Raoul Moat, Britain's most wanted

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Dont know if anyone has been following these events over the past week, but Britains most wanted man ended last night in an armed standoff which sealed off a large area of the town of Rothbury. Police ordering residents caught within the cordon to stay in their homes, while I agree that this is the safest thing to do, this did cause distress to those residents who were trapped for 6 hours in their homes while Moat, wanted for 3 shootings held a sawn off shotgun to his neck.
At 1.10am a single gunshot was heard at the scene of the standoff. In a statement, the police said "no shots were fired by police officers" and it "appears the suspect shot himself".

Moat was released from prison on Thursday, July 1, after serving a short sentence for assault.
The following day, prison staff warned police he had been threatening to harm his ex-girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart.

On Saturday, July 3, Moat shot her, and her new partner, he died from his injuries while she survives in critical condition in hospital.
Moat carried a vendetta against police, as he believed Stobbart had started having an affair with an officer.

The next day, he shot PC David Rathband in the face, pointing the gun through the officer's car window while he sat on duty at a busy roundabout.
Moat declared "war" on police and in chilling letters left for detectives he claimed to be a "killer and a maniac" and pledged to keep shooting until he died.

A huge manhunt began involving police officers from 15 forces, Scotland yard snipers, armoured cars and even an RAF Tornado used to map the search from the air, for 8 days he remained a fugitive, allegedly aided by friends and associates. Six people have been arrested in connection with the investigation so far and two have already appeared before magistrates charged with conspiracy to commit murder and possession of a firearm.

A bit of background on Raoul Moat:

The 37-year-old doorman was a steroid user and was clearly a paranoid individual and no stranger to violence.
despite having links to the Tyneside underworld, Moat's first conviction came only this year when he was jailed for 18 weeks for assaulting a child.
Northumbria Police confirmed that Moat had also been arrested on 12 separate occasions and was charged with seven separate offences as a result of those arrests.
On one occasion five years ago, he went on trial at Newcastle Crown Court accused of possessing an offensive weapon and possessing an article with a blade or point - a knuckle-duster and a samurai sword, He was acquitted of both charges.

I dont know if any Americans or Europeans followed any of this, I do know that CNN ran it last night as the events happened.

 

I don't think there is ever any excuse for going on a killing spree but I think that there is more to this than meets the eye. A lot of people have been saying that he got what was coming to him, he deserved to die etc. However, there was obviously some serious mental issues there that prompted his actions. Plus, with his history of violence and the threats he had been making, he should have had a full psych evaluation before being set free

 

Nutter.

 

The news that he had been threatening his ex should have come before his release, at the very least.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/09/paul-gascoigne-raoul-moat

 

I am not surprised that Paul Gascoine was friends with a late steroid using paranoid bouncer with a history of violence who ended up going on a killing spree. Sounds about right.

 

Yes, that did not sound right to me either. "Hey guys, by the way - that man we released early, remember him? Yeah, he was shouting around he'd kill his ex. Just thought you might want to know. Eh, why not now? It's no longer any of our business."

For all I know, that may be relatively normal talk in a prison regarding exes who have shacked up with someone else, and most people don't get any farther than talk, but couldn't anyone have mentioned it earlier?

 

It wouldnt have mattered anyway, this is the UK, he'd have been released if he'd written a memo and had it sent to the warden describing in intricate detail how he was going to kill her - he'd have still been released.

 

Nonsense. The British criminal justice system also criminalises threat of a violent crime, never mind what's in the Daily Mail. What you're wrote has very little basis in reality.

 

what I wrote was obviously not to be taken seriously, however it does have some basis in reality as the reoffending rates in England and Wales for short sentence (less then 12 months) prisoners is very high

From "Home affairs" dated wednesday 10 march, 2010:

also, he was threatening to harm his ex and he was released and he did attempt to kill her

 

I was grumpy due to the heat. I went swimming and it's better now. Never mind.