In 2010 one man sparked what was to become one of the biggest manhunts in modern British history after killing one person and wounding two others in a two-day shooting spree.
For seven days Raoul Moat evaded police capture while at the same time issuing threats that he was willing to hunt officers down in cold blood and would even do the same to members of the public.
But years before his name would be flashed across front pages around the country, Moat had been inflicting terror on those closest to him.
A former bodybuilder from Newcastle upon Tyne who towered over people at 6’3 and weighed around 17 stone, Moat was allegedly prone to ‘eruptions of anger’.
Working as a panel beater, bouncer, and tree surgeon, between February and July 2010, he had spent 18 weeks in prison for assaulting a nine-year-old relative.
Sharing a young daughter with his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart, who at 22 was 15 years younger than him, Moat’s rampage of terror had been slowly building over the years.
Behind closed doors, Moat and Samantha had an on-again, off-again relationship where domestic violence was commonplace.
When he was in jail, Samantha was able to finally break loose of his hold and ended their relationship.
Terrified how he might react, she falsely told him that her new boyfriend was a police officer in the hopes that it might grant her some sense of protection, and that Moat would leave her be.
Instead, it incensed him.
Who was Raoul Moat and what happened to him?
Just two days after being released from prison Moat went to a house in Birtley where Samantha and Brown were visiting.
After noticing Moat there, Brown went outside to confront him.
He was shot at close range with a sawn-off shotgun and killed.
As Samantha’s mother was inside frantically calling police for assistance, Moat fired another shot into the home, hitting his ex-partner in the arm and abdomen.
It was after this that Moat turned his attention to police, whom he had previously issues threats against on social media while he was still locked up.
In the early hours of July 4, Police Constable David Rathband was sitting in a police vehicle on the roundabout of the A1 and A69 roads near East Denton.
After being spotted by Moat, he was also fired at from close range.
He was shot in the face twice.
About 10 minutes earlier, Moat was said to have called police to taunt them while explaining what he was about to do.
In the next few days, the hunt to find Moat would end up becoming one of the largest manhunts in modern British history.
A total of 160 armed officers were deployed to the area to track him down, those numbers representing around 10% of those available in England and Wales at any one time.
At the same time police also revealed they believed Moat had kidnapped two men, however it later emerged they had been his accomplices.
On the morning of July 6, a car believed to have been used by Moat was found near Rothbury, leading to an exclusion zone being set up around the town.
Residents, including many schoolchildren, were placed under a temporary lockdown.
While the public was told at the time there was no risk posed to them, it was later reported that Moat had threatened to kill a member of the public every time there was an inaccurate report made about him.
Working closely with the media, the police force had managed to negotiate a blackout on reporting aspects of Moat’s personal life to avoid enraging him further.
Not long after, police managed to find out where he had been hiding.
On the evening of July 9 residents of Rothbury were advised to stay indoors after Moat was seen near the bank of the River Coquet holding a gun to his head.
With police quickly swarming the area, they swung into action to attempt to speak to him and advise him to surrender.
What was Paul Gascoigne’s involvement in the case?
Former professional footballer Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne was an unlikely figure in the case after he turned up to the river bank when police were trying to negotiate a surrender from Moat.
Appearing at the scene of the tense stand-off, he claimed to be Moat’s brother and said he had brought him ‘a can of lager, some chicken, a fishing rod, a Newcastle shirt and a dressing gown’, but was denied access.
He later spoke about the fact he had been deep in a period of addiction at the time, and became so high on cocaine he convinced himself he knew Moat.
Despite intense negotiations taking place, around six hours later, Moat shot himself.
Now, the new three-part ITV series The Hunt for Raoul Moat seeks to reframe the case, focusing on the innocent people who were caught in the crossfire, as well as serve as a reminder to the dangers of domestic violence.
While a fugitive, Moat had written a 49-page-confession revealing that cartridges earmarked for Samantha had been doctored so she would survive, but live with memento scars.
It also investigates the social media frenzy that was stirred at the time, which saw pages pop up that supported Moat and placed him as a kind of cult-like figure.
It starts Matt Stokoe as Moat, as well as Lee Ingleby as Neil Adamson, the senior Northumbria Police Officer in charge of the manhunt and Sonya Cassidy as local journalist Diane Barnwell.
Sally Messham plays Samantha Stobbart, while Josef Davis plays Christopher Brown.
Following an inquest in 2011, Moat’s death was ruled a suicide and it was found that Northumbria Police had not been at fault.
About 18 months after the shooting, Rathband, who had been left blinded by the attack, took his own life.
The Hunt for Raoul Moat starts Sunday April 16 at 9pm on ITV1.
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