Armed police comb remote countryside for gunman

Northumbria Police set up a two-mile exclusion zone around the Northumberland village of Rothbury and ordered children to be kept in school with armed guards outside as they closed in on the murder suspect.

Earlier they arrested two men who they had initially feared were being held hostage by the fugitive.

The men, who were found walking in the Rothbury area, were held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.

The focus of the massive manhunt dramatically shifted to the picturesque village after Moat's black Lexus saloon was found parked in an industrial estate beside the River Coquet.

Officers wearing helmets and carrying machine-guns were stationed outside Dr Thomlinson Church of England Middle School in the village yesterday.

Parents were told their children would stay in the school under armed guard for as long as necessary.

Moat, 37, used a rambling letter to "declare war" on the police, whom he blames for taking away his children, freedom and former girlfriend.

In a chilling warning, he wrote: "The public need not fear me but the police should as I won't stop till I'm dead."

Speaking at a Press conference, Det Chief Supt Neil Adamson, who is leading the manhunt, said officers had been dealing with a "complex, fast-moving and challenging situation".

He said Moat was still at large, but police had reason to believe he was in the Rothbury area.

Det Chief Supt Adamson appealed once again to the gunman to give himself up.

Moat, a former nightclub bouncer, is wanted by police after allegedly shooting his ex-partner and killing her new lover in the early hours of Saturday.

The father of three is accused of targeting Samantha Stobbart, 22, just hours after he was released from Durham Prison where he served a short sentence for assault.

Miss Stobbart was left in a critical condition and her new boyfriend, karate instructor Chris Brown, 29, was killed in the shooting in Gateshead.

Almost 24 hours later, married father of two Pc David Rathband, 42, was shot twice in his patrol car at a roundabout in Newcastle.