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Ray Mears tells of role in hunt for gunman Raoul Moat

Survival expert Ray Mears, left, helped in the hunt for Raoul Moat.
Survival expert Ray Mears, left, helped in the hunt for Raoul Moat.

Survival expert Ray Mears has broken a three-year silence to speak of his role in the hunt for gun maniac Raoul Moat.

The bush tracker and TV presenter joined a Tornado fighter jet and scores of armed police officers in the £1 million-plus search for the former doorman.

They were called in after Moat and his accomplices went to ground in woodland surrounding Rothbury, Northumberland, in July 2010.

Mears, 49, contacted a police search adviser he had met at a lecture years earlier to offer his skills and after police discovered an abandoned campsite on the outskirts of Rothbury, he was called in to help.

In an interview with the Gloucestershire Echo, the bushcraft expert said that at one point he was within 20ft of the gunman after eight hours of moving stealthily through dense forest.

He described the scene when he arrived in Rothbury as like something “out of a Hollywood film set” with bright lights, police snipers, helicopters circling overhead and the Tornado making reconnaissance sorties.

“It was all a bit surreal,” he told the newspaper.

“This is the first time I’ve talked about it and it’s because I feel there has been sufficient water under the bridge.”

Mears, who was speaking ahead of the publication of his autobiography later this month, added: “It was such a unique set of circumstances. I have experience of tracking for 40 years.

“I can’t imagine there would be that many people in the country who would have been in a position to help the police find someone who had gone into hiding who needed to be found.

“It was a real-life hunt; within my skill set but outside of my comfort zone.”

Moat went on the run after shooting Chris Brown, 29, who had started a relationship with his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart.

The spurned lover killed Mr Brown and seriously injured Ms Stobbart in the shooting in Birtley, Gateshead, two days after he was released from prison.

The following day the 37-year-old bodybuilder blasted unarmed PC David Rathband in the face, leaving him blind. The 17-stone steroid addict was finally cornered at the edge of the River Coquet on the evening of July 9.

Following a five-hour stand-off with armed police, the father-of-three shot himself in the head as officers deployed Tasers to try to disable him.