An expert on electrical injury is being sought to give evidence at the inquest into the death of shotgun killer Raoul Moat who was Tasered by police, a coroner said today.

The 37-year-old ex-bouncer from Newcastle shot himself in the head after stun gun cartridges were fired twice at the climax of a lengthy stand-off with armed police in Rothbury, Northumberland, last July.

Newcastle coroner David Mitford told a pre-inquest review that a neuro-physiologist could be called, saying the expert would be ‘‘someone able to consider the effects of electrical discharge on a human and the nervous system’’.

It will be considered whether being hit by Taser rounds caused an involuntary reaction by Moat, leading to his shotgun discharging into his head.

Mr Mitford also ruled that a small number of firearms officers can give evidence anonymously, behind screens.

The hearing will be a so-called Article II or Middleton Inquest, meaning the coroner has scope to investigate the wider issues.

The coroner sought to define the focus of the inquiry during the hearing attended by Moat’s brother Angus and his uncle Charlie Alexander as well as numerous legal representatives of Northumbria Police, certain West Yorkshire Police officers, the North East Ambulance Service and Pro-Tect Systems Limited, the firm which supplied the Tasers.

He said: ‘‘The inquest is really seeking to look at the period of time between him being contained by the police in a field in Rothbury and the moment when his death was declared which is a period of at most about eight hours.’’ Mr Mitford said the inquest jury of 11 will be given the ‘‘background and context’’ to how Moat came to be subject to a huge manhunt - after he shot his ex-lover Sam Stobbart and executed her new lover Chris Brown in Birtley, Gateshead, then 24 hours later blinded Pc David Rathband.

The coroner said: ‘‘We will not be looking in depth, for instance, at the history of Mr Moat from the moment he came out of jail some days before, and the happenings in Gateshead and the tragic happenings to Pc Rathband.

‘‘Important as they are - and there may be facts we need to take out of them - I don’t think they are the substance of the inquest.’’ Also expected to be present at the hearing starting at Newcastle Crown Court on September 5 is Peter Blake, who Mr Mitford said ‘‘asserts that he is Mr Moat’s biological father, although he has never had any occasion to meet him at any time’’.

The coroner stated at the review, which was held in public and can be reported by the press, that two post-mortems were carried out.

The first pathologist, Dr Mark Egan, will be working in Africa for much of September so may not be available to give evidence in person, the coroner said.

But the findings of the second post-mortem, carried out by a different pathologist, were not much different from Dr Egan’s, the coroner said.