THIS weekend, as the close-knit community of Rothbury in the north-east of England picks itself up and steps gratefully out of the international spotlight, more and more is emerging about the man who put it there.

Raoul Moat will forever be remembered as a would-be serial killer, intent on venting furious vengeance, who died after a six hour stand-off in the early hours of yesterday.

But a clearer image is already appearing of the psychotic killer whose last words included a reference to the absence of a father and whose abuse of steroids was linked firmly to his explosive behaviour.

This was a man with an insatiable vendetta against authority, paranoid, irrational; his week long cat-and-mouse escapade with the police perhaps an unsurprising outcome for a deeply flawed man.

Moat's self-inflicted demise brought to a close days of fear and uncertainty; a tightening chokehold on a small town where police stood outside schools and families bolted their doors.

His initial victim was former girlfriend Samantha Stobbart and her partner Chris Brown, a martial arts instructor who was shot dead as he left his home on 3 July.

The following day police officer David Rathband was shot in his patrol car near Newcastle.

It has been Stobbart's family that has explained much of the alarming character of Moat to a bewildered public. "He's been very unpredictable because of the steroids," Samantha's half sister said. "He injected them. He had to have them. He's addicted."

Moat himself confirmed the struggle with rage he experienced as a result of the medication; in one letter to a friend he compared himself to the Hulk, the comic book character who quickly turns from an everyday man to a gigantic tower of muscle and fury, instilling fear in all those around him.

Had Moat been allowed to progress his campaign, the future victims could have been absolutely anybody; a random passer-by, the man in the street, another police officer – therein lies the horror film-like fascination with his final days.

In the end there were "no shots fired by police officers" in his small corner of a field in Rothbury. Moat was pronounced dead at 2.20am in hospital, killed by his own hand. Amongst his final words, he told the negotiating officers that he didn't have a father, and that nobody cared about him.

"This man does not look like my son," Josephine Healy, Moat's mother said in an interview before he died. "I feel like he hasn't been my son since he was 19 years old. He now has a totally different character, attitude and manner. Now when I see him I don't recognise him at all. He would be better off dead."

Ann Hornsby, Stobbart's grandmother, also reflected on the man she felt to be tenacious and resourceful in the face of adversity. "I thought he would have lasted longer," she said.

"He is very intelligent and he has outsmarted the police for a long time. I'm not surprised he has been under their noses all this time."

Moat's was a dramatic story that embodied mystery, horror and at times – when the former England footballer Paul Gascoigne turned up to offer his 'friend' support – the downright bizarre.

Ten days ago, the 37-year-old body-builder stepped out of Durham Prison having served a sentence for assault.

Officials were quick to warn police about his deep-seated hatred; that he intended to cause serious harm to his former partner, a threat he duly delivered on two days later.

The following day, Sunday 4 July, police confirmed that Rathband, a 42-year-old father-of-two, had been shot in an unprovoked attack.

Moat, in his macabre dance with the authorities, phoned police 12 minutes before the attack to outline his intention and 50 minutes after, to confirm it. On Facebook he taunted: "Ha, Ha! You can come but you can't catch me!"

On the same day he decided to pen a 49-page confession, which he called his "murder statement", detailing his actions and vowing to carry on with his deadly vendetta against the police.

In a letter scrawled to the authorities he undertook to kill officer after officer until he, himself, was dead.

A two-mile exclusion zone was placed around Rothbury last Tuesday in response to Moat's black Lexus being seen by a member of the public. Then two men, Karl Ness (26) and Qhuram Awan (23) were arrested while walking along a path in the area. Both men were charged with conspiracy to murder and possession of a firearm. More details of their role have yet to come to light.

Later, in a dictaphone found in a tent, investigators uncovered four hours of recordings in which Moat outlined his frustration at inaccurate media reports and threatened to kill members of the public unless they were made to stop.

Each inaccuracy would cost a life, he said. In a subsequent press conference police said they had taken advice from psychologists and noted that Moat's "rules had changed". They requested a media blackout in order to avoid the provocation of further killings, potentially against members of the press themselves.

All the while the hunt continued. Helicopters hummed overhead, search parties roamed the countryside and increasingly desperate residents met with police to seek reassurance on the threat to their quiet lives. "Close your doors, close your windows," they were told. "Make sure you are safe in your houses".

And then on Friday the breakthrough finally came when it emerged that the fugitive was cornered at a riverbank. Resigned to his fate, Moat sat down and pointed a sawn-off shotgun at his neck before later lying on his front.

"It was like something you see on TV," said eyewitness Trisha Best who was bundled to safety by police. "At first he was lying down with a shotgun held against his neck. Then later he was sitting up and talking to a police negotiator. It was very dramatic and tense."

Moat's friend Tony Laidler was brought in to talk, food and water was supplied, and then just after 1am at least one gun shot rang out across the field, followed by the sound of dogs barking and police rushing to the scene.

Moat was rushed to hospital where he died from his injuries and a small town got its first peaceful night's sleep in what must have seemed like an eternity.

Police used taser in fatal stand-off

Police involved in the stand-off with gunman Raoul Moat are understood to have used a Taser stun gun, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said yesterday.

IPCC Commissioner Nicholas Long said early indications showed that police officers did not fire gunshots but did discharge a taser during the tense siege between officers and the former nightclub doorman.

Moat, 37, blasted himself in the head after being surrounded by armed police in the early hours of yesterday morning.

It followed a tense six-hour stand-off sparked when he was spotted on the riverbank in Rothbury, Northumbria.

An eyewitness said the stand-off ended when police surrounded Moat and jumped on him.

Long said: "Early indications show that gunshots were not fired by police officers. It is also understood that a police officer discharged a Taser and our investigation will also look at this.

"The IPCC has now two independent investigations. The first relates to the intelligence from the prison authorities on Mr Moat's release and the second his death. There will be one investigation covering both these aspects."