A tragic story is unfolding in the North of England with a gunman on the run after killing one person and seriously injuring two more (his ex-girlfriend and a traffic policeman) following his release from prison last Friday.
Obviously, the police are doing everything to apprehend Raoul Moat safely without any further loss of life. However, as Moat claims he has ‘lost everything’ and is determined to ‘wage war on the police’, it’s not clear this episode will reach a peaceful conclusion.
On Tuesday, the town of Rothbury was locked down; a two mile exclusion zone was put in place, schools were closed and residents were told to stay indoors as Northumbria police thought they were closing in on the armed and dangerous suspect.
However, two days later, Moat is still on the loose so the town of Rothbury has now been reopened with a very visible police presence on the streets.
I’m not sure how I would have felt popping to the corner shop for a newspaper and a pint of milk, to find policemen stood at every corner given Moat’s declaration to ‘keep killing police until I am dead’. Far from being reassuring, this police presence would probably scare me even more.
‘Norma, love - you couldn’t just pop out and get some milk, could you ? Thanks.'