Family denies erecting a shrine to killer Raoul Moat

Aug 19 2010 The Journal

THE family of Raoul Moat last night denied leaving a shrine at the spot where he killed himself.

The killer’s family had visited Rothbury on Tuesday and scattered his ashes in the River Coquet, beside which Moat shot himself after a six-hour standoff with armed police. An urn and a photo of the killer cuddling a dog were left at the exact spot on Riverside.

A village councillor accused the family of showing no respect for the people of Rothbury and the people who Moat killed or injured, having previously pleaded with them not to bring his ashes to the community.

The urn and photo were removed later on Tuesday night by angry villagers. However families with children were visiting the spot yesterday.

Last night Moat’s uncle, Charlie Alexander, told The Journal the family did not sprinkle the ashes in Rothbury or leave the urn and picture on Riverside.

Mr Alexander, 72, of Leam Lane, Gateshead, claimed he, Moat’s brother Angus and another person he would not name scattered the ashes in the river five to six miles from the village, beyond neighbouring Thropton.

He said they had chosen the spot as Moat spent time in the area as a child and had talked about settling down there.

Mr Alexander said they left the urn and picture where the ashes were scattered and that the family was not seeking to upset people in Rothbury.

He said it did not want to create a shine to the killer and did not want the Riverside location to be an attraction for ghouls.

Mr Alexander said: “I pay my taxes, I can go to the town if I want. I am not going to stop going there because people say I cannot.

“Nobody is going to stop us going where I want to go.

“I am not having these people saying I am not allowed in this town.”

Mr Alexander also insisted the family had not been paid a penny by any media organisation for its story, amid suggestions they had been spotted with photographers at Riverside.

He said: “We have took no money, we have took no deals, we have took nothing. We have been offered money and we have turned it down. We do not want blood money.”

Angus Moat contacted The Journal last night insisting the family had done nothing wrong, and is still suffering from the loss of a loved one.

He hit out at “vitriolic” criticism of the family from people who did not know and had not even met them.

Mr Moat also stressed his mother had not been present on Tuesday.