8:40am Saturday 17th July 2010
By Tony Kearney
THE former girlfriend of Raoul Moat has left hospital, straight into the arms of waiting journalists.
Samantha Stobbart left the hospital where she has been recovering for the past two weeks after she was shot by the former bouncer at her home in Birtley, near Chesterle- Street.
The 22-year-old was shielded from view by a golf umbrella as she was taken from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Gateshead, where she has spent much of the past two weeks under armed guard.
It is believed the trainee hairdresser has signed a sixfigure deal with a Sunday newspaper for her story.
Three days before Moat’s shooting spree started, Miss Stobbart rang her former boyfriend in Durham Prison to say their six-year relationship was over and that she was now seeing a police officer.
In the early hours of Saturday, July 3, Moat shot dead karate instructor Chris Brown, 29, and left Miss Stobbart fighting for her life.
She was released from hospital at about 5pm last night.
Her half-sister, 27-year-old Kelly Stobbart, said yesterday that Miss Stobbart still loves the former bodybuilder, who died after a six-hour stand-off with police in Rothbury, Northumberland, in the early hours of Saturday.
Two weeks after she was wounded in the stomach by Moat, Miss Stobbart has become the victim of an internet hate campaign, with at least two Facebook pages filled with abuse aimed at the mother- of-one.
Another Facebook page has been set up in tribute to Moat and is proving almost as popular as its predecessor, which was taken off the internet on Thursday after pressure from the Prime Minister.
The RIP Raoul Moat group has nearly 13,000 supporters and describes the gunman as a “loving father and an all round canny lad”.
Kath Rathband, the wife of injured PC David Rathband, 42, told The Sun newspaper: “Why anyone with any morals would think that Moat was a hero and a legend is beyond me.
“My husband is a hero – and there is no comparison between my husband and Moat.
David’s bravery is astonishing.
Moat was an out-and-out coward.”
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