Henchmen of killer Moat get 60 years in prison

Karl Ness and Qhuram Awan were convicted at Newcastle Crown Court for a string of serious offences following a five-week trial.

Yesterday Ness, 26, from Dudley, North Tyneside, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 40 years and Awan, 23, from Blyth, Northumberland, was given life with a minimum of 20 years.

Earlier, Pc David Rathband, the police officer left blinded by Moat, wept as the details of his injuries were outlined to judge Mr Justice McCombe.

Moat was out for revenge when he heard that his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart was seeing a new man.

He asked his friend Ness to spy on her while he was still in prison and the day after his release, the pair went looking for her new lover.

Moat shot Ms Stobbart, 22, and calmly executed her boyfriend, Chris Brown, 29, before he fled.

The steroid abuser was convinced Mr Brown was a policeman and 24 hours later he rang Northumbria Police to say he was “hunting for officers”.

Awan was driving the other two men around in his black Nexus car when they chanced upon a parked police patrol car.

Inside was Pc Rathband, a 43-year-old father of two.

Awan stopped and Moat crept up on the unarmed officer before shooting him twice. He survived but was left blind.

Ness and Awan later helped Moat set up a woodland camp near Rothbury, Northumberland, and went shopping for supplies for him.

Although they claimed to have been held hostage, neither man alerted the authorities during these trips away from Moat.

In closed circuit TV images shown to the jury, both defendants could be seen calmly browsing the aisles for food or clothes.

Ness was convicted of murdering Mr Brown and a firearms offence. Both men were convicted of conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and robbing a chip shop that Moat held up the day after he shot Pc Rathband.

They were arrested by armed police who threw stun grenades at them as they walked down a country road.

Moat gave officers the slip and remained at large for another three days until he was cornered by armed police.

He shot himself in the head following a lengthy stand-off.

Mr Justice McCombe said: “Here we have a case where three men formulated a plan to murder policemen indiscriminately, and then, pursuant to the plan, attempted, to within the thinnest thread of human life, to kill one officer, with appalling consequences.

“The roles played by these two defendants cannot be minimised.

“While the offences may not have been committed without Moat, it is difficult to see that they could have been committed in the manner they were without Ness and Awan respectively.

“This too can be said to be a crime ‘meriting punishment of the utmost severity’, even though these defendants did not fire the gun.”

Outside court, Pc Rathband branded the two conspirators “evil” and Moat a coward.

“We are extremely pleased with the sentences set out for these two evil individuals,” he said.

“These two individuals, along with the other coward who wasn’t man enough to stay here, have taken my job from me.

“I am now blind for the rest of my life. It will be me who decides when I will leave, not these three individuals. I will continue as long as I possibly can in the job I love.”