[UK] Armed Police searching Rothbury, Northumberland for Gunman.


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Anybody watching BBC News24? They just showed armed Police searching an abandoned farmhouse.

The police have set up a two mile exclusion zone around the rural area of Rothbury, searching for gunman Raoul Moat. It's just like the Cumbria shooting spree :blink: (in the neighbouring police area), extra armed police and helicopters have been brought in.

Police hunting suspected gunman Raoul Moat have said that the "net is closing" as an exclusion zone is set up around a Northumberland town.

It has also been revealed that two men taken hostage by him have been found and arrested for conspiracy to murder.

Moat, 37, has been on the run since allegedly shooting three people, killing one of them, on Saturday.

Armed police were called to Rothbury after a black Lexus believed to be used by Moat was found.

Police searching for suspected gunman Raoul Moat in Rothbury

Det Insp Neil Adamson described the police operation as "ongoing".

He said: "At this time Mr Moat has not been located but I am confident that with the support of the public and the efforts our staff we are closing the net."

Officers were searching the area around the village and a number of police cars were outside a disused farm.

The main route into Rothbury, along a scenic road from the A1, was shut a couple of miles from the village.

The police operation began when Moat's ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart, 22, was shot and her her boyfriend, Chris Brown, 29, in Birtley, Gateshead, on Saturday.

A police officer was also shot in his patrol car in Newcastle on Sunday.

The car that Moat was believed to have been driving was found in Rothbury

Isabelle Wilson, from Rothbury, found the car believed to be the one being used by Moat.

She said: "We saw the car last night when we were walking our dogs.

"We noticed the registration number and when I heard the news this morning I said to my husband I was sure that was the car. He went back to check then we called the police."

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lol?

2 hostages but are now arrested on conspiracy to commit murder? they are innocent hostages and they are arrested?

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lol?

2 hostages but are now arrested on conspiracy to commit murder? they are innocent hostages and they are arrested?

Exactly what I thought, sounds like the police need to get their priorities right! :blink:

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The police think that moat had help, so these "hostages" may not actually be hostages

This all happened in my home town Newcastle, see why I moved ? :p

Coming to think of it, I have most likely been either let in, or turned away from a club by him at some point

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If they were helpers why have the police been in a "fast moving, challenging hostage situation" as quoted from BBC News, if they were helping him i dont think they would just give themselves up like that.

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If they were helpers why have the police been in a "fast moving, challenging hostage situation" as quoted from BBC News, if they were helping him i dont think they would just give themselves up like that.

But they have been arrested yes ? I missed the story on the news

Well if I was helping a gunman, and the police were closing in, I would say I was a hostage too, after all, he`s already going down for murder, its not like its going to get him in any more trouble and it might just get me off the hook

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Why would they be helping him, the cumbrian shooter who murdered 12 people without anyones help.

He was only out for a few hours, Moat has been out nearly 4 days, hes gonna need food, water, shelter

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Quoted from bbc news

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Two men who police had feared were being held hostage by fugitive Raoul Moat have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10523120.stm

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lol?

2 hostages but are now arrested on conspiracy to commit murder? they are innocent hostages and they are arrested?

Exactly what I thought, sounds like the police need to get their priorities right! :blink:

How do you know they are innocent? How do you know Moat taking them hostage wasn't staged or something? Also, it does state "had been thought to have been taken hostage." They wouldn't be arrested on conspiracy to murder if the police didn't have a good reason. Way to assume things...

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Why would they be helping him, the cumbrian shooter who murdered 12 people without anyones help.

The Cumbrian shooter wasn't Moat... different people carry out tasks in different ways.

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I wonder if he is wishing If he had just come out of prison and gone home and got p*ssed like most of us do when we break up with someone, made a few stupid phone calls to her.

Might have seemed like a good plan at the time, but I think even someone like him will be starting to regret his desicion by now

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In his letter he says:

The public need not fear me but the police should as I won't stop till I'm dead.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/06/extracts-raoul-moat-letter-police

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Why assume that they ARE guilty.

In case they shoot you in the face?

I'm sure they have their reasons.

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Why assume that they ARE guilty.

I don't think anybody is assuming are they? Nobody has said they are definitely guilty; they have only been arrested, rather than charged. I'm not sure whether you're aware of how the system of 'the law' works, but if the police have reason to believe somebody is possibly guilty of a crime, they will arrest that person; if a jury determines that person is guilty, they will be charged.

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The guy he killed was a personal friend of mine and my other friends back home (Chris Brown (Brownie)). This guy is a complete nut case and has to be found.

I think once caught he will either be shot on site OR will shoot himself when the police get near.

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Reading parts of his letter, and listening to the circumstances regarding what he is doing, I understand - I do not agree with what he has done at all, but I can sympathise with how he is feeling and why he has done it

Taking steroids and being paranoid has led to him actually getting a gun and carrying out, what we only fantasize about doing to our enemys

The guy he killed was a personal friend of mine and my other friends back home (Chris Brown (Brownie)). This guy is a complete nut case and has to be found.

I think once caught he will either be shot on site OR will shoot himself when the police get near.

I doubt he will shoot himself, he will want to go out in style, shooting himself will deff not be what he wants other people to remember

People like him will want it to be as dramatic as possible, I have an ex friend who is Extremely similar to him in looks, size and attitude, and hates the police and watching this story, it is turning out exactly how I would imagine my him doing things, going into woodland, etc writing letters, going completley schitzo over something most of us would manage to get over normally

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Do the UK police have guns or are they still using night sticks to maintain social order?

General police dont have guns. We dont need them as the general rate of shootings in the UK is low, however, we do have specialist trained armed response officers, who attend shootings etc very quickly. These are the guys who are working on this case at the moment.

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Do the UK police have guns or are they still using night sticks to maintain social order?

Normal police carry Mace spay and metal telescopic whacky sticks, I think some parts of the country carry tazers now

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General police dont have guns. We dont need them as the general rate of shootings in the UK is low, however, we do have specialist trained armed response officers, who attend shootings etc very quickly. These are the guys who are working on this case at the moment.

ah.

Well that's pretty efficient

Normal police carry Mace spay and metal telescopic whacky sticks, I think some parts of the country carry tazers now

probably as a 1st alternative to firing a gun?

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ah.

Well that's pretty efficient

probably as a 1st alternative to firing a gun?

Yea, although most people are captured without even needing that, quite a few people get sprayed if they are resisting arrest

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My guess is that Moat has already planned for this, and has something underground in rothbury he has made to hide in, if you saw his house and garden, it was wired with CCTV everywhere, even in the bushes there was cameras, listening devices etc

I think he has dug out some kind of underground room a while ago and has gone to that now

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probably as a 1st alternative to firing a gun?

Our police offcers will use battons only if they suspect the person has a weapon (other than a gun), to search the person from a safe distance and place them in a possition which renders them unable to grab their weapon quick enough to be a threat the the officer.

Should a person or group of people being very un-ruely, they will use the spray after a couple of pre warnings. This is proffered as it is an instant de-stabalisation of the person for a short period of time, allowing the officer to carry out their arrest.

If the spray fails, or the person is lashing out and becoming a real and immediate threat, they will then use the tazer. I havent heard of the tazer being used more than a few times however.

In the UK the police officers are supposed to take their own safety above all else. So if someone is seen to be carrying a loaded weapon, their main duty is to request armed officers to the scene and ensure the public are safely kept at bay from any danger until the situation is controlled.

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Our police offcers will use battons only if they suspect the person has a weapon (other than a gun), to search the person from a safe distance and place them in a possition which renders them unable to grab their weapon quick enough to be a threat the the officer.

Should a person or group of people being very un-ruely, they will use the spray after a couple of pre warnings. This is proffered as it is an instant de-stabalisation of the person for a short period of time, allowing the officer to carry out their arrest.

If the spray fails, or the person is lashing out and becoming a real and immediate threat, they will then use the tazer. I havent heard of the tazer being used more than a few times however.

In the UK the police officers are supposed to take their own safety above all else. So if someone is seen to be carrying a loaded weapon, their main duty is to request armed officers to the scene and ensure the public are safely kept at bay from any danger until the situation is controlled.

I like how the system works, IMO this prevents any abuse of power (although it can't prevent every instance of it). This enables the police to thoroughly think the situation out rather than just use unnecessary force.

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From what I heard on the news the criminal justice system has failed in a big way. He was sent to prison for 18 weeks for assault, because of that he lost his business, his girlfriend left him for this other man and he became alienated from the community. He will have sat in prison for that time and from hearing about his girlfriend he will have just been getting angrier and angrier probably fuelled by other inmates. He should be been giving a community sentence of some sort, and had a probation officer to report to. He then could have served his due, but kept his business, maybe kept his girlfriend and none of this would have happened. My uncle is a probation officer and was going on and on about this at the weekend, and I completely agree. They are complaining of prison overcrowding yet they are sending people in who don't really need to go, and getting rid of the jobs that support criminals such as probation. ****ing Torys.

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From what I heard on the news the criminal justice system has failed in a big way. He was sent to prison for 18 weeks for assault, because of that he lost his business, his girlfriend left him for this other man and he became alienated from the community. He will have sat in prison for that time and from hearing about his girlfriend he will have just been getting angrier and angrier probably fuelled by other inmates. He should be been giving a community sentence of some sort, and had a probation officer to report to. He then could have served his due, but kept his business, maybe kept his girlfriend and none of this would have happened. My uncle is a probation officer and was going on and on about this at the weekend, and I completely agree. They are complaining of prison overcrowding yet they are sending people in who don't really need to go, and getting rid of the jobs that support criminals such as probation. ****ing Torys.

Yep thats why I can understand why is he feeling like this - he has done things the wrong way, but his reasons are genuine

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