Family of Raoul Moat await second post mortem result
Jul 29 2010 The Journal
THE results of a second post mortem into the death of fugitive gunman Raoul Moat will not be known for another fortnight, the family solicitor said.
The killer’s brother Angus and their uncle Charlie Alexander paid £600 for another examination, which took place last week, and the family had expected to hear its findings yesterday.
Mr Alexander, a 72-year-old former warrant officer with the Royal Artillery, referred callers to the Newcastle-based solicitors Michael Purdon.
A spokesman at the firm said a statement would be released in about a fortnight, when the results of the post mortem were known.
“The family will need time to absorb them, they haven’t really had time to grieve yet,” he said.
An initial post mortem carried out the day after 37-year-old Moat died near the riverbank in Rothbury, Northumberland, found the cause of death to be a gunshot wound consistent with the sawn-off 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 were left with unanswered questions.
Moat went on the run after shooting his ex-lover Sam Stobbart 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 when he went on the rampage.
Britain’s most wanted man was found after a week-long search on July 9.
He died following a six-hour stand-off with police which was beamed around the world by television.
Mr Alexander has previously spoken at his sorrow over his Moat’s actions, saying he cannot understand how the nephew he knew came to do what he did.
He said: “Nothing I can say by way of apology can make amends for what he did and the hurt and sorrow he caused to the families of the innocent victims.
“What I will say is that the reasons for his action may never be discovered and many questions remain unanswered.
“I only wish he had been arrested, tried and convicted for his terrible deeds and we may have discovered what caused his breakdown that culminated in that tragic weekend.
“The Raoul Moat I knew was not the monster that killed and maimed those innocent victims.
“Something caused the change in his personality that changed a fun-loving, quiet child and teenager into a cold-blooded gunman and killer.”
