Raoul Moat’s two co-conspirators face long jail sentences after they were found guilty yesterday of their parts in the fugitive gunman’s murderous rampage.
Karl Ness, 26, and Qhuram Awan, 23, had claimed that they had been held hostage and feared for their lives. In reality they had played key roles in helping Moat to shoot three people, killing one and seriously injuring the others.
The former club doorman had been released from jail seeking revenge on Samantha Stobbart, 22, his former girlfriend, and Chris Brown, 29, her new boyfriend.
He murdered Mr Brown, a karate instructor, firing a shotgun at him three times before shooting Ms Stobbart, 22, through the window of her mother’s home in Birtley, Tyneside, last July. Moat warned in a rambling phone call to a 999 operator that he was out “hunting for officers”.
Less than 24 hours later he blasted PC David Rathband, a traffic policeman, in the face as he sat in a patrol car at Denton Burn, Newcastle upon Tyne, leaving him blind.
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The attacks led to a manhunt that ended a week later when Moat shot himself fatally in the village of Rothbury, Northumberland, after a stand-off with police.
Ness, a friend and business partner of Moat, was a willing participant in planning and carrying out Mr Brown’s murder and supplied the shotgun. Awan, a part-time mechanic from Blyth, Northumberland, drove the modified Lexus getaway car. All three men carried out the armed robbery of a fish and chip shop in Seaton Delaval.
Ness and Awan helped Moat to go to ground in the thickly wooded countryside. CCTV footage showed Ness and Awan looking calm and relaxed as they ran errands for Moat.
They appeared to collapse in the dock as the jury delivered their verdicts at Newcastle Crown Court. Ness, of North Tyneside, was found guilty of murder and both men were convicted of conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and robbery. They will be sentenced next week.
In the courtroom PC Rathband hugged his sobbing wife, Kath, and Mr Brown’s mother, Sally, who has complained that her son is the “forgotten victim” in the affair, also burst into tears.
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Detectives, who had suspected that Moat was receiving assistance, had analysed mobile phone records and watched hundreds of hours of CCTV footage to piece together the involvement of Ness and Awan. Detective Superintendent Jim Napier said that it was an irony that the CCTV system installed by Moat, a paranoid steroid addict, at his home later helped towards the convictions.
Northumbria Police have released footage of the arrest of Ness and Awan. They were spotted by the crew of a police helicopter shortly after the black Lexus was abandoned in Rothbury. They were swiftly surrounded by armed officers, who let off stun grenades to disorientate them.