IPCC investigates use of XRep Taser in Moat death

The use of Tasers on Raoul Moat prior to his death, which it is believed have not been fully tested by the Home Office, will be investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Already investigating how the force handled information that Moat had threatened to harm his former partner, the IPCC is now looking into information that West Yorkshire Police officers used Tasers on Moat during the stand-off in Rothbury last week, which resulted in him taking his own life.

The IPCC has confirmed a number of facts relating to the case, including the sighting of Moat on July 9 reported by a member of public at 7.25pm. Armed police contained Moat in Rothbury and negotiators were deployed hoping to achieve a peaceful outcome. He was in possession of a sawn-off shotgun which he had pointed at his head. He fired the weapon, taking his own life, at 1.12am on July 10.

The IPCC said that around the time of the fatal shot, two West Yorkshire Police firearms officers armed with XRep Tasers discharged their weapons at Moat, believed to have been in an effort to prevent Moat taking his own life, although the precise sequence of events regarding the discharge of the Tasers has not been established and is under investigation.

The IPCC was already investigating how Northumbria Police had dealt with intelligence from HM Prison Service concerning threats that Moat had made regarding his former girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart, who he injured with a gunshot wound before killing her current boyfriend the day after his release from prison, before going on to shoot Northumbria officer PC David Rathband.

IPCC investigators will obtain evidence from the officers and negotiators who confronted Moat. The command strategy and tactics employed by the police will also be investigated. A review of tactics will consider the deployment and use of the XRep Taser – an electronic device that is deployed from a 12-gauge shotgun.

The XRep Taser used is still undergoing tests by the Home Office, but the Government has said forces have discretion to use any equipment they deem necessary.

A Home Office spokesman said the XRep Taser is currently subject to testing by the Home Office Scientific Development Branch.

“However, legally, police forces have discretion to use any equipment they see fit as long as the use of force is lawful, reasonable and proportionate,” said the spokesman.

The two officers have not been suspended from firearms’ duty pending the investigation.
It has also emerged that Moat had wanted psychiatric support in the months prior to the shootings. A friend of Moat submitted taped recordings to ITV News which reveal conversations he had with social workers and the police from July 2009 until about April of this year, suggesting he was becoming increasingly paranoid.

In one recording made by Moat in August 2009, of a meeting attended by a social worker, he said: “I would like to have a psychiatrist, psychologist, have a word with me regularly, on a regular basis, to see if there’s somewhere underlying like where I have problem that I haven’t seen.

“Why don’t we just have a psychiatrist sit me down and say ‘right OK, I want to see you regularly, then we can move towards where your areas of fault are, we can enhance on these areas you know, and work with us’.”

Tributes have been left at the site of Moat’s death and a Facebook group in tribute to him was taken down by its creator following criticism from the Prime Minister, although another has already been established.

Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, Sir Paul Stephenson, has said he is disappointed with the response, while Prime Minister David Cameron said he does not believe there should be any sympathy for Moat, who he called a “callous murderer”.