RAOUL Moat became agitated as the siege wore on, rubbing his face and telling police negotiators: "Nobody cares about me."

A man who was staying at a guest house close to the scene in Rothbury said he heard Moat talking to the negotiators.

"I would say maybe he was a bit agitated, rubbing his face.

"Earlier on, when the negotiators were talking to him, the one thing that sticks in my mind is, he said, nobody cares about me," he told BBC Radio Newcastle.

The tense negotiations lasted about six hours, ending dramatically at 1.20pm when a shot was fired and Moat was injured.

Earlier, experts had predicted that Moat, who ate and drank during the negotiations, was more likely to give himself up as night fell.

Negotiation expert Dr James Alvarez said: "One of the things that's against him at this time is that he will eventually need to sleep, but there's lots of police to take it in turns so they have the upper hand.

"People have natural body rhythms, the darker it gets the more people will want to go to sleep.

"The tendency will be for him to wind down.

"He's probably already tired and worn down and hungry. He will need a shower, that sort of thing.

And psychologically he's probably quite weak at this time."

Dr Alvarez said that police would not want Moat to come to any harm.

He added: "One of the fundamental underlying principles is that if they're alive, there's hope.

"No negotiator ever considers it a success when a suspect gets hurt. They want a peaceful solution."

One of the Northumbria Police officers guarding the entrance to the village, who would not be named, said the stand-off could carry on through the night.

He said: "I've been on a few of these situations but none quite like this.

"There's a professional police negotiator from Northumbria Police down there speaking to him. The negotiator was part of the search teams.

"Giving him a drink of water is standard practice.

"Putting the searchlights on him is for our benefit.

This could go on all night. So long as he's a danger only to himself they'll be happy for it to take as long as it takes."