheat obsessed with underage girls and claimed he battered a man senseless because he chatted to her in a club. And he forced her to have a tattoo with his name as a sick badge of honour, as he did with all his women.

Marissa said: “I always thought he would kill me and just hearing his voice would make me shiver.

“That man was a living, breathing monster. Thank God he’s dead. He made mine and my children’s lives a misery, I can never forgive him for that.

“I met Raoul when I was just 19 and was impressed with his physique, all those muscles. It was a blind date arranged through my sister and he was a true gent at first and kissed me on the cheek when we said goodbye. For the first six months it was the honeymoon period and everything was great.

“He was very charming, a gentle giant, or so I thought. Then one night he told me, ‘Your mine now, I own you’.”

From that moment on, Marissa’s life descended into horror and despair. The worse incident came after he spotted her *chatting to another man in a Newcastle *nightclub where Moat worked.

Marissa added: “He had his arm round me but was asking about my pal. Raoul saw this and stormed over demanding, ‘What the hell are you doing with your arm around my girlfriend?’

“Raoul grabbed the lad’s arm and marched him outside. I found out later he took him down a side alley and beat him up really badly.

“When I then tried to leave the club he pinned me face down by the back of the neck on the stairs and said, ‘Get back in there now, you ain’t going anywhere.’ Other bouncers did nothing.

“I sat in the toilets crying for two hours. I was *terrified about what was going to happen to me.

“Later I was driven home in his friend’s van and told, ‘Get in the flat.’ I went straight up to bed.”

Moat – who shot himself dead on Saturday morning after a tense stand-off with police in Rothbury – then followed her upstairs and burst into the room snarling: “If you want to be a slag I’ll treat you like one.”

Marissa added: “His eyes were on fire. I was *terrified. I was too scared to speak. He got a belt and put it around my wrists and then got another belt looped it through and tied that to the bed.

“He hit me with a belt five times across my back, I screamed for him to stop but he wouldn’t, after he hit me he raped me still tied to the bed.”

Marissa spoke out as Moat’s brother hit out at police branding the killer’s death at his own hand a “public execution”. He also questioned why officers who had Moat surrounded used a Taser gun on him in the driving rain.

Following his brutal rape attack on Marissa she said 6ft 3in, 18 stone Moat’s rages *intensified, fuelled by his daily steroid fix.

Marissa said: “He’d get me to measure his arms daily, they were huge, 19-and-a-half inches all the way round. He’d make me inject him with steroids.” In his next savage attack, Moat nearly killed his petite girlfriend. After a long shift at the nightclub he came home and demanded sex.

Marissa said: “When I said no, I was too tired, he got angry, dragged me into the living room, pushed me into the wall face first, grabbed my hair and smashed my head off his knee. He then threw me on the floor.

“He got a baseball bat and pressed it against my throat.

“I was struggling to breath but somehow I found the strength to pull it slightly away from my windpipe. His face was horrible, screwed up and twisted with anger.

“He was trying to kill me. I tried to crawl away and he picked the bat up again and smashed it across my spine. I was petrified. I thought I was going to die and begged him to stop.

“He picked me up off the floor by my neck and then started squeezing. I passed out and he dropped me.”

Marissa, who awoke vomiting blood, staggered into the street and was taken to hospital after the police were called.

But later that night Moat sent a friend to the ward to persuade his frightened lover to drop charges and agree to talk to him.

Marissa said: “I was a total mess and too scared to say no.

“The police begged me not to drop the charges saying they didn’t want to see me on a coroner’s stretcher but I was too scared, in the end I agreed to talk to him.

“He walked on to the ward, saw how bad I was and started laughing.

“He said, ‘You look like Frank Bruno.’ He didn’t even say sorry.”

Marissa spoke about Moat’s weird habit of dressing in her clothes.

She said: “He loved trying on my skirts, dresses and even my thongs.

“One night he said ‘I want to try on your purple mini skirt.

“He got all dressed up in my gear and then asked for make-up so he could look like Alice Cooper. He did the washing up in my clothes, with a handbag over his shoulder.”

Moat often accused Marissa of cheating, but it was he who was having a string of affairs. She said: “He slept around while I was pregnant.

“One day he turned on me and said: ‘You’re sleeping around.’ That baby does not deserve to be born, you should miscarry.

“He got me onto the settee and punched my face several times. He pulled clumps of my hair out and then threw me into the TV. I was pleading for my baby’s life.

"When I was pregnant he told me I was disgusting and fat. In the end he left me for a 15-year-old while I was seven-months pregnant with our second child. He was obsessed with young girls.”

After they finally split, Moat continued to fly into jealous rages at Marissa. He told her that a private investigatorn would watch her every moved spied on her and refused to let her date other men.

She said: “One time he told me to stop seeing a certain man or he would put a gun to my head. I thought I would never ever escape him.”

It was a pattern repeated later with girlfriend Samantha Stobbart, 22. Last week raging Moat shot and wounded her, then murdered her lover Chris Brown, 29, finally gunned down PC David Rathband, 42, in a crazed spree before killing himself.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories...z0ta78gWqN

[Jan Klimkowski]

A glimpse into Raoul Moat's psyche:

One said she once found one of his (Moat's) daughters by a bus stop wearing a nightdress in the pouring winter rain. She was crying and wearing a bib upon which were written the words: "I've been cheeky to my Daddy."

"It was a nasty incident," the neighbour said. "She must have been only three or four and was absolutely frozen."

Raoul Moat: Steroids, jealousy and a sworn hatred of police officers

Fugitive ex-bouncer has history of jealous rages, and neighbours tell how they nicknamed him 'bully boy'

• This story was removed temporarily from guardian.co.uk following a police request for a news blackout on details of Moat's personal life while he remained at large

As police continued the hunt for Raoul Moat today, a picture emerged of a 37-year-old steroid-addicted bodybuilder motivated by long-held anger at his treatment by the police, profound jealousy in his personal life and extremely violent urges.

Lana Potts, a pole dancer at Newcastle's Kiss nightclub and friend of the fugitive's, put it most simply: "He hates pigs."

"Sum ppl hate blondes sum ppl r racist raoul hates pigs," she wrote on her Facebook page. "Hes lost it man ne point tryin 2 understand."

The police were more diplomatic, describing the former nightclub doorman as nursing a "general grievance" against them and revealed that following the shootings they had received a lengthy letter from him detailing those complaints. Either way the message was clear: Moat, suspected of killing one man and critically injuring his former girlfriend and also an apparently random police officer in a spate of shootings over the weekend, was never the type to go quietly.

Kelly Stobbart, 27, the half-sister of Samantha Stobbart, Moat's former girlfriend, whom he shot and critically injured in a jealous rage early on Saturday, said Moat would rather "go out in a blaze of glory" than give himself up and suggested he would attempt "suicide by cop", adding: "He's a nutter and he's definitely not going to give himself up."

Today armed police from five forces hunted Moat as Samantha Stobbart, recovering from surgery in hospital, issued a direct appeal through police for Moat to give himself up. Moat started his shooting spree after she told him, falsely, that she had left him for a police officer. "If you still love me and our baby you would not be doing this any more," she said. "When you came out of jail I told you I was seeing a police officer. I said this because I was frightened. I have not been seeing a police officer."

Kelly Stobbart described Moat, who has a 19-month year old daughter, Chanel, with Samantha, as vain and violent with links to Newcastle's criminal fraternity.

"Sam thought he was the bee's knees," she said. "Her problem was that she could not see above Raoul's chest. He's all muscles, rippling biceps, six pack," she said. "He thinks he's God's gift but he's the most ugly thing I have seen … He is involved with some very shady people and they will be hiding him out. We are all terrified that he's coming after us."

Moat, who worked as a bouncer at the Liquid nightclub in Newcastle's Bigg Market, has a history of making violent threats. He once warned that he would "car boot" Kelly's brother and bury him. "He loves that fact that he thinks people are scared of him," she said, adding that he was addicted to steroids and prone to "unpredictable" outbursts.

Samantha's grandmother, Agnes Hornsby, 69, told how Moat arrived at her Gateshead home one night last year armed with a gun and raging because he believed Stobbart was with another man. "He threatened us with a gun when she was here," she said, "all because she'd put on her Facebook that she was going out with a friend. He came here and said 'you've got a man in there' and I said 'there's no men in this house, it's me, Sam and Chanel'. He had a gun then and he was out there for about two hours and she was on the phone to him trying to calm him down."

Moat reportedly updated his own Facebook page shortly before the shooting spree: "Just got out of jail, I've lost everything, my business, my property and to top it all off my lass of six years has gone off with the copper that sent me down. I'm not 21 and I can't rebuild my life. Watch and see what happens."

The Facebook page, showing more than 80 friends, many of them apparently body-builders or working in the nightclub trade, was shut down this afternoon.

Neighbours in Fenham, Newcastle, where he lived in a large, semi-detached house said they knew him as "bully boy" because of his menacing appearance. One said she once found one of his daughters by a bus stop wearing a nightdress in the pouring winter rain. She was crying and wearing a bib upon which were written the words: "I've been cheeky to my Daddy."

"It was a nasty incident," the neighbour said. "She must have been only three or four and was absolutely frozen."

Moat had been in Durham prison until Thursday after a short sentence for "a low-level assault on a relative". In 2003 his daughter Chantelle, then two, fell 35ft out of an unsecured window at home, but miraculously suffered only bruising.

Some claimed Moat was paranoid, particularly about attention he sometimes got from police. A neighbour who lived on a side street looking into his back garden said there were 26 CCTV cameras hidden in the hedges. A former colleague was reported today saying that he erected the cameras because he was "sick of the police", who he felt never left him alone.

In 2005, Moat went on trial at Newcastle crown court after being stopped by police driving a borrowed car through Byker, Newcastle.

Officers discovered a Samurai sword in the boot and a serrated steel knuckle-duster hidden in a secret compartment beneath the dashboard.

Moat was found not guilty after he told the court the sword belonged to him but denied knowing anything about the knuckleduster.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/05...oids-crime

[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

[Jan Klimkowski]

Police used a stun gun not yet approved for use.

Home Office still testing stun guns used on Raoul Moat

Police used a new type of stun gun, capable of incapacitating someone for 20 seconds, as they tried to arrest Raoul Moat

Raoul Moat was shot by two officers using a new type of stun gun not yet approved for police use, the inquest into the death of the gunman heard today.

The Taser Xrep is deployed from a 12-gauge shotgun with a range of 100ft. It can incapacitate a person for 20 seconds, much longer than a regular stun gun.

Steve Reynolds, the Independent Police Complaints Commission's senior investigator, told the coroner in Newcastle that West Yorkshire officers discharged their Tasers in "an effort to prevent Mr Moat taking his own life".

The Home Office confirmed the Taser XRep was subject to testing by its scientific development branch. "However," it added, "legally, police forces have discretion to use any equipment they see fit as long as the use of force is lawful, reasonable and proportionate."

Moat, a 37-year-old former nightclub bouncer evaded police all last week after three shootings. He was suspected of killing his former partner Samantha Stobbart's 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, in his patrol car in East Denton, Newcastle, before going to ground and finally emerging in the Northumberland village of Rothbury.

Reynolds told the inquest: "At 1.12am [on Saturday], Mr Moat's shotgun discharged, resulting in him receiving fatal injuries. At some point around the same time of the fatal shot, two West Yorkshire firearms officers armed with Tasers discharged their weapons at Mr Moat. This was understood to have been in an effort to prevent Mr Moat taking his own life."

Moat died in hospital at 2.22am.

Reynolds said that at this stage "the precise sequence of events regarding the discharge of the Taser has not been established and is under investigation".


A member of the public spotted Moat in the Riverside park area of Rothbury at 7.25pm on Friday and called police. Armed police and negotiators were deployed "to achieve a peaceful outcome".

The IPCC said Moat held a sawn-off shotgun to his own head and the focus of its investigation would be the final hours of his life until his death in hospital.

It will also look at how Northumbria police handled intelligence from Durham Prison warning that Moat would harm Stobbart.

No family members were in court as the inquest was adjourned.

IPCC investigators have already conducted house-to-house enquiries and will obtain evidence from senior officers and the negotiators.

The investigation will look at the command strategy to see if lessons can be learned. It will consider the acquisition, use, operational authorisation and deployment of the XRep Tasers.

Today police confirmed that three men had been arrested for allegedly assisting an offender after raids at two addresses in Newcastle and Gateshead. It brings the total number of arrests in connection with Moat to 10.Two men have appeared before magistrates in Newcastle and were remanded in custody until July 22 when they will appear at the city's crown court on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and possession of a firearm. Five others have been released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

The family of victim Chris Brown issued a statement today via police. His mother, Sally, described him as a livewire who always had a smile on his face. "Christopher was always there and could be depended on 100%," she said. His sister, Becky Njie, said: "I feel broken. Moat has killed not only my brother who I loved very much, but has killed a part of me. I don't feel complete, I feel as though someone has cut off my arm. People say time is a healer, but I can't see that yet. I feel lost, I feel like it's not real."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/13...aser-trial

[Jan Klimkowski]

As was clear back in July, an unauthorized Taser Xrep, deployed from a 12-gauge shotgun, was used on Raoul Moat.

Looks like this couldn't be whitewashed, so the supplier has been designated as the scapegoat:

Raoul Moat death: Taser supplier loses licence

Pro-Tect was licensed to supply Tasers to Home Office for testing but not to supply them to police, Home Office says

September 28, 2010

The company that supplied the Tasers used by police in the standoff with Raoul Moat has been stripped of the right to supply the weapons, the Home Office said today.

The home secretary, Theresa May, revoked Pro-Tect Systems' authority to supply the weapons after it "breached its licence" by supplying a type of Taser direct to police before it had been granted approval to do so.

Pro-Tect Systems was the only company licensed to supply Tasers to police, but the Home Office moved quickly to insist it would ensure police forces had sufficient supplies.

Armed police fired two Tasers at Moat in an "effort to stop him taking his own life" in the Riverside park area of Rothbury, Northumberland, during the early hours of 10 July, the inquest into the gunman's death was told.

The standoff with the 37-year-old former nightclub doorman brought to an end one of the biggest manhunts in British history.

Moat shot and wounded his former girlfriend, 22-year-old Samantha Stobbart, killed her new boyfriend, Chris Brown, 29, and blinded 42-year-old PC David Rathband before being cornered by police.

Northamptonshire constabulary carried out the inquiry into events surrounding the gunman's death.

"Enquiries following the Raoul Moat operation revealed Pro-Tect breached its licence by supplying X12 Tasers direct to police that were only available for supply to the Home Office science and development branch," a Home Office spokeswoman said.

"The inquiries carried out by Northamptonshire police also revealed the company breached rules governing the secure transport of the devices and ammunition.

"Faced with these breaches, the home secretary has decided to revoke Pro-Tect's licence to supply Tasers."

The X12 Taser, fired from a 12-gauge shotgun, was being tested by the Home Office before being approved for use by police forces in England and Wales.

The spokeswoman said police had not been at fault for accepting the Tasers.

Pro-Tect was the only supplier of Tasers in the UK, and a Home Office spokeswoman said companies would be invited to bid for the right to distribute the weapons in future.

In a letter to the Commons home affairs select committee today, the crime prevention minister, James Brokenshire, said short-term authority had been granted to allow Pro-Tect to dispose of its remaining stock of the weapons.

"We are working with Acpo [the Association of Chief Police Officers] to ensure that police forces continue to have adequate Taser stocks cover any transition period that may follow from Taser International identifying a new UK supplier," Brokenshire said.

The minister said the powers that allowed Pro-Tect to import and sell Tasers were "subject to strict conditions regarding transfer and secure transportation".

"The home secretary was not satisfied that the company had complied with them at all times," he wrote.

Brokenshire said May was satisfied that Pro-Tect had supplied the Tasers to Northumbria police and one other police force "contrary to their authority, which only allowed them to supply these items to the Home Office scientific development branch, who were evaluating their effectiveness".

A Northumbria police spokeswoman said she was unable to comment due to the ongoing investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission into the sequence of events on the night of Moat's death.

An IPCC spokesman said: "The licensing of private companies to distribute firearms is a matter for the Home Office.

"The IPCC has no remit over private companies. Our investigation is looking at the acquisition, use, operational authorisation and deployment of the XRep Tasers from a police perspective. This investigation is ongoing."

Pro-Tect Systems was not immediately available for comment.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/28...rm-licence