THE brother of Raoul Moat has said he could have persuaded his brother to put down his gun.

But Angus Moat has said he was prevented from doing so by police.

Instead, he had to watch live on television as his brother shot himself following a six-hour stand off with police in Rothbury, Northumberland.

The 39-year-old tax officer has said he should have done more to prevent his brother’s death.

Mr Moat said he contacted Northumbria Police and offered to help when he heard that his brother was cornered with a gun pointed to his head.

However, he was told his presence could stir painful memories in his brother and had the potential to make the situation worse.

He said: “I was willing to walk into the cordon with no flak jacket and try to talk to Raoul to calm him down, to prevent any more bloodshed.

“But the police told me they did not have the resources to get me there and that sending me in could make the situation more volatile.

“But he was just sitting there in the open, in no cover, crying about the fact he had no family and no dad and that nobody loved him.

“That was not true. I loved my brother to bits – lots of people loved him to bits. I keep thinking ‘I should have got a taxi there, done more’.

“That will break my heart for the rest of my life.”

Mr Moat had not seen his brother for seven years after the pair drifted apart. He added: “Raoul has been made out to be some kind of Terminator, Rambo character, a psycho, and it could not be more untrue.

“He was a friendly, generous soul; a very loyal individual with a great sense of humour, just a lovely guy. He was sensitive – perhaps too sensitive.

“What he did was totally wrong, totally monstrous and I am not trying to defend or excuse it.

“But this was not a case of some guy just deciding to be a psycho gun nut because that is not what my brother was.”

Mr Moat has also questioned the use of Tasers in the stand-off and has queried whether they could have caused his brother to spasm and pull the trigger on the gun.

Raoul Moat’s uncle also offered to talk to the former nightclub bouncer.

Charlie Alexander, 72, from Gateshead, said: “He said he had no family and he had no dad.

“If I went up, he would have had someone that loves him and it would possibly have turned him to say, ‘I’m going to give myself up’.”