Raoul Moat's daughter made painful discovery monster was her dad before rampage

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Raoul Moat
Raoul Moat's daughter made painful discovery monster was her dad before rampage

Raoul Moat became a household name when he went on the run after murdering his ex's new partner by firing a shotgun through a window.

The 37-year-old was part of a week-long manhunt back in 2010 before he was cornered in Rothbury, Northumberland, and shot himself.

His ex, Samantha Stobbart, was injured in the initial incident and Moat's estranged daughter, Katelaine Fitzpatrick, had no idea who her dad was.

But when Katelaine's mum, Caroline, heard that Moat was on the run she feared she would be next - and was forced to reveal the devastating truth to her daughter.

Now, Moat's crimes and the ensuing manhunt have been dramatised by ITV in The Hunt for Raoul Moat, which began airing on Sunday night and continues this week.

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Raoul Moat's daughter made painful discovery monster was her dad before rampageKatelaine never met her father (North News)

Caroline, who went into hiding with her daughter during the manhunt, fears the new ITV drama will "glorify" Moat's sickening crimes.

She told The Sun: "He was referred to as a 'hero' at the time and this will bring that back.

"He should never be seen as a role model. He was a narcissist and a bully.

"He has always been violent, scary and aggressive. He was abusive to me and many other partners.

"This is not just a drama, it happened to real people who are still trying to heal."

Moat's crime spree left a man murdered, a woman fighting for her life, a police officer blinded and a community terrorised as he threatened to kill officers and members of the public.

Having discovered what was happening, Katelaine's mum Caroline cried: "I dreaded this moment, we need to leave the area."

Feeling scared and remaining very still, then 11-year-old Katelaine questioned whether the day her mother had feared was really happening.

Raoul Moat's daughter made painful discovery monster was her dad before rampageRaoul Moat died following a shooting spree (North News)
Raoul Moat's daughter made painful discovery monster was her dad before rampagePC David Rathband was shot and blinded in the attack (PA)

When Caroline told Moat she was pregnant, he threatened to kill their unborn child, so she took out an injuction against her baby's father.

Moat refused to meet Katelaine and she grew up believing Caroline's ex-partner was her father until she discovered the truth at the age of around seven.

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A relative told the young girl that Moat was her biological father - with Caroline hoping to protect her daughter from the reality.

Caroline explained her real father "had been a good man, but the drugs and stuff had taken over".

His volatile nature was magnified by his bodybuilder's steroid addiction and Caroline revealed she had been the victim of attacks by Moat after they met in 1996.

After being released from Durham Prison on July 1 2010, where he had been held for assault, 37-year-old Moat turned killer.

In the space of 24 hours, the rampaging former nightclub bouncer from Newcastle had shot three people in the area.

He shot and wounded ex-girlfriend Sam Stobbart, then 22, and killed her new partner Chris Brown, 29.

Raoul Moat's daughter made painful discovery monster was her dad before rampageRaoul Moat went on the run after murdering his ex's new lover (Northumbria Police/PA)
Raoul Moat's daughter made painful discovery monster was her dad before rampageKatelaine, aged 4, looks strikingly similar to her father

Katelaine and Caroline, who has three younger children, were horrified when they realised Moat was behind the killings while watching TV.

Realising they needed to escape from their home, Caroline called the authorities and they headed to relatives in the Midlands with a police escort.

The following day, Moat crept up on police officer David Rathband and shot him in his patrol car.

PC Rathband suffered irreversible injuries and was left permanently blind, then tragically took his own life just over 18 months after the shooting.

Before the sick and twisted attack, Moat made a terrifying threat to target police officers.

"I'm going to keep coming for you. You're going to have to kill me. I'm never going to stop," said the evil killer in tapes which were later released.

The chilling call to Northumbria Police, where Moat threatened to kill police officers, was certainly not the way Katelaine had expected to hear her father's voice for the first time.

The shootings sparked a seven-day manhunt across two counties, Tyne-and-Wear and Northumbria, before a fatal final ending when Moat shot himself in the head.

Raoul Moat's daughter made painful discovery monster was her dad before rampageRaoul Moat aged 6. The boy would grow to become a killer (Alex Alevroyiannis)

Katelaine vividly remembers Moat ending his life, as the stand-off was broadcast on rolling TV news a week later.

"I watched it," she said bluntly. "Everyone instantly looked at me and Mum cried."

Breaking her ten-year silence for the first time last month, Katelaine confessed she wrestles with feelings of shame, disgust and abandonment.

"I'm so sorry to the people he has hurt. If I had the chance to meet the victims and their families and say I'm so sorry for what my dad did, and show that I care, I would," she said.

Katelaine added: "Being his flesh and blood sickens me at times, it's hard to believe who I am.

"I can't believe I come from that man.

"I'm so glad I didn't know him, and that I became the person I am today despite all I have been through."

Following the horrifying ordeal, Katelaine started secondary school and was relentlessly bullied due to her uncanny resemblance to her biological father.

Raoul Moat's daughter made painful discovery monster was her dad before rampagePolice negotiating with fugitive gunman Raoul Moat (Getty)

"I was targeted. People would be like 'You're Raoul Moat's daughter'," explained Katelaine, who has her father's strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes.

Katelaine started skipping class and at the end of her third year lashed out at a teacher and was excluded from the school.

At the end of Year Nine when a teacher confronted her, she lashed out and got excluded from the school.

In the behavioural school she went to next, she punched a child who started mocking her by bringing up the topic of her father.

Katelaine explained: "He came walking towards me punching the wall and he goes 'Ha, this is your dad's face'.

"I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and punched him in the face.

"I was so sick of hearing it, all the time."

She managed to get the support she needed from her mum and a new school.

Raoul Moat's daughter made painful discovery monster was her dad before rampageKatelaine was bullied at school (North News)

Despite suffering depression, she is now settled in a happy relationship and hopes to work as a carer.

She has also built a friendship with two of Moat's other children, the daughters of another of his abused exes, over the past four years.

"He has made some really good people despite the man he was – it's probably the one good thing he did in his entire life," she confessed.

While despising her father for his crimes, Katelaine honestly admitted she still, in a way, yearns for the father she never even met and has confusing feeling of "love, hate".

Each year on June 17, she writes her dad a birthday card before burning it and releasing a balloon to float away into the sky as an annual ritual.

"It is not about honouring him. It is not for him, but for me, for my peace of mind," she explained.

"I do a little speech in my head. One year it might be: 'I hope you're proud of me despite everything you have done.'

"Other times I have thought: 'Why couldn't you just be the right person? Do the right thing?'"

ITV drama The Hunt for Raoul Moat continues tonight at 9pm

John Bett

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