20 Moat arrests hint at size of criminal network

Police have arrested another four people in connection with the case of Raoul Moat, the former nightclub bouncer who declared war on the police and then shot himself when he was cornered by officers in the Northumbrian village of Rothbury.

Twenty people have now been arrested, hinting at the size of the underground network on which Moat relied after shooting his ex-girlfriend, killing her boyfriend and then shooting a police officer during the weekend of July 3/4.
 
The latest arrests are of two men and two women, taken into police custody in Newcastle and nearby Blyth.  Police say they arrested one man and woman woman in each location, which may indicate they were two couples - though this has not been confirmed.

Yesterday, the sxiteenth person to be arrested was an unnamed 23-year-old man, from Newcastle, held on suspicion of firearms offences after a dawn raid. Of the 15 others arrested so far, only two have been charged - the other 13 remain on police bail.
 
The latest arrests come just days after five men were arrested last week on suspicion of assisting an offender. On Wednesday, three men aged 27, 34 and 45 were arrested in Newcastle and Wallsend and the following day a further two, aged 28 and 36, were arrested in Newcastle.

The two men who have been charged are Karl Ness and Qhuram Awan, who appeared at Newcastle Magistrates' Court on July 8 - while Moat was still on the run - and were formally accused of conspiracy to commit murder and possessing a firearm with intent. The two men, respectively 26 and 23, were remanded in custody and will appear in court again later this month.

While no other charges have been brought, the sheer number of arrests suggests Moat may have relied for support on extensive criminal contacts after years of operating in the Newcastle underworld. Not only was he able to evade the police for seven days but he also managed to get hold of a gun within 48 hours of leaving prison.
 
It emerged at the weekend that Moat sent his ex-girlfriend a 'get well soon' card while on the run from police, as she lay in hospital recovering from being shot by Moat himself. The card was intercepted by police, but handed by them to 22-year-old Samantha Stobbart.
 
Showing a sick monkey with a thermometer in its mouth, the card bore the legend: 'You're in hospital ... but luckily the doctors say you'll be normal in no time!' Inside, it read: 'Well that'll be a first,' to which Moat had added a hand-written note: 'No joke intended. Get well soon. Raoul.'

Stobbart told the News of the World: "The card was sick but that is just the sort of thing he would do. He would want me to feel he was watching me." ·