LONDON – There should be no public sympathy for gunman Raoul Moat, British prime minister David Cameron said yesterday, describing him as a “callous murderer”.
Mr Cameron told the House of Commons that any sympathy should be reserved for Moat’s victims. “It is absolutely clear that Raoul Moat was a callous murderer, full stop, end of story,” he told MPs at prime minister’s questions.
“I 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.”
Mr Cameron was urged by Conservative MP Chris Heaton-Harris to contact Facebook to ask them to take down the webpage of the RIP Raoul Moat group, which he said carried a “whole host of anti-police statements”.
Mr Cameron said that he was making a “very good point”.
Later, his official spokesman indicated that a 10 Downing Street official was likely to contact Facebook to highlight the prime minister’s concerns with the company.
Online tributes to Moat have been posted while about 50 bouquets have been left outside his former home in Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne.
And flowers and cards have transformed into a shrine the riverside in Rothbury, Northumberland, where Moat shot himself early on Saturday morning.
The tributes have already been condemned by Britain’s most senior police officer, Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, as “extraordinarily disappointing”.
Meanwhile, the watchdog investigating the police’s handling of the hunt for Moat appealed for help from Rothbury residents.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) wants to speak to witnesses or anyone who has film footage of the dramatic end to the hunt for the 37-year-old former nightclub doorman. IPCC investigators have been in the Northumberland village since Saturday morning, conducting house-to-house inquiries and taking witness statements.
IPCC commissioner Nicholas Long said: “I appreciate that this has been a very difficult time for the residents of Rothbury. Their lives have been disrupted in a dramatic and extraordinary way.
“Their stoicism has been remarkable and I felt this in person when I was in Rothbury last Saturday. I am conscious they will want to get back to as normal a life as possible quickly.
“However, I am appealing for their assistance with our investigation. Our investigators are making good, steady progress, but we want to build as complete a picture as possible of the final hours of this incident.”
The IPCC is investigating two elements: the period between Moat’s discovery at 7.25pm on July 9th and his certified death at 2.22am the following day, and how Northumbria police responded to intelligence received about Moat from Durham Prison on July 2nd.
Yesterday the IPCC revealed officers fired two XRep Tasers – not approved by the Home Office – at Moat in an attempt to stop him taking his own life.