Jury Get Virtual Tour Of Moat Death Spot

Jurors at the inquest of Raoul Moat will be given a virtual reality tour of the Northumberland spot where the gunman died.

Newcastle coroner David Mitford said the 3D computer simulation would help the jury panel decide how the former doorman was killed.

He was speaking at a preliminary hearing ahead of the full inquest at Newcastle Crown Court next month.

The inquest, which is due to last for four weeks, will hear evidence from police officers and an expert on electrical injury.

Moat shot himself in the head after Taser cartridges were fired twice by police officers at the end of a lengthy stand-off with armed officers in Rothbury in July last year.

Jurors will be asked to consider whether being hit by Taser rounds caused an involuntary reaction by Moat, leading to his shotgun discharging.

A neuro-physiologist has been called to discuss the effect of electricity on the human body, and whether the fugitive could have suffered a moment of ``neuromuscular incapacitation''.

Mr Mitford said a virtual reality tour would remove the need for the jury panel of eleven men and women to make a site visit to Rothbury. He said: ``The jury needs to be in a position to form a view about the place as a whole. There are numerous photographs but if there is some kind of 3D way of dealing with it that may be just as good as a site visit.''

John Beggs, representing Northumbria Police, said he would see to the production of a virtual simulation. Moat's brother Angus, as well as legal representatives for Northumbria Police, certain West Yorkshire Police officers, the North East Ambulance Service and Pro-Tect Systems Limited, the firm which supplied the Tasers, were at the hearing at Newcastle Civic Centre.

Raoul Moat's inquest begins on September 5 and is likely to last for four weeks.