Raoul Moat: The Man Who Went on a Mission To Kill The Police in the UK

The summer of 2010 saw the biggest manhunt in modern British history. The nation's media was thrown into a widespread frenzy as police attempted to track down just one man, Raoul Moat. As the hunt progressed, the elusive gunman left a terrifying trail that would ultimately shatter the tranquillity of the beautiful Northumbrian countryside. Growing up in Newcastle's West End, Raoul Moat never knew his father and had a troubled relationship with his mother. As an adult, he yearned to create his own perfect family to rid himself of his painful childhood memories. But with this desire came a string of failed relationships and a personality on the edge of breaking point. The first victims of his callous spree were his ex-partner and her new boyfriend - on the surface a fatal attack by a jilted lover but deep down lay a paranoid resentment that would lead the gunman to actively target the Northumbrian police force. As the hunted became hunter, Moat ruthlessly shot a traffic officer at point blank range, blinding him for life. The police search escalated to unprecedented levels and the net appeared to be closing in on the gun man when his abandoned vehicle was found in the rural town of Rothbury. Despite an exclusion zone being placed around the immediate area, Moat evaded capture in the Northumbrian wilderness for over 3 days. He was eventually holed up on a riverbank as his rampage culminated in a 6 hour stand-off that gripped the nation. Moat had murdered one and left two critically injured - there was seemingly only one way the spree was going to end ..