The story of crazed killer Raoul Moat is being retold in a new ITV drama this weekend. But one part of the tragic tale that won't feature is the bizarre intervention of former England star Paul Gascoigne.
Moat, a former nightclub bouncer, shot and wounded ex-girlfriend Sam Stobbart, then 22, killed her new partner Chris Brown, 29, and blinded Pc David Rathbone during a terrifying shotgun rampage in July 2010. After a week-long manhunt, Moat was surrounded by police on the banks of the River Coquet in the village of Rothbury, Northumberland.
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And that's when Gazza, then at his most vulnerable during a battle with alcohol and drug addiction, turned up to the tense stand-off in his dressing gown with chicken, lager and a fishing rod. Gazza recalled the bizarre episode during his ‘Evening with Paul Gascoigne’ talk at Newcastle's Tyne Theatre in 2015.
He said: "You've got to realise I'm half cut anyway, sitting in the living room, I've got about six lines [of cocaine] lined up. I'm not realising much but a good line and me and Raoul Moat are sort of friends.
"A couple more lines and we are good buddies. A few whiskies, another few lines, I've had about eight lines and we went to school together.
"He was in Rothbury, that's where I used to go fishing so I know the area quite well. Another line and I have a couple of fishing rods and a chicken. He's going to need a drink. I've had 14 lines now and he's my brother.
"I've got my fishing rods, I've got Barbour jacket, I've got my four cans, I've got my chicken. My chicken is important because he must be starving."
Gazza rang for a taxi and told the driver to take him to Newcastle airport so he would not suspect his real intentions. "I thought that I could take Raoul Moat fishing because he was near a river," he told The Mirror in 2020.
"I told the taxi driver 'head for the airport' and then when we got to Newcastle airport I said 'head for Rothbury'. The taxi driver said 'You are not going where I think you are going?' And I said 'Yes I am'."
Gazza reassured the worried taxi driver, claiming he was a 'rehab connoisseur' who could help Moat. He said: "I was telling the taxi driver I could save him. I told him 'Listen, I have been through so much, I am the best therapist in the world, I can save him'.
"I think that I genuinely believed that."
The driver didn't ask for a fare and Gascoigne went straight to the police cordon that was surrounding Moat. Smiling for the press photographers gathered at the scene, Gazza brandished a box of chicken and a loaf of tiger bread.
"Where's Moaty?," asked the ex-Tottenham and Newcastle player, who confirmed to the officers that he did not know the murderer. Police turned the former England star away.
He went home and fell asleep with a bottle of whisky then woke up in the morning with no memory of what he'd done. "You know in the morning when you panic the first thing you do is look at your mobile," he told the audience in 2015.
"I've got 250 missed calls, I was like — what have I done? I've got a chicken by my side, fishing rods, a Barbour, I'm like f*** me I must have done something. I turn on Sky News — Paul Gascoigne was there last night."
The stand off came to end in the early hours of Saturday, July 10, 2010. Police fired two stun guns at Moat, who then shot himself. He was confirmed dead at 2.20am.
True crime drama The Hunt for Raoul Moat will debut on ITV1 on Sunday (April 16) but the team behind the three part series, with a cast including Matt Stoke as Moat and Lee Ingleby as DCS Neil Adamson of Northumbria Police, have confirmed that, while Gazza will be mentioned, no-one will be playing him on screen.
In a press conference ahead of its launch, the show's executive producer, Jake Lushington said: "For us, the story is Raoul Moat's crimes and the efforts to bring him to justice.
"The surprise brief and not very successful intervention from someone famous (Gazza) became a big story at the time but it didn't change the events at all. We've referred to it , but it's got nothing to do with the story we're trying to tell."
Screenwriter Kevin Sampson said that the drama was about toxic masculinity and fake news. He told the Radio Times: "My interest was there from the start, but I wasn't really aware of the detail.
"Then, 10 years on, we were in lockdown with issues like the malign presence of social media, fake news and toxic masculinity, alongside an escalation in incidents of domestic violence. All these things really coalesced with this case."
* The Hunt for Raoul Moat will be on ITV on April 16, 17 and 18, followed by a documentary on April 19.
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