Mother of Raoul Moat's ex-girlfriend describes shootings

A woman wept in court as she described the moment gunman Raoul Moat killed her daughter's boyfriend last summer at the start of his shooting spree. Lesley Stobbart was at the house in Birtley, Gateshead, when 37-year-old Moat appeared and shot dead Chris Brown. Moat then critically injured her 22-year-old daughter, Samantha. Stobbart told Newcastle crown court that she had run upstairs to protect two children when Moat began firing a sawn-off, double-barrelled shotgun. Stobbart watched from an attic window as Moat, who was 1.9 metres (6ft 4in) and a steroid addict, pointed the gun at Brown's chest and pulled the trigger. He then turned the weapon on his ex-girlfriend, Samantha, leaving her critically injured. It was not until Moat ran from the scene that Stobbart realised her daughter had been hurt. Stobbart said she had warned Moat to stay away from her daughter. But the former bouncer, who had been released from Durham prison days earlier, was fixated on a reconciliation and had demanded "a straightener" – or fist fight – with Brown, who was a karate instructor. He waited for the couple to leave the house before attacking in the early hours of 3 July. Stobbart told the jury: "I shouted: 'You bastard, you bastard. Why have you shot him?' Then I ran upstairs to get the children. "I put them in the attic and I told them not to come out of the attic no matter what they did." She heard a second shot and looked out the attic window. "I could see Chris lying on the grass. Then Raoul shot him again. I did not know Samantha had been shot at the time. I went down to see where everyone was and she was lying on the floor." While waiting for the couple to come out of the house, Moat had sent a text message to a friend which read: "They are slagging me off. My suffering is funny apparently. We'll see who's laughing." Under cross-examination, Samantha said she had been terrified that Moat would "flip his lid" when he was released from prison. She had said Brown was a police officer in an attempt to ward off trouble, she added. Anticipating the confrontation, she had asked Brown to stay the night at his own flat on the night of the murder, but he refused. She told police investigators: "I was very worried. Frightened, really scared. At one point I was absolutely petrified as to how he would react on his release. "I expected he would flip his lid and that there would be trouble; he'd come looking for Chris. "I had told him the relationship was at an end but he would not have it. He would not take no for an answer." But "never in a million years" did she think he would coming looking for her with a gun. Mother and daughter were giving evidence at the trial of two men alleged to have been the willing accomplices of Moat during his rampage. Karl Ness, 26, and Qhuram Awan, 23, claim they were being held hostage by Moat, who also shot and blinded an unarmed traffic officer, David Rathband, after going hunting for police officers. Ness is alleged to have been with Moat on the night he shot the couple, while Awan is alleged to have helped the pair afterwards and driven Moat to the junction of the A1 and A69 where he shot Rathband. Ness, from Dudley, North Tyneside, denies murdering Brown. Both defendants deny conspiracy to murder, the attempted murder of Rathband, a firearms offence and the robbery of a Northumberland fish and chip shop. After going on the run for almost a week, Moat killed himself following a standoff with police in Rothbury, Northumberland.