Mother tells of Raoul Moat shootings

Pa
Tuesday 08 February 2011 17:14 GMT

A mother wept as she described the moment gunman Raoul Moat shot dead her daughter's boyfriend today.

Lesley Stobbart was there when Moat, 37, began his murderous rampage outside a Gateshead home in July last year.

She fled upstairs with two children when the killer, armed with a sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun, began shooting.

Mrs Stobbart watched from an attic window as Moat gunned down karate instructor Chris Brown.

He then turned the weapon on his ex-girlfriend, Mrs Stobbart's daughter Samantha, leaving her critically injured.

It was not until the former doorman ran from the murder scene in Scafell, Birtley, that Mrs Stobbart realised her 22-year-old daughter had been hurt.

She had warned the 6ft 4in steroid addict to keep his distance from mother-of-one Samantha.

But Moat, who had just been released from Durham Prison, was "fixated" on a reconciliation and had demanded "a straightener" - or fist fight - with martial arts expert Mr Brown.

He lay in wait for the couple to leave the house before attacking in the early hours of July 3 last year.

Mrs Stobbart saw him pull the trigger and blast Mr Brown in the chest.

Her voice shaking with emotion, she told a Newcastle Crown Court jury: "I shouted you bastard, you bastard. Why have you shot him?

"Then I ran upstairs to get the children.

"I put them in the attic and I told them not to come out of the attic no matter what they did."

She heard a second shot and looked from the attic window.

"I could see Chris lying on the grass. Then Raoul shot him again.

"I did not know Samantha had been shot at the time.

"I went down to see where everyone was and she was lying on the floor."

Moat had been lying in wait for the pair and texted a friend to say: "They are slagging me off.

"My suffering is funny apparently. We'll see who's laughing."

Under cross-examination, Samantha Stobbart said she had been terrified Moat would "flip his lid" when he was released from prison.

She had said her new boyfriend was a police officer in an attempt to ward off trouble.

On the night of the murder, she asked Mr Brown to spend the night at his own flat, knowing Moat was seeking a confrontation.

Mr Brown had replied: "Why should I?"

She told police investigators: "I was very worried. Frightened, really scared.

"At one point I was absolutely petrified as to how he would react on his release.

"I expected he would flip his lid and that there would be trouble; he'd come looking for Chris.

"I had told him the relationship was at an end but he would not have it.

"He would not take no for an answer.

"Never in a million years did I think he'd come looking for Chris with a gun."

Samantha and Lesley Stobbart were giving evidence at the trial of two men alleged to have been the willing accomplices of Moat during his rampage.

Karl Ness and Qhuram Awan claim they were being held hostage by the former doorman, who shot Miss Stobbart, killed her new boyfriend and the next day blinded unarmed Pc David Rathband after going hunting for police officers.

Ness is alleged to have been with Moat on the night he gunned down Mr Brown and Miss Stobbart, while Awan is alleged to have helped the pair afterwards and driven Moat to the junction of the A1 and A69 where he shot the officer.

Ness, 26, from Dudley, North Tyneside, denies murdering Chris Brown.

Both defendants deny conspiracy to murder, the attempted murder of Pc Rathband, a firearms offence and the robbery of a Northumberland fish and chip shop.

Moat killed himself after going on the run following a stand-off with police in Rothbury, Northumberland.

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