Moat Accomplices Jailed in Newcastle

15 March 2011, 09:54 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Karl Ness and Qhuram Awan have been sentenced to life behind bars for helping gunman Raoul who shot three people in the North East

The pair were convicted at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday after a five week trial.

26 year old Ness from Dudley was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 40 years. He was convicted of murdering Chris Brown, the new boyfriend of Moat's ex girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart and the attempted murder of PC David Rathband. the police officer was shot and blinded as he sat in his patrol car on a roundabout in Newcastle.

23 year old Qhuram Awan from Blyth was given life with a minimum of 20 years.

Moat was out for revenge when he heard that his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart was seeing a new man.

He asked his friend Ness to spy on her while he was still in prison and the day after his release, the pair went looking for her new lover.

Moat shot Ms Stobbart, 22, and calmly executed her boyfriend, Chris Brown before he fled. Moat was convinced Mr Brown was a policeman and 24 hours later he rang Northumbria Police to say he was ``hunting for officers''.

Ness and Awan later helped Moat set up a woodland camp near Rothbury in Northumberland, and went shopping for supplies for him.

Ness was convicted of murdering Mr Brown and a firearms offence. Both men were convicted of conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and robbing a chip shop that Moat held up the day after he shot Pc Rathband.

Mr Justice McCombe said: ``While the offences may not have been committed without Moat, it is difficult to see that they could have been committed in the manner they were without Ness and Awan respectively.''