Terror for villagers in lair of gunman

All that was heard throughout much of the day was the sound of a police helicopter hovering overhead as it co-ordinated the search for Britain's most wanted man, Raoul Moat.

On the ground in the Northumberland village, known as the capital of Coquetdale, little was moving apart from police vehicles as local people heeded advice and remained indoors.

Armed police were on guard outside two schools as officers and sniffer dogs scoured fields, woods and outhouses for the former nightclub bouncer near where he abandoned his car.

County Councillor Steven Bridget said parents could go and collect their children from school but added: "The safest place for them at the moment is in the school."

Some children wept as their parents later picked them up under the watchful gaze of armed police.

Claire Shiell, whose daughters Nichola, 11, and Samantha, 10, attend one of the local school's gave them a hug as she took them home.

Parents were told their children could stay in the school under armed guard for as long as necessary. The pupils were told in a special assembly they must not go outside.

Mrs Shiell said: "I was stopped by the police twice on the way here, I don't have to stop on the way home."

As the helicopter continued to hover above, she added: "It's very frightening but the police are doing what they can."

The police investigation switched to Rothbury yesterday as an ex-girlfriend of Moat, Yvette Foreman, spoke about her fears that the fugitive gunman would come after her.

Miss Foreman, who lives in the village with her mother, said: "People are blaming me for Raoul coming up here. I'm terrified. I told police as soon as I heard he was on the loose he'd be heading for here."

The 35-year-old waitress revealed that Moat knew the rugged landscape around the village well and said he could live rough there for days.

She said: "I knew he'd come here. It's his favourite place in the whole world.

"We'd go camping and fishing here loads when we were younger – almost every weekend – and he knows the woods and hills like the back of his hand.

"There's so much woodland and so many little nooks and crags out there I think he could hide out for days."

A local farmer alerted police yesterday morning to a makeshift campsite apparently used by the gunman after she saw smoke while checking her animals.

She also noticed that one of the boards blocking up a derelict farmhouse had been pulled off.

Speaking yesterday, Det Chief Supt Neil Adamson said eight separate police operations had taken place.

He said police had "reason to believe" that Moat was still in the Rothbury area, but they were not making any "leaps of faith either way".

"I would love to be in a position to let the wider public know what is going on behind the scenes. There is a huge amount of effort going on.

"There is an awful lot happening in an investigation that is taking a lot of resources and co-ordination," he said. "I cannot explain for obvious reasons, but there is a lot of work going on.

"The police priority still is, and always has been, to locate Moat and deal with him"

This was reiterated by Northumbria Police temporary Chief Constable Sue Sim, who also said people should not travel to Rothbury and repeated warnings that residents should stay indoors.

She said: "Can I stress to the public that Moat is still at large and we need to locate him."