Raoul Moat revelled in his hardman image
Jul 5 2010 by Neil McKay, The Journal
BODYBUILDER Raoul Moat, a former bouncer on Newcastle's Bigg Market, revelled in his hardman image.
Moat, 37, appeared at Newcastle Crown Court five years ago after being stopped by police as he drove a borrowed Mitsubishi Colt through Byker, Newcastle.
Officers who searched the car discovered a cobra-headed Samurai sword stashed in the boot and an eight inch wide, twin bladed knuckle duster beneath the dashboard.
He denied owning the knuckle duster, saying he would not think of using it as a weapon.
He told the court: “The point of a knuckle duster is as much to protect your knuckles as it is to damage the other kid.
“The way you use a knuckle duster is you clench it in your hand so that the metal presses in the palm of your hand.
“I have confiscated quite a few knuckle dusters in my time and they are usually very heavy and made of brass.
“But this one is made from very flimsy thin metal. My hand barely fits through it. It is an ornamental item. I wouldn’t like to hit someone with this.
“I am a big lad and I would have thought if I punched someone with this it would take the skin off my knuckles right down to the bone.”
But Moat, whose mother is French, was also violent towards his former love, Samantha Stobbart.
Her grandmother, Ann Hornsby, 69, told how Moat had last year flown into a rage after seeing a Facebook post suggesting Samantha had a new lover.
She said: “He had been on the rampage again and given Sam a real kicking, so she’d been staying with me.
“He turned up on the doorstep brandishing a gun screaming that Sam had a man in the house and she should let him out to ‘get what’s coming to him’. We barricaded the door and hid in my bedroom. He rang Sam on her mobile and said he was going to shoot us all.
“When I threatened to call the police, he said, ‘If you do, I’ll get you all before they get me’. We were so scared we didn’t ring them. After about an hour of begging, he left.
We were all too scared to call the police after that, but now I really wish we had.
“Maybe we could have stopped this happening.”
