Moat raped and beat me says ex-girlfriend

The former girlfriend of Raoul Moat said today the gun killer raped her and beat her regularly.

Samantha Stobbart said Moat attacked her at home a year after they broke up.

She told the News of the World: "I was crying my eyes out and shouting at him to stop. But he pinned me down so I couldn't move, forced himself on me and raped me.

"I don't know how long it lasted. It seemed for ever. It was an evil thing to do. He was savage about it."

She also said Moat would slap her "every other day" and once punched her in the back and she denied claims by Moat's uncle, Charlie Alexander, that she had goaded him into a murderous rage.

Mr Alexander made the claims in a open letter, writing: "This lady has the blood of two deaths and a maimed PC on her hands, all caused by the lies and goading on the mobile prior to the incident."

But Ms Stobbart said: "It was him goading me, not the other way round."

Moat went on the run after shooting his ex-lover and killing her new boyfriend Chris Brown in Birtley, Gateshead, then blasting unarmed policeman David Rathband in Newcastle the next day.

He had just been released from prison.

Britain's most wanted man was found after a week-long search. He died following a six-hour stand-off with police which was beamed around the world by television.

During the hunt for Moat, it emerged Ms Stobbart had told him her new boyfriend was a policeman - a fact she later admitted was not true.

Scientists have yet to reach a conclusion on how Moat died.

A pathologist is continuing his examination of the former doorman's body after beginning a second post-mortem examination on Tuesday.

Further tests are to be done before the examination is complete and its findings made public.

It means the gunman's close relatives face a further wait to discover exactly how he died.

An initial post-mortem test carried out the day after Moat, 37, died near the riverbank in Rothbury, Northumberland, found the cause of death to be a gunshot wound consistent with the shotgun the former doorman had been carrying.

But after seeing Moat's body for themselves and hearing that police marksmen fired Tasers at around the same time as he died, the family was left with unanswered questions.

They feared the father of three, of Fenham, Newcastle, might not have taken his own life.

Former Royal Artillery warrant officer Mr Alexander, 72, a widower from Leam Lane, Gateshead, said the post-mortem examination results would allow the family to move on and plan for the killer's funeral.

Mr Alexander has questioned whether the use of Tasers caused his nephew's death.

He said on Tuesday: "I don't want to presume anything. We just want some answers.

"When I went to identify his body I did not see anything consistent with shotgun wounds, and I have served in Northern Ireland so I have seen a lot of shotgun wounds."

Two alleged accomplices Karl Ness, 26, and Qhuram Awan, 23, will go on trial next year accused of conspiracy to murder.

Another 17 people have been arrested on suspicion of helping Moat while another man was held for questioning on firearms offences. All 18 were released on bail pending further inquiries.

When Ness and Awan appeared before Newcastle Crown Court for a preliminary hearing, the prosecution told the judge others could yet be charged and appear alongside the pair.