Legacy and Aftermath of Violence

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Warm summer night in july twenty ten People across the northeast of England were going about their lives as normal Families were settling in for the evening were filling up And most of the region had no idea that within hours, armed police would be deployed across roads, fields, and quiet villages in one of the biggest manhunts the country had ever seen It began with a single act of violence in a small house in Gateshead But what followed would spread far beyond that front door Over the coming days, police helicopters would circle low over farmland Armed officers would move through woodland and ordinary towns like Rothbury would suddenly find themselves at the center of a nationwide search for a man who seemed to have nothing left to lose In this episode of British Murders with Stroke Blues, we're looking at the Row Mat Manhunt case that grip the UK in real time. difficult questions about how warning signs were handled and left behind a trail of devastation that changed multiple lives. forever Before we start, just a quick reminder to follow the podcast on your player of choice. It's completely free and one of the best ways to support the show If you're able to leave a rating or review that helps enormously as well add free listening, early access and exclusive episodes, head over to patreon. com forward slash British Murders to join my ever growing community If you've ever lived in the northeast of England or even just visited for the day You'll know that people who live there are fiercely proud of where they're from. part of the country that's built on hard graft strong communities and people who often look after their own But in the summer of twenty ten, those same communities found themselves living through one of the biggest police manhunts the UK had ever seen An entire week, armed officers searched woodland, farmland and quiet villages as an angry, heavily built man consistently managed to stay one step ahead of them The whole country watched on as it unfolded, almost in real time with rolling news coverage, police helicopters flying overhead, and thousands of people wondering where he might turn up next The m in question was Raouul Thomas Murt Murch was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on june seventeenth, nineteen seventy three And aside from some short spells spent elsewhere, his entire life was spent living in his home city Newcastle is known for its industrial rootes, football and nightlife But like many cities, there are pockets of it where life has never been particularly easier One of those areas is Fenham, located in the west part of the city And it's in that economically deprived area where Mo spent much of his childhood H biological father walked away from the family before Murch was even born His mum struggled with serious mental health problems and by most accounts, wasn't able to look after her son properly As a result, Me was pretty much raised by his grandma alongside his older brother Moe left school at sixteen with no qualifications, and a year later discovered Karate That soon turned into a lifelong obsession with fitness, bodybuilding, and spending countless hours in the gym He also began using anabolic steroids to make himself bigger and stronger So by the time he reached adulthood, he stood around six foot three and weighed roughly seventeen stone making him an intimidating figure even before he'd spoken a word. People who knew him often described him as someone with a short fuse, and they'd seen flashes of explosive anger that seemed to come from nowhere By his mid twenties, he'd left home for good, and his relationship with his mum had completely broken down The two didn't speak for around ten years And even when his mum tried to contact him through the salvation army, in the hopes of rebuilding some sort of relationship, Mot completely ignored her Papper though is seemed to be making something of himself He worked as a panel beater first before spending several years working the doors at nightclubs around Newcastle Later, he started his own tree surgery business But it wasn't exactly his dream job In one recorded conversation with social workers He said I started this business. I don't particularly enjoy it It's not as easy as working on the doors Working alongside him were two men called Karl Ness and Kuram Awan At first, they were simply friends and workmates But before long, both would find themselves caught up in the manhunt we'll be discussing later in this episode Away from work, M's personal life was every bit as unsettled. According to people who knew him, Mort always wanted an attractive woman by his side grandm, Samantha Stubbart, whom I'll introduce shortly, later said that was exactly why he was drawn to her. because she was slim, blonde and turned. exactly the sort of woman Murt liked to be seen with Between august two thousand nine and april twenty ten, Moe secretly recorded more than fifty hours worth of conversations with social workers on a dictaphone One of those old cassette record is used to record speech for later transcription ly distrusted social services and seemed convinced that people, particularly the authorities, were against him And those recordings paint a picture of a man whose mind was becoming increasingly troubled At one point, he admitted It always seems there's a monkey on my back It's emotionally unstable. Elsewhere, he complained that police officers were always on my back and claimed he himself had been asking for psychiatric help Looking back now, it's easy to hear that he was someone struggling with paranoia and was convinced almost everyone around him was somehow working against him Private life was chaotic too, to say the least. Reports at the time suggested he'd fathered around six children with several different women though his relationships rarely lasted. Several women also later alleged he could be controlling, intimidating, and violent. pererhaps the harshest assessment of all came from his own mum. During the nationwide manhunt, she spoke to reporters and said her son was, quote, better off dead It's a shocking thing for any parent to say But perhaps it also gave some indication of just how frightened those closest to him had become. One of the women who knew that side of him better than anyone was the aforementioned Samantha Stubbart. Samantha grew up across the river Tyne in Gateshead And as a teenager, she loved going out with her friends and spent plenty of evenings in the local nightclubs In fact, according to her family, she'd even been going clubbing from around the age of fifteen sometometimes with her own mum on school nights During one of those nights out that she met Murt, who was working the doors Samantha was just sixteen years old and he was thirty one, almost twice her age Despite the fifteen year age gap, the pair began an on and off relationship that lasted around six years and eventually had a daughter together Years later, Samantha described the relationship as controlling and at times violent. Her grandma recalled one occasion when Samantha arrived at her house after Me had allegedly thrown her against a wall Family members believed his violence often became worse around the times he was taking testosterone and anabolic steroids By the start of twenty ten, Murch was already well known to the police He'd been arrested at least twelve times, leading to charges for seven separate offenses But despite that, he'd only ever received one conviction, which was for common assault Even so, officers had been called to incidents involving him on numerous occasions over the years giving them a good idea of the sort of man they were dealing with. In february twenty ten, things took another turn when Mott was sentenced to eighteen weeks in HMP Durham after assaulting his nine year old relative While he was behind bars, Samantha finally decided she'd had enough and chose that time to end their relationship She began seeing someone else, a man called Christopher Brown, who is better known to everyone as Chris He was a twenty nine year old karate instructor who'd moved to the Northeast from SlO around six months earlier Chris already had two children of his own and from everything those who knew him have said He had absolutely no idea just how dangerous Samantha's ex would soon become Chris was born in the south of England and grew up between Slough and Windsor in Berkshire Those closest to him remembered someone who was always on the go His mum described him as loyal, easy going, and always in good spirits. And his friends apparently joked that he was like Marmite. You either loved him or hated him But if you love them, You'd have a friend for life Karate was a huge part of Chris's life As soon as he tried it, he fell in love with it. And it wasn't just good at it either He loved teaching the martial arts, especially to children And by twenty ten, he'd built a career around it It wasn't just a job to Chris. It was something he was passionate about and lived his life by Chris had moved north to start a new chapter of his life and settled in the Gateshead area before beginning his relationship with Samantha His mom later said they'd spoken regularly on the phone in the weeks leading up to that summer Chris sounded happy He was making plans for the future and looking forward to what came next He had no way of knowing someone else had very different plans While Moat was serving his sentence in HMP Durham Samantha visited him in prison. According to several later accounts, she was terrified of what he'd do once he got out So, hoping it might put him off coming after her She told him she'd start seeing a police officer. Now as we know, it wasn't true By then, the Le had already done its damage Mot already believed the police had ruined his life in his mind, they'd taken his children constantly targeted him And now, he believed one of their Rone had stolen his partner as well It became another grievance to add to an ever growing list that was already far too long The worrying thing is that he wasn't exactly keeping these thoughts to himself either. Not long before he was due to be released, staff at HMP Durham warned Northumbria Police that Me had spoken about seriously harming Samantha. That warning would later come under intense scrutiny, with many questions being asked about what happened after the information reached the police By the middle of june twenty ten, investigators would later conclude that Murt had already begun planning what was to come and not long after He was released from prison That was onto Thursday july first, twenty ten. And within hours of walking out through the prison gates, he logged into his Facebook account eleven twenty one AM, he wrote just got out the slammer to a totallyally fucked life. Eleven minutes later came another post Lost my business. Kids to social services gonna lose my home and lost my misses of nearly six years to a copper They haven't fucked my life enough over the years Over the next hour, he continued posting similar things He blamed the police for taking his children and blamed Samantha for turning against him laained that he wasn't twenty one anymore and didn't know how to rebuild his life from scratch In one post, he wrote that it was strange how someone you'd loved and treasured for so long could suddenly turn on you then just after half past midday, he posted something that with hindsight felt particularly ominous He wrote Every action has an equal and opposite reaction So if a las can really love you and treat you right, then they can also swing the complete opposite way ofventchuallyually At the time there were simple Facebook updates from a frustrated man fresh out of prison But within twenty four hours, they'd take on a far darker meaning That same day, witnesses saw Mote wandering around Newcastle, wearing an orange t shirt, dark jeans and white trainers Those clothes would soon feature unwanted posts seen across the country Because behind the scenes, things were already moving quickly Ness had managed to source a Swn off shotgun for Mot And it wasn't just supplying the weapon either He'd also helped keep an eye on Samantha while Mote was on the inside, and had gathered crucial information about Chris Meanwhile, Awan helped the pair obtain a vehicle and find places where Mok could hide if he needed to disappear The events we're about to discuss were far from a spur of the moment outburst They'd been meticulously planned by three people On the Friday, july second, Motat, Ness, and Awan traveled around the Northeast together And at some point, Mke collected the Swn off shotgun Ness had arranged for him Just after half past two in the early hours of Saturday, july third Everything finally came to a head Samantha was at a friend's house in Berttley, a town just south of Gates said that's probably best known for the Angel of the North, which stands only a few miles away And Samantha wasn't alone. Her mum and young daughter were there with her. as was Chris And somehow, Me found them all Chris went outside upon his arrival Now, whether he was trying to calm the situation down or simply protect the people inside, nobody can say for certain But regardless, he never stood a chance Moote raised the Swn off shotgun and fired it at close range, killing Chris almost instantly He then turned the gun towards the house and fired through the living room window Inside, Samantha's mum was already on the phone to the police And during the attack, Samantha was struck twice One of the shotgun blasts hit her arm, and that injury almost certainly saved her life Samantha herself later said It took all the pressure and force from hitting my organs If my arm wasn't there Th I would have died Chris now dead and Samantha critically injured Moke climbed back into the waiting vehicle with Ness and Awan, with the three men swiftly disappearing into the darkness. Later that afternoon, around two hundred twenty, Northumbria pololice publicly announced they were trying to trace Me in connection with the shootings. So his name was now in the public domain So too was the fact that Samantha had once been his partner believed to be the mother of his daughter With that, the hunt had begun But M wasn't actually trying to escape the police We're going to take an ad break now. When we return, we'll jump straight back into the main timeline See you soon This Monday dot com ad was created by a team of people and AI agents. Reese, our content agent, wrote the copy based on our best practices, like mentioning Monday dot com three times. That was the second. Johnny, our coordination agent, built the timeline and kept everyone aligned. Olivia, our human creative director, stayed in the loop because agents are great, but they don't always know when a joke lands. She had one note, tellell listeners it only takes minutes to build an agent. so Minutes. Create your own AI agent today on Monday d. comot Introducing the tootal solutions advantage only from Comcast Business. It's the largest fastest fiber powered network for small business, gig speeds with equipment and security included and a five year price lock No one does business like comcast business Switch today. Get started for sixty dollars a month for twelve months when you add an advanced solution to a qualifying internet package. Limited time offer. restestrictions apply. newew customers only. requires three hundred megab per second internet, secity edge and additional qualifying service, one year agreement, paperless billing and autoay bank account required. tax and fees extra Let's now carry on from where we left off Just after midnight on Sunday july fourth, a little over twenty four hours after murdering Chris M set out, as prosecutors would later put it to go hunting for police officers Along with Ness and Awan, he drove to the large roundabout where the A one meets the A sixty nine at East Denton. That's on the western edge of Newcastle And he circled the roundabout twice Then just twelve minutes before carrying out his next attack M from the police himself He warned them that he intended to target a police officer And after ending the call, the three men pulled the vehicle out of sight Armed with the Swn off shotgun Mk got out and quietly crept towards a marked traffic car parked nearby Sitting inside that marked car was forty two year old police constable David Rathband David was born in Stafford in nineteen sixty eight and was an identical twin with his brother Darren The two were incredibly close growing up, as you'd expect from twins And Darren would later describe David as his shadow saying that being a twin meant losing far more than just a brother It meant losing part of your own identity After leaving school, David trained as a plumber Policing had always been his dream. In the year two thousand, he finally achieved it and joined Northumbria Police He spent his first six years working as a response officer Dealing with whatever came over the radio day or night He'd even passed his sergeant's exam Climbing the ranks never really interested him David preferred being out on the front line, doing the job he'd always wanted to do In two thousand six, he transferred into the traraffic department, which was another ambition he'd held for years colloeagues remembered him as a dedicated officer who was respected across the force. He also volunteered as a family liaison officer supportorting families who just lost loved ones in fatal road traffic collisions It's no doubt one of the toughest jobs in policing But by all accounts, he carried it out with compassion and quiet professionalism. Away from work, David lived in Northumberland with his wife and their two children And like Chris, he had absolutely no connection to MT. He was simply in the wrong place at the worst possible time David sat alone in his patrol car He suddenly spotted some movement. A man appeared to be crouching low to the ground outside. before David had any real chance to react Mot fired the son of shotgun directly into his face at close range. Then he fired again Somehow, despite the horrific injuries he suffered, David stayed conscious And realizing Mo intended to kill him, he did the only thing He could think of deead. And somehow It worked Believing he'd killed the officer, Mot walked away And against all odds, David survived He spent the next three weeks in hospital But sadly, it lost the sight in both of his eyes and was fitted with prosthetic ones The pololice radio call sign that night had been Tango one hundred ninety And he'd use that title later for his memoir. in which he described not only the shooting but the long and difficult process of rebuilding his life afterwards Remarkably, David refused to let the attack define him Instead, he founded the Blue Lamp Foundation charity support in emergency service workers seriously injured in the line of duey Those who worked with him said he became an inspiration, refusing to give up despite everything he'd endured Tragically though, David's story didn't end there. On february twenty ninth, twenty twelve, less than two years after the shooting He was found dead at his home in Northumberland after taking his own life He was just forty four Five days earlier, he'd sent a tweet mourning the loss of not just his eyes, but also his job. family, wife and marriage One of his followers saw the tweet and contacted Northumbria Police's Twitter account that same day, asking them if they were aware of it, and mentioning how concerned they were Another follower of David's tweeted that someone needed to intervene due to the worrying nature of his tweets David's brother Darren has often spoken publicly about the loss saying every day without David still feels empty Back in july twenty ten though, nobody knew how David's story would end All anyone knew was that an unarmed police officer had been shot in the face and a gunman was still at large About fifty minutes after the attack, Mur telephoned the police once again This time, his message left little doubt about what his intentions were. claimed he had two hostages, Ness and Awan and warned officers not to come anywhere near him He then declared I'm not coming in alive I'm not on the run coming to get you I am hunting for officers now By six o'clock that Sunday morning was still on july fourth Northumbria Police confirm the shooting of David was linked to the Burtley attack on Samantha, her family and Chris Public were warned not to approach Motat under any circumstances. every available tactic and resource was now being thrown into finding him. By the Monday, the search had become one of the biggest manhunts the UK had ever seen Around one hundred and sixty armed officers were involved. Sniper teams were deployed. pololice dogs searched woodland areas And helicopters could be seen circling overhead for hours Armored vehicles rode through quiet villages that normally saw little more than tractors and tourists The hunt stretched across Tine and Weir and deep into rural Northumberland At aroundround ten to eleven that morning, a fish and chip shop in Saton Delaval, a Northumberland village located roughly ten miles north of Newcastle was robbed by an armed man, Match in Mot's description The owner of Dela Val Fishbar would later tell jurors at the trial that a man walked into the shop, approached the counter, and demanded he hand over moneyoney. The owner then proceeded to open the till and hand over roughly a hundred pounds in cash to the armed robber. Later that morning, temporary Chief Constable Su Sim confirmed publicly that HMP Durham had warned police before M's release that he might seriously harm Samantha. The circumstances surrounding that one it had already been referred to the Independent Police Complainance Commission, the IPCC Meanwhile, there was one small piece of encouraging news Samantha was no longer in a critical condition From her hospital bed, she made a direct appeal to Mat Please give yourself up, she said If you still loved me and our baby, you would not be doing this Police also revealed they were receiving specialist advice on how best to communicate with Me because of his increasingly unpredictable behaviour That evening, detectives released details of a vehicle they believed had been used during the shootings And the following day brought another extraordinary development Mote sent police a forty page handwritten document titled Ral Mot Murder Statement Written mostly in capital letters, the document swung wildly between self pity, blame and open threats. In places he wrote warmly about first meeting Samantha describing her as the person who'd made him want to live after years of taking risks and caught in danger But only a few pages later, he calmly explained how he justified shooting her. He even claimed he deliberately loaded a lighter shotgun cartridge for Samantha because in his mind, a serious but non fatal injury would leave her with compensation permanent reminder of what she'd done to him Throughout the letter, Murt repeatedly blamed everyone but himself He blamed the police, the courts, even Samantha, insisting he'd been pushed into everything he'd done At one point he wrote, public need not fear me. Police should I'm not on the runun killing police until I am dead Elsewhere, he admitted Guess I finally lost it. He also describes sleeping for barely an hour a night since his release from prison grinding his teeth constantly and feeling as though none of what was happening was real The letter ended much as it had begun Blam pull the trigger by doing so just as much as me, he wrote about Samantha It was a chilling attempt to shift responsibility for murder and attempted murders onto the very people he'd chosen to target By Wednesday, july seventh, the search for me had narrowed dramatically. At aroundround eleven twenty that morning, someone reported seeing his car near the picturesque village of Rothburough, nestled within the Northumberland National Park An exclusion zone stretching roughly two miles was quickly established And residents were told to stay indoors while armed officers flooded into the area Unbeknown to many of them, Mo was walking around nearby, carrying his shotgun tucked beneath his arm twenty minutes later, police revealed they'd been dealing with what they'd initially believed was a hostage situation In reality, Ness and Awan had already been arrested the previous day. They were found walking around the Rothbury area after fleeing from Mat. Both men would later be convicted for helping him before and after the shootings. As evening approached, Chief Constable Su Sim promised that no stone would be left unturned Police also announced a ten thousand pound reward for information leading to Moe's capture which is just shy of sixteen thousand in today's monet The warnings remain the same even with that reward on offer Do not approach him as he was believed to be armed and dangerous The Thursday brought in more sightings, including fresh CCTV footage showing Me in Newcastle shortly after leaving prison and court appearances for Ness and Awan, who prosecutors described as being part and parcel of the conspiracy also occurred Mo's uncle then made an emotional public appeal, begging his nephew to surrender But by the time Friday evening came around, the hunt had finally reached its climax At seven twenty seven PM Residents around Rothbury were told to stay indoors while armed officers surrounded an area near the National Trus Craigside Estate Just after eight o'clock, police confirmed they were negotiating with a man they believed to be Murt. An hour later, witnesses saw him lying on the riverbank with a shotgun tucked beneath his chin Officers stayed around twenty feet away while train negotiators spoke to him for hours. They brought him food, gave him water, and time and again they tried to persuade him to surrender to them peacefully Then, in one of the strangest moments of this entire case Former England footballer Paul Gascone, better known to the nation as Gaza turned up at the police cordon. Gascoign later claimed he believed he could help because he thought he and Mot were friends And he apparently brought along with him a bucket of fried chicken, a fishing rod and some cans of beer Different sources claimly brought different things, but those three are typically the ones quoted Police politely but firmly sent him home And years later, Gascone, who has publicly had his fair share of problems with drug and alcohol over the years, admitted he'd been heavily under the influence of both at the time. He said he'd been sitting at home drinking, taking cocaine, and convinced himself he could somehow talk Mot into giving himself up Just after quQuarterpass one on the morning of Saturday, july tenth M suddenly moved the shotgun from beneath his chin to the side of his head Believing he was about to kill himself, officers fired two experimental long range tears rounds One struck his arm and the other missed. but neither had any real effect Eleven minutes later at one twenty six AM. Mart pulled the trigger An ambulance quickly rushed him to Newcastle General Hospital under police escort But despite the best efforts of medical staff, he was pronounced dead shortly after two AM. He was thirty seven years old. One of the most extraordinary and frightening manhunts in modern British history Finally Over But although Mat was dead, the story was far from finished Days after the siege in Rothbury came to an end People began leaving flowers and handwritten messages near the spot where Mot had died At the same time, Facebook pages started appearing in his memory The biggest of them all was titled RIP Ral Mort You Legend And within a matter of days, it had gained more than thirty six thousand members Many described him as misunderstood while others called him, as the title would suggest, a legend. Some use the page simply to attack Northambria pololice. And before long, several other similar pages soon appeared alongside it The whole thing is back to national debate. Where was the line between people expressing an opinion and openly glorifying someone who'd murdered an innocent man, attempted to murder his former partner and permanently blinded a police officer The discussion even reached Parliament. That's how serious it was During Prime Minister's questions on july fourteenth, twenty ten The then Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the page outright He told his fellow MPs Raal Moz was a callous murderer Full star End of story cannot understand any wave, however small of public sympathy for this man There should be sympathy for his victims and the havoc he wreaked in that community Downing Street asked Facebook to remove the page, but the company initially refused, saying it didn't breach its terms of service and that Facebook existed so people could express their views openly The page remained online for another day before eventually being deleted by the person who'd created it Looking back, this is often seen as one of the first major cases in the UK to raise difficult questions about social media partarticularly around memorial pages for violent offenders because of how quickly they can gather momentum online. While those debates continued, Chris's family were preparing to say goodbye Later that month, hundreds of people gathered at Slau Crematorium for his funeral with many wearing the colours of his beloved Chelsea foootball club One of the most heartbreaking moments came when Chris's eleven year old daughter placed a card on his coffin alongside flowers which spelled out one simple word Daddy Criminal proceedings continued the following year In march twenty eleven, Ness and Awan stood trial at Newcastle Crown Court Both claiming they'd effectively become M' hostages and had been too frightened to alert the police The jury didn't believe them, however men were convicted of conspiring to murder police officers and attempting to murder PC David Rathband. Ness was also found guilty of Chris Brown's murder despite never pulling the trigger himself because of the role he'd played in supplying the shotgun and helping plan the attack He received a life sentence with a minimum term of forty years. Aoan was also jailed for life, with him receiving a minimum term of twenty years In september twenty eleven, the inquest into Mut's death concluded he had died by suicide The Ipendent Police Complaints Commission also cleared Northumbria Police over their use of the experimental long range taseer rounds during the final standoff