‘I’m going to go crazy’: Raoul Moat’s chilling phone call to girlfriend

In a prison phone call which sparked his murderous rampage, his former lover told the 37-year-old bouncer that her new boyfriend was a “handy f****** bloke” who could knock him out.

The inquest at Newcastle Crown Court also heard suicide notes, including one to a friend in which he says: “Sorry mate, I’m done with it all.”

Moat killed his love rival Chris Brown, 29, in Birtley, Gateshead, in July last year, then blasted his ex-lover Samantha Stobbart, 22, leaving her in a critical condition.

The next night he shot unarmed Pc David Rathband, who was sitting in a patrol car outside Newcastle.

Moat died a week later after a stand-off with police in Rothbury, Northumberland, following a huge manhunt.

While serving 18 weeks for assaulting a child, Moat spoke several times to Miss Stobbart and, as was usual practice, the calls were recorded.

In one call, she tells him the relationship is over.

Moat says: “We had one argument the other day. Let’s not get all silly about it.”

He complains that “everybody is getting on my case” and that he is getting “picked on”.

The conversation ends with the phone being abruptly slammed down.

Days later, he calls and says: “You are the only person I have ever cared about.

“I can’t have you out of my life.

“I’m going to go crazy, man.”

Miss Stobbart tells him she has met a new man, warning: “To be honest, Raoul, he is a handy f****** bloke and he is a lot younger than you.”

Superintendent Jim Napier told the hearing: “It is clear from the evidence that Moat’s break-up with Miss Stobbart was the catalyst for his murderous acts.”

After the Birtley shootings, Moat rang his friend Anthony Wright and said: “I have got a gun. I’m going to do myself in.”

Police found six letters in his house which showed Moat intended to take his own life, Mr Napier told the hearing.

In one to Miss Stobbart he expresses his love for her and that he cannot live without her, adding: “Knowing you hate me is tearing me apart.”

In another to his business partner and friend Karl Ness, he writes: “Sorry mate, I’m done with it all. Please take the company if you want it. I can’t do this any more.”

Moat asks him to put money aside for his family.

“They appear to have been prepared by Moat and all intimated that he intended to take his own life,” said Mr Napier, who was in charge of the inquiry into the fugitive’s criminal activities.

After finding the notes, police discovered home-made ammunition and in the loft was a noose.

The coroner said an inquest was needed because “Mr Moat met his death when he was effectively detained”.

Barristers for the Moat family, the Chief Constable of Northumbria Police, West Yorkshire Police officers and Pro-Tec Limited, the firm that supplied new shotgun Taser weapons, were in court, Coroner David Mitford said.

The inquest will focus on the events in Rothbury on July 9 and 10 when Moat was found, he said.

There will be questions about weapons used, how police managed the incident, how officers dealt with the deceased and how he acted, the jury was told.

Shortly before Pc Rathband was shot, Moat called Northumbria Police to say he was hunting for officers.

He told a call handler he had two hostages who would be killed if he was approached.

Mr Napier explained to the jury the hostages were in fact Ness and Qhuram Awan, who have received life sentences for helping Moat.

Moat told the operator: “I’m not on the run, I’m coming to get you.”

Moat crept up on Pc Rathband as he sat in his marked patrol car above the A1, the inquest heard.

He shot the officer in the face and body and Pc Rathband survived by feigning death, Mr Napier said.

He was blinded for life, the inquest heard.

A recording of Moat calling police after the shooting was played, with him saying: “Are you taking us serious now?

“I have just downed your officer.”

He finished: “You are going to kill me because I’m never going to stop.”

Mr Napier said: “Following the shooting of Pc Rathband and Moat’s declaration he was hunting for officers, this search developed on to a scale we have never really experienced in Northumbria Police and I understand seldom experienced before in the UK.”

Moat left a note with a friend which said: “I’m a killer and a maniac but I ain’t a coward.

“I’m not on the run, I will keep killing police until I am dead.

“They’ve hunted me for years, now it’s my turn.”

Moat said he was persecuted after incurring the personal grudge of a senior policeman.

In a rambling letter sent to a friend while he was on the run, Moat claimed the officer saw him as a love rival.

He said: “Ponteland’s chief inspector has a personal grudge over his mistress, going back 2000.

“I was working in Stanley when a woman came out the back and introduced herself as the manager.

“She regularly offered me coke in the office or drink, neither of which was my thing as a bodybuilder.”

He said the woman befriended him and offered him a pay rise.

Moat was warned off by a colleague who explained who she was, the court heard.

He described how his relationship with Miss Stobbart had affected his life.

He said: “She was like no other and filled the huge gaps in my life and changed my view of life and I began to change.

“Always in my adult life I felt alone, estranged from my family and needing to belong somewhere.

“I tried to fill this gap with beautiful women but all those relationships failed because it was never enough.

“No matter what the looks, no matter what the personality, I wanted more, but I did not know what.

“I used to hate myself because most blokes would give an arm for what I had.”