Killer Raoul Moat cremated

Family and friends have gathered to pay tribute to fugitive killer Raoul Moat at his funeral.

The private ceremony was held at the West Road Crematorium, less than a mile from his former home in Newcastle's Fenham Hall Drive.

The gunman's family had previously said he would not be buried for fears his grave would become a shrine to anti-police ghouls.

Moat, 37, sparked a huge manhunt last month after shooting his ex-lover Sam Stobbart, 22, in Birtley, Gateshead, and killing her new boyfriend Chris Brown. The next day he blasted unarmed police officer David Rathband in the face, leaving him blind.

Moat hid for a week before he was cornered in Rothbury, Northumberland, where he ended his life following a six-hour stand-off with police.

Reports that friends planned to scatter Moat's ashes in Rothbury were met with anger locally.

Steven Bridgett, Northumberland County Councillor for Rothbury, said: "The village wants to move on from the events of the last month and forget about what happened. If any of his friends and family have any sense they would know better than to do this at the site where he died and make it even more of a memorial for all the idiots who come into the village."