Sorry, cornered Raoul Moat told armed Yorkshire policeman

The officer said the maniac expressed his hatred of police but ended up apologising when he realised the firearms expert was from West Yorkshire and not the Northumbria force he detested.

Moat shot himself after police fired two experimental Taser rounds at him following a six-hour stand-off in Rothbury, Northumberland, in July last year. He was wanted for blasting ex-lover Samantha Stobbart, killing her new boyfriend Chris Brown and blinding Pc David Rathband, 24 hours later.

The officer, who gave evidence anonymously behind a screen, said he stood just 10 metres (32ft) away from Moat, without a ballistics shield, knowing Moat had declared war on police.

The inquest at Newcastle Crown Court heard that the armed officer and his colleague raced to the scene after another officer in a car gestured for them to follow from Rothbury centre.

They arrived at the riverside to see a man in a baseball cap facing away from them, carrying gun.

The officer shouted: “Armed police drop your weapon.”

He said Moat replied: “Shoot me, f****** shoot me.”

If Moat had pointed his shotgun at police, he would have been shot, the officer said.

He calmed down when he realised the officers were from West Yorkshire, the witness said.

“The tone of voice changed and I seem to recall he actually apologised and recognised we had different accents,” he told coroner David Mitford.