Raoul Moat shot dead my son and now ITV will 'make millions out of it'

Raoul Moat shot dead my son… and now ITV will ‘make millions out of it’: Furious mother blasts producers for ‘opening old wounds’ with new drama

• EXCLUSIVE:  Mother of Raoul Moat victim’s fury at ITV drama about gun rampage
• Three-part drama into notorious killer begins at 9pm on Sunday, April 16 
• Read more: The true story behind ITV’s grisly new drama about Raoul Moat

The heartbroken mother of a karate instructor shot dead by Raoul Moat has hit out at TV bosses for ignoring the distress of families in their pursuit of ratings.

Sally Brown, 72, whose son Christopher was murdered in cold blood by the notorious killer, slammed ITV ahead of a new three-part series The Hunt for Raoul Moat.

Mrs Brown told MailOnline: ‘When they make these programmes no-one ever thinks about the mothers.

‘We want to know why they are doing this now?

‘It just opens up old wounds for us just so that they can attract viewers and make millions out of it. They should allow my son to rest in peace.’

Sally Brown, 72, (pictured in 2020) whose son Christopher was murdered in cold blood by the notorious killer, slammed ITV ahead of a new three-part series The Hunt for Raoul Moat

Moat had evaded capture from the police after shooting his ex-girlfriend Sam Stobbart, then 22, and killing her new partner Chris Brown (pictured), 29, in early July 2010

READ MORE: Detective who led manhunt for Raoul Moat slams people who ‘worshipped’ the ‘deranged’ murderer as a ‘hero’ ahead of new ITV drama  

Former detective chief superintendent Neil Adamson, the ex-head of Northumbria CID, says the series should focus on the victims and not the shotgun-wielding killer

The drama is to be broadcast over three days starting on Sunday (April 16) and will be followed by a documentary about the manhunt, which will be broadcast on April 19.

Moat became Britain’s most wanted fugitive after he went on the run for seven days before taking his own life in a stand-off with armed police in July 2010.

He had murdered Christopher, 29, who was dating Moat’s ex-partner Samantha Stobbart who he also shot and wounded in the street in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

The former nightclub bouncer then shot and blinded PC David Rathband.

Moat, 37, threatened to target more police officers after launching into his murderous rampage following his release from prison.

Pc Rathband tragically took his own life two years later aged 44.

Grandmother Sally, who lives in Slough, Berkshire with daughter Beckie, said: ‘Making a drama out of it is like opening old wounds.

‘My daughter and I have both suffered with our health because of all this. It’s going to have a ripple effect.

‘My 19-year-old granddaughter heard about it when it was announced they had began filming and she asked me ‘What is this programme they are making about Christopher’

‘She said don’t get involved in it, it’s just going to make you ill again.’

But Sally – who keeps her son’s ashes at home so ‘he can be with me’, said: ‘We had a letter saying they were going to do something in 2020. My daughter had a conversation with them on the phone about it.

‘They said they would call back but she never heard anything more from them.

‘I don’t know if that is the same people or something else.

‘My understanding of that was that they said it was going to be a reconstruction which sounds like something completely different.

Moat, 37, sparked one of the largest manhunts in UK history when he killed his ex-girlfriend’s lover before shooting her and a police officer

A three-part series called The Hunt for Raoul Moat will air on ITV later this month. Pictured: Matt Stokoe as Moat

Notorious gunman Raoul Moat, who died in 2010 following a shooting spree

ITV recreate the police stand off with Raoul Moat for a chilling new drama about the notorious manhunt

‘This certainly has nothing to do with us. They must have been speaking to somebody and I suppose they are going to make the programme based on somebody’s point of view but it won’t be about Christopher.

‘They should leave it alone and let Christopher and David rest in peace. Just leave them be.’

Sally hit out at the trend of making true crime TV dramas of high profile cases featuring victims of still-grieving families.

She highlighted four-part ITV drama Little Boy Blue, first screened in 2017, which retold the events surrounding the murder of Rhys Jones, 11, who was shot dead as he returned from football practice after he was caught in the crossfire of a gang war in Croxteth, Liverpool.

Sally said: ‘I started to watch it but then I was thinking ‘What is that doing to his mum? What is it doing to his family bringing all that up again?’

‘I couldn’t watch it any more so what must it have been like for them?

Two of Moat’s three victims: Ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart (left), then 22, who was hospitalised in the shooting and police officer David Rathband (right), who was permanently blinded in the attack 

Police officers negotiate with fugitive Moat shortly before his death. It was an extraordinary manhunt that ended with the crazed gunman shooting himself in the head after a tense six-hour stand-off with armed police

‘It’s just raking up things from the past. I think they should leave well alone.

‘When they make TV programmes like this I just don’t think they think of the families.

‘I feel for the mothers of all the people who were involved. Even those responsible. It must be hell for them too. You don’t bring your children up to be murderers. Nobody wants it all raked up again.’

At the time of the horror, Sally and her family were so distressed about the killing they were unable to watch TV or read coverage of the hunt after Moat went on the run.

READ MORE: The true story behind ITV’s grisly new drama about Raoul Moat

She said: ‘People have moved on but for me it all feels like yesterday. It never leaves you. It’s constant for me.’

Sally said she still has trouble talking about her son’s death because she gets ‘too emotional’.

But she said of Christopher: ‘He was shot in the side and the back and then when he fell on the ground he stood across him, reloaded his gun and then shot him in the back of his head.

‘It was an execution. Why would you want to make a thing about that?

‘I could not understand why Moat was celebrated by some people. This is just going to build his name up again however he is portrayed.

‘Of course Moat will be the villain, they can’t make him out to be anything else but it’s not going to be about Christopher, it’s going to be about Moat and his notoriety.’

Earlier this week former detective chief superintendent Neil Adamson, the ex-head of Northumbria CID, said the gunman was ‘a controlling and deranged misogynistic bully’ and condemned the support he received from some 30,000 people who liked a Facebook page named ‘RIP Raoul Moat You Legend’.

Source: Read Full Article