What happened to Raoul Moat victims – tragedy of blinded PC to Samantha Stobbart’s trauma after being ‘blamed’ by trolls
WHEN violent thug Raoul Moat went on the rampage in 2010, he left his ex’s lover dead and blinded a policeman before shooting himself.
The horrific crimes in Newcastle, which have been revisited in the new ITV drama The Hunt for Raoul Moat, sparked a mass manhunt as Moat went on the run for almost a week.
The 37-year-old killer was eventually surrounded by armed police in woods in Rothbury, Northumberland, where Paul Gascoigne famously attempted to lure him out with beer and a KFC, and a six hour stand-off ended when he turned the gun on himself.
As well as murdering his love rival, 29-year-old Chris Brown, Moat shot ex , then 22, twice in the stomach while their three-year-old daughter Chanel was in the house.
PC David Rathband, shot in the face at a roundabout on the A1 the day after the initial attack, spent three weeks in hospital but doctors were unable to save his sight.
The new drama, which stars Matt Stokoe as the murderer and Sally Messham and Samantha, has caused controversy with Moat’s dad Peter Blake slamming the production for ‘re-traumatising’ his grandchildren.
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And the killer’s crimes have left a tragic legacy for the victims who survived, with PTSD, flashbacks and suicide.
Marriage and tragic death
Moat’s crime spree began on July 3, 2010, just two days after he was released from prison, having served 18 weeks for an assault on a family member.
After murdering Chris Brown and critically injuring Samantha at her home in Birtley, Gateshead, he went on the run.
The following day he launched the unprovoked attack on David, as he sat in his patrol car in Newcastle, leaving him with devastating injuries that he was not expected to survive.
Remarkably, the dad-of-two pulled through but he struggled to cope with blindness and the trauma he suffered in the attack.
In 2011, he told the BBC: “I do feel vulnerable and I’m sure other blind people do. It’s not very nice, I don’t like it.”
"He would have loved it. He doesn't deserve that, or the admiration that comes with it.
"He was referred to as a 'hero' at the time and this will bring that back.
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"He should never be seen as a role model. He was a narcissist and a bully.
"This is not just a drama, it happened to real people who are still trying to heal."