One of Britain's most extraordinary manhunts has been recreated for a brand-new television drama on ITV.
Sitting on the grass with a sawn-off shotgun, actor Matt Stokoe, 33, was yesterday pictured playing the killer Raoul Moat in his final moments before he took his own life.
In the early hours of July 3, 2010, spurned former bouncer Moat, 37, shot his ex-partner Samantha Stobbart in the stomach and murdered her new lover, Chris Brown, with a blast of his shotgun.
Just after midnight the next day, the fugitive dialled 999 to warn police he was hunting for officers.
When Moat spotted PC David Rathband parked up in a patrol car on a roundabout on the outskirts of Newcastle, he crept up beside the vehicle and blasted him in the face.
Rathband was blinded in the attack, and went on to take his own life in February 2012.
Moat took refuge with a pair of accomplices in Rothbury, Northumberland, but his actions triggered one of the nation's most notorious manhunts.
Armed police were drafted in from around the country, survival expert Ray Mears was brought in to advise on where Moat could be fleeing, and RAF jets with heat-seeking cameras were deployed to canvas the north east of England in search for the killer.
The thug was eventually cornered by armed police and he shot himself in the head while negotiators tried to get him to put down his weapon after a six-hour stand-off.
Pictured: Raoul Moat, who was 37 at the time of a shooting spree across Tyne-and-Wear and Northumbria in 2010, in his mugshot photo from a previous conviction
Raoul Moat holds a shotgun to his head after being confronted by armed police in Rothbury. supplied via The Telegraph
Stokoe, famous for roles in the Channel 4 series Misfits, the BBC series Bodyguard and Sky's Jamestown, is assuming the lead role of Moat
Sitting on the grass with a sawn-off shotgun, actor Matt Stokoe, 33, was yesterday pictured playing the killer Raoul Moat in his final moments before he took his own life
The ITV drama, which will tell the story of one of the most notorious manhunts in the UK, filmed the gripping scenes in Yorkshire with Stokoe in the lead role. Actors posing as police officers are pictured during filming this week
Police pictured in July 2010, during their confrontation with fugitive Raoul Moat
Stokoe, famous for roles in the Channel 4 series Misfits, the BBC series Bodyguard and Sky's Jamestown, is assuming the lead role of Moat, while Sally Messham (Doc Martin) and Josef Davies (Chernobyl) will play Moat's ex-lover Stobbart and murder victim Brown.
The drama will also star The A Word's Lee Ingleby as Northumbria Police Officer Neil Adamson, who was among the main police officers searching for Moat while he evaded capture.
Sonya Cassidy (The Last Kingdom) and Vineeta Rishi (Holby City) have also been announced as cast members.
The series has been titled 'The Hunt for Raoul Moat', though a release date
