A MAN shot dead by police may have been trying to lure unsuspecting officers into a deadly crossbow trap, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Keith Richards is believed to have made several 999 calls to police before he was shot by a marksman at his home in Cheapside, Shildon, County Durham, last night.

Friends said the 47-yearold, who apparently “snapped” after watching Middlesbrough lose to Newcastle United, harboured a grudge against police.

Last week, he was stopped for drink-driving and was due to appear in court later this month. If convicted, he faced losing his licence.

During a dramatic standoff with armed police, he shouted: “You’ve ruined my life. I’m going to kill you and myself.”

Seconds later, he was shot dead.

As the Independent Police Complaints Commission began an investigation into the incident, friends told how Mr Richards had been drinking in the hours leading up to the tragedy.

He was thrown out of the Three Tuns pub, in Shildon town centre, after a drunken argument about the result of the Middlesbrough-Newcastle match.

Last night, friends said the father-of-two was prone to noisy outbursts when he was drunk.

On his FriendsReunited page, Mr Richards confessed to having “manic episodes”.

An hour later, at 10.30pm, 17-year-old shopworker Jill Maughan spoke to a man outside Mr Richards’ home in Cheapside. He was leaning against a silver Citroen C3, and offered her money for sex.

“He wanted me to go into the house. He was drunk, and offered me £100 if I would have sex with him,” she said.

“I walked fast because I was scared. It shook me up.”

At about midnight, police received 999 calls from someone purporting to be a neighbour, saying Mr Richards was going berserk with a crossbow.

Detectives are working on the theory that the calls were made by Mr Richards and that he planned to lure unarmed officers into an ambush.

Two police officers were sent to the terraced house, a few minutes from the town centre, and saw Mr Richards at a bedroom window, armed with a crossbow.

Two armed response vehicles were called after he refused to give himself up.

Teams of marksmen surrounded the house and a shot was fired just after 1.20am.

Neighbour Richard Easton said that during the stand-off he heard someone shout: “You’ve ruined my life. I’m going to kill you and myself.”

Another neighbour, Terry Allinson, said: “I heard police shout ‘drop your weapon’, followed by a bang. Then I heard somebody shouting, ‘Keith, talk to us’.” Mr Richards had told neighbours he was angry with police after being stopped for drink-driving last week.

He had been due to appear before South Durham Magistrates’ Court next Wednesday, following his arrest on May 6.

He appeared before Durham Crown Court last year accused of an assault causing actual bodily harm. The Crown offered no evidence, and the case was dismissed.

A post-mortem examination was being carried out on Mr Richards’ body last night.

Several streets were still cordoned off and under police guard, and a large stretch of the road leading into the town was closed.

An IPCC spokesman said: “Just after 1.20am on Tuesday, armed officers fired at the man before entering the house where they discovered him with injuries. Paramedics attended, but he was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 2.10am.

“Durham Police referred the case to the IPCC and initial inquiries are under way.”

A police spokeswoman said officers in the firearms team had been temporarily deployed to non-firearm roles for welfare reasons.

Superintendent Graham Hall said: “Our officers are trained to an extremely high standard. This is very unfortunate and sad.”