Emma Murphy has relived her chilling encounter with Raoul Moat in Rothbury, as the killer continued to evade capture by police in the Northumberland village.
Following the finale of ITV's The Hunt for Raoul Moat on Tuesday night, real life documentary Man Hunt: The Raoul Moat Story will air in the same 9pm slot on Wednesday and feature interviews with those who were involved in the widespread search to find Moat and those who followed the week long string of events for their daily jobs.
Chronicle crime reporter Sophie Doughty was one of the first journalists to report on Moat's killing of Chris Brown and is interviewed for the documentary, along with Emma, who was a reporter with ITV at the time.
In The Hunt for Raoul Moat, Sophie was the inspiration for fictional Chronicle journalist Diane Barnwell, who is seen at the forefront of the local reporting on Moat; speaking to the fugitive gunman's brother, liaising with police and being at the many press conferences held during the investigation.
However, one thing that didn't actually happen to Sophie during the frantic week was coming face to face with Moat. Diane was seen walking past Moat in Rothbury in one of the scenes of The Hunt for Raoul Moat's final episode, but, in reality it was Emma who had the encounter with the former Newcastle doorman.
Recalling what happened in Man Hunt, Emma says: "As I was walking up the road, I saw this very tall man coming towards me. It was just the two of us as we came towards each other and I thought 'oh he looks really like Raoul Moat, he must have had a really awful week' and then he came closer and closer and I thought 'no, that IS Raoul Moat' and he's walking towards me on this road; there's only me and him."
Explaining what happened next, Emma continues: "I immediately rang to a colleague who was with the police, just a little bit further down the hill. I couldn't get through to them and Raoul Moat walked straight passed them and disappeared."
Raoul Moat finally came face to face with police a day later, staging a stand-off on a river bank, which ended when he shot himself in head and died from his injuries.
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