Moat Taser ‘used for first time’

14 September 2011 Last updated at 07:32 ET

Raoul Moat had been on the run for a week

The Taser gun used on Raoul Moat had never been seen, held or fired before by the firearms team who shot at him, the inquest into his death has heard.

A police firearms tactical officer told the inquest in Newcastle officers fired at Moat twice with Tasers before he shot himself.

The West Yorkshire officer was at the stand-off which ended in Moat’s death in Rothbury, Northumberland last year.

Moat had killed one person and injured two others while on the run last July.

He sparked a week-long manhunt after shooting dead Chris Brown, his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart’s new boyfriend.

He also shot Miss Stobbart, critically injuring her, and later shot PC David Rathband, 43, twice in the face, blinding him.

The inquest jury heard the officers had received no formal training to use the weapons and had never fired a Taser Extended Range Electronic Projectile (XREP) projectile before.

Northumbria’s Assistant Chief Constable Steve Ashman, who was in charge of the operation to catch Moat, has already admitted breaking rules to allow the use of the experimental weapon as he felt it was his “one chance” to catch the fugitive.

The inquest is expected to last a further two weeks.

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