FIVE years ago Raoul Moat began a bloody rampage sparking one of the biggest police manhunts in years.

:: What was the background to the Raoul Moat manhunt?

Newly released from jail, the 37-year-old ex-bouncer went after his former girlfriend Samatha Stobbart and her new lover Chris Brown, 29, and shot them both, killing Mr Brown who he wrongly thought was a policeman. Moat later claimed he had heard them laughing about him as he listened through an open window.

Police held a news conference and were on alert to find him when he picked out unarmed Pc David Rathband on a roundabout by the A1 in Newcastle and shot him twice. The officer survived but lost his sight.

:: How big was the manhunt?

The major operation to find the country's most wanted man, who had declared war on police in a 999 call moments before he shot Pc Rathband, was one of the UK's biggest in recent history.

Across the North East there were raids and suspected sightings in the following days until armed officers swooped on the quiet, picturesque town of Rothbury, Northumberland.

Northumbria Police called in for support from six other forces and even got help from survival expert Ray Mears and a RAF Tornado jet with an infra-red camera to help the search.

In the early evening on July 9, amid a flurry of activity, locals became aware a major operation was under way. Moat had been surrounded by armed police close to the River Coquet and was holding a shotgun to his head.

:: What happened next?

Police negotiators tried to get him to surrender, but Moat was adamant he would not go back to jail. In the early hours of July 10, in teeming rain, he shot himself in the head. Armed police had fired Tasers to try to stop him, but the attempt failed.

:: Where are some of the main figures now?

Pc David Rathband wrote a book and founded the Blue Lamp Foundation to help 999 workers injured in the course of duty. But he could not adjust to life without sight and killed himself in February 2012 at the age of 44. His son Ash, 22, has said he wants to be a police officer.

Northumbria Police's chief constable Sue Sim attracted national attention during the manhunt, not all of it positive with critics commenting on her hairstyle and pointing out mistakes that were made. Last month she retired from the force.

Ex-England footballer Paul Gascoigne who infamously went to Rothbury in a well-intentioned but ill-advised bid to help out, said years later: "I don't know what the f*** I was doing."

Samantha Stobbart has kept a low profile since the shootings, but in an interview in 2012 she said: "I have never had -counselling. I don't want to talk about it, it just brings it all back."

Moat's accomplices Qhuram Awan and Karl Ness, who helped him during the manhunt, were convicted of conspiracy to murder, among other charges, and were jailed for a minimum of 20 years and 40 years respectively.