Ray Mears Helped Track Down Raoul Moat

Survival expert Ray Mears has broken a two-year silence to speak of his role in the hunt for killer Raoul Moat.

The bush tracker and TV presenter joined a Tornado fighter jet and scores of armed police officers in the £1 million-plus search for the former doorman.

They were called in after Moat and his accomplices went to ground in woodland surrounding Rothbury, Northumberland, in July 2010.

Mr Mears, 49, contacted a police search adviser he had met at a lecture years earlier to offer his skills and after police discovered an abandoned campsite on the outskirts of Rothbury, he was called in to help.

In an interview with the Gloucestershire Echo, the bushcraft expert said that at one point he was within 20ft of the gunman after eight hours of moving stealthily through dense forest.

He described the scene when he arrived in Rothbury as like something "out of a Hollywood film set" with bright lights, police snipers, helicopters circling overhead and the Tornado making reconnaissance sorties.

Raoul Moat went in the run in the Northumberland countryside

He told the newspaper: "It was all a bit surreal. This is the first time I've talked about it and it's because I feel there has been sufficient water under the bridge."

Mr Mears, who was speaking ahead of the publication of his autobiography later this month, added: "It was such a unique set of circumstances. I have experience of tracking for 40 years.

"I can't imagine there would be that many people in the country who would have been in a position to help the police find someone who had gone into hiding who needed to be found.

"It was a real-life hunt; within my skill set but outside of my comfort zone."

Mr Mears told the newspaper that police disclosed afterwards that Moat's emergence from hiding was a direct result of his presence with armed officers.

Moat went on the run after shooting Chris Brown, 29, who had started a relationship with his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart.

Police pictured after cornering Moat near Rothbury

The spurned lover killed Mr Brown and seriously injured Ms Stobbart in theshooting in Birtley, Gateshead, two days after he was released from prison.

The following day the 37-year-old bodybuilder blasted unarmed PC David Rathband in the face, leaving him blind.

The officer was found hanged at his home in Blyth, Northumberland, in February last year.

The huge search for Moat, involving officers from 18 forces, was one of the biggest police operations seen in the UK.

The rapidly evolving manhunt gripped the nation as newspapers, television and radio stations concentrated on the search, bringing close scrutiny of the police's actions.

The 17-stone steroid addict was finally cornered at the edge of the River Coquet on the evening of July 9.

Following a five-hour stand-off with armed police the father-of-three shot himself in the head at the moment officers used Tasers to try to disable him. He was later declared dead at hospital.

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