'Moat you Legend' Facebook webpage silenced

Siobhan O'Dowd, who set up the RIP Raoul Moat you Legend page, which has attracted over 30,000 supporters and provoked a storm of controversy, insisted yesterday the gunman was indeed a legend for "keeping the police on their toes" after going on the run for six days last week, after murdering one man, badly injuring his ex-partner and shooting a policeman in the face.

The webpage had been condemned by Prime Minister David Cameron, who said he could not understand the sympathy being expressed for Moat. A Number 10 official telephoned the social networking site on Wednesday to raise Mr Cameron's concerns, prompting Facebook to say it had no intention of removing the page.

Ms O'Dowd, however, announced yesterday she had taken it down herself but suggested she may revive it at some point in the future.

Asked why she removed the page, she said: "I don't know really. A few of us came to a decision, but it's going to be up again running. We don't condone what he did as what he did was wrong. I feel sorry for the families – but he was still a human being at the end of the day. He had problems and needed help, and he didn't get any help."

Ms O'Dowd said she had been surprised by the outcry.

"To be honest, I didn't think this would be the kind of reaction I would get," she said. "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion."

Asked directly why she thought Raoul Moat was a legend, Ms O'Dowd replied: "Legends get talked about – and he is getting talked about."

Ms O'Dowd added that she did not agree with the shootings, saying that "they were a bit harsh", but praised Moat because he "hid from police for a week... that were funny. I think he's a legend for keeping the police on their toes".

Downing Street has since sought to play down the apparent row between Facebook and the Prime Minister.

"We were not trying to instruct them to do anything," a Number 10 spokesman said. "The purpose was to draw their attention to the Prime Minister's comments."

Dozens of bouquets were left outside Moat's home in Fenham, Newcastle, and where he died in Rothbury, Northumberland, after a six-hour stand-off with armed police. Some were critical of police, while others were tributes from the gunman's friends. Local authorities said they would leave the bouquets for a respectful period of time in line with their usual policies.

Tributes in Rothbury were removed yesterday, however, but not by the county council.

Moat, 37, shot himself last week following a police manhunt, after he killed Chris Brown, 29, the new partner of his former girlfriend Sam Stobbart, 22. He also badly wounded her and blinded Pc David Rathbone, 42, with a shotgun blast to the face.

Police arrested a further two men yesterday on suspicion of assisting Moat. The men, aged 28 and 36, were arrested in the Newcastle area and were later released on police bail. It took the number of people arrested in connection with the police inquiry to 15.

Officers have issued a fresh appeal in the hunt for a shotgun believed to have been used by Moat, after six days of searching failed to produce any results.

Officers had been searching areas around Rothbury to locate the weapon. The storm drain underneath the town was checked.

Assistant Chief Constable Greg Vant said: "There is some intelligence that Raoul Moat may have had more than one weapon."