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Raoul Moat TV coverage slammed by top cop

Sep 5 2010 Sunday Sun

Raoul Moat, killer of Chris Brown and who shot and injured Samantha Stobbart and PC David Rathband

A CHIEF constable has questioned the decision by broadcasters to beam live TV coverage of the last hours of gunman Raoul Moat.

Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, said the advent of rolling 24-hour news has had a “profound effect” on policing, with commanding officers often spending over half their time dealing with the media on high-profile cases.

He argued it “cannot be right” when an officer commanding an incident like the Moat stand-off had to consider how the police’s actions may look as if they were a movie director.

Writing on his blog on the force’s website, he said such saturation coverage was “more of an issue” than the controversy focused on the Facebook tribute page to Moat.

Moat, 37, of Fenham Hall Drive, Newcastle, is thought to have shot himself following a six-hour stand-off in the Northumberland village of Rothbury in July.

He went on the run when he shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend Sam Stobbart in Birtley, Gateshead, after killing her new lover Chris Brown.

The following day, he blinded unarmed PC David Rathband by shooting him in the face.

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