Tapes record Moat’s appeals for help from social services

RAOUL Moat had repeatedly appealed for psychiatric help from social workers, tapes he secretly recorded show.

The tapes, which were released by a friend of Moat’s, were recorded in a series of conversations with social workers and showed that the former bouncer recognised that his behaviour was increasingly aggressive.

On the tapes – which were recorded covertly by Moat from August 2009 – he talks about his unstable mental state and asks the social workers to get him psychiatric help to curb his violent temper.

He said: “Why don’t we have a psychiatrist sit me down and say right OK I want to see you regularly, then we can move towards where your areas of fault are, and we can enhance on these areas you know, and work with us.

“This is one of the things I’m suggesting.

“ Spend some money on trying to get this family back together instead of splitting it up.

“If I’m at fault myself in any way I’m open to all kinds of suggestions, but I refuse to spend the rest of my time fighting with social services.”

Moat, 37, killed himself on Saturday morning in Rothbury, Northumberland, after spending a week on the run wanted for the murder of karate instructor Chris Brown, the shooting of his former partner Sam Stobbart and attempting to murder PC David Rathband by blasting him in the face.

Chris, who started seeing Sam after she dumped Moat while he was in prison, was shot in the stomach then executed by the bouncer as he lay on the ground in the street. Sam had already been shot by the gunman through her living room window. During one recording Moat expressed fears that the pressure was building up inside of him.

He said: “I’m living my life on the edge just trying to get by on this next thing, and then there’s another one, another one, and another one.

“And I mean, you know, none of this is right you know. It always seems there’s a monkey on my back.”

There was more than 50 hours of recordings that stretch from summer last year to April.

On the tapes he admitted that he was “quite emotionally unstable” and said he wanted to get away from it all and move to Rothbury with Sam.

It’s believed that it was Moat who asked social services for help and though he did see a psychologist, he never kept appointments to see the psychiatrist that had been arranged for him.

Moat had been trying to have his two children from a previous relationship come live with him.

He had supervised visits with his children at a contact centre in Newcastle and had been arrested by Northumbria Police in March when he exploded into anger at social workers.

In one taped conversation Moat, who had left his bouncing job and had started a tree surgery business, claimed that police officers “were always on his back”. He said: “You know, all I do is go out and cut trees.

“I started this business – I don’t particularly enjoy it, it’s not as easy as working on the doors. “It’s hard – I’ve got problems with the police, they’re always on my back you know.

“It just always seems to be monkeys on my back, you know – I just want to get on, I just want to get on with it, you know? I take the stress of the world and family on my shoulders.”

A spokesman for Newcastle City Council said: “Newcastle City Council has had extensive contact with Raoul Moat in connection with two of his children.

“These children are currently the subject of family court proceedings that will decide their long-term future.

“The absolute priority of Newcastle Children’s Services throughout these proceedings has been the protection of these children.

“As part of these proceedings Newcastle City Council did commission a report from a psychologist that examined the possibility that the children might live with Mr Moat.

“This report did not recommend any treatment, but examined Mr Moat’s aggressive behaviour on the safety and wellbeing of the children.

“This report was produced for these family care proceedings and is a confidential document, therefore we are unable to comment further at this time.”