RESIDENTS and visitors to Rothbury were refusing to panic yesterday – despite police warning that fugitive Raoul Moat may target members of the public.

The announcement by detectives that the former doorman had threatened to harm civilians failed to stop people in the picturesque Northumberland town going about their lives.

However, one sign that something out of the ordinary was happening was the number of police cars competing for parking spaces with television news satellite vans in the town centre.

An occasional police helicopter could also be spotted overhead.

On the sixth day since Moat went on the run, Jessica Taylor, 26, whose family farms 650 acres around Rothbury, said she still felt safe.

Earlier this week, Miss Taylor led police to a makeshift lair Moat had used on land at Wagtail Farm.

She came across it after she spotted smoke from the embers of a recently-made fire.

She said: “Well, there have been lots of police around and they have been searching behind the house, in the fields, on the hill.

“They have been having a good look just in case anybody is going about.

“We have got two old houses on the farm and they have been looking through them and just making sure he is not around.”

Trade was not exactly booming in Rothbury’s tourist information centre yesterday, but information assistant Pam Heslop said people were still calling in looking for help.

She said: “To me it just seems like another normal day in Rothbury.”

Pub worker Sylvia Gilberston, 56, lives about ten miles out of the town in Harbottle.

She said: “He originally said he would just target the police and I guess everyone’s hoping he doesn’t change from that.

“Obviously, we were a bit concerned on Monday, but we’ve got to get on with our lives.”

County councillor Steven Bridgett was due to have a briefing with police yesterday afternoon, before attending a public meeting in the jubilee hall where officers answered questions.

He said: “People are obviously concerned that there’s a man with a gun on the loose, but those that I have spoken to are also determined to get on with their lives.”

Coun Bridgett said he was pleased tourists were still visiting the area.

“We rely on tourism and maybe if there’s something positive to come out of this, it’s the attention Rothbury has received in the media,” he added.

Among the visitors refusing to let the gunman spoil their day were Dave Dawson, of Easington Colliery, and Jillian Hogwood, of Peterlee, both County Durham, who stopped off in the town while on a motorbike tour of the area.

Mr Dawson said he was not concerned at all by the development.

“I can’t see him still being around here,” he said. “I think he’ll be out of the area by now.”