‘Forgotten’ victim of Raoul Moat was killed unlawfully

Christopher Brown, 29, was gunned down in cold blood, after starting a relationship with Moat’s ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart, two days after the spurned lover was released from jail in July 2010.

Moat went on the run and the next night shot and blinded Pc David Rathband.

Delivering a verdict of unlawful killing, coroner Terence Carney said that despite the police and the prison service being made aware of Moat’s possible intentions to harm, the exact threat he posed was not known.

“I’m not satisfied that the information we have heard and was available was used appropriately,” he said. “But I’m not satisfied that a failure to use this information has directly caused Christopher Brown’s death or contributed to it.”

Mr Carney praised the patience and stoicism of Mr Brown’s mother, Sally. In all the coverage of Moat, her son had been forgotten, he said.

Newcastle Crown Court had previously heard of missed opportunities about threats Moat made in prison.

Tim Allen, the governor at HMP Durham where Moat had been held, said lessons had been learned about how best to respond to information about possible threats of violence.

A statement read out on behalf of Sally Brown said: “Christopher’s death has been horrendous for the whole family, it has been hell. I hope that no one in the future should have to go through what we have had to go through.”

Chief Superintendent Neil Adamson, of Northumbria Police, said they accepted the need to learn lessons but that the information they received did not indicate any immediate threat to life. He also praised the Brown family who had “always acted in a most dignified way”.

He added: “Moat chose his path and planned his actions with meticulous detail. There was nothing known to the police to predict his extreme actions. No-one else was responsible for that and we believe nothing would have stopped him.”